ISLAMABAD: The Afghan Taliban on Monday urged the Pakistan government to “arrest and punish” those involved in the reported abduction of the Afghan envoy’s daughter last week.
Silsila Alikhil, the daughter of Afghan envoy Najibullah Alikhil, was abducted in the middle of the Pakistani capital of Islamabad on Friday, held for several hours and brutally attacked, officials in both countries said on Saturday.
Suhail Shaheen, the political office spokesman for international media for the Afghan Taliban, condemned the incident in a tweet.
“The kidnapping of an Afghan girl in Pakistan is against humanity and an aggression which we condemn,” Shaheen said. “We urge the government of Pakistan to step up its efforts to arrest and punish the perpetrators so that such acts do not give rise to hate between the two nations and the spoilers don’t have ground to misuse it.”
Pakistan authorities are currently investigating the reported abduction, with Prime Minister Imran Khan having issued special directions to the interior minister to nab the culprits as soon as possible.
Following the incident, the Afghan government announced it was withdrawing its ambassador and senior diplomats from Pakistan, a move that Islamabad has termed as “unfortunate and regrettable.”
“The reported abduction and assault of the ambassador’s daughter in Islamabad is being investigated and followed up at the highest level on the instructions of the prime minister,” the foreign office said on Sunday night. “The security of the ambassador, his family and personnel of the embassy and consulates of Afghanistan in Pakistan has been further beefed up.”
Taliban urge Pakistan to ‘arrest, punish’ culprits behind assault on Afghan envoy’s daughter
https://arab.news/2uv27
Taliban urge Pakistan to ‘arrest, punish’ culprits behind assault on Afghan envoy’s daughter
- Say Pakistan should take action so “such acts do not give rise to hate between two nations, spoilers don’t have ground to misuse it”
- Following the incident, Afghan government announced it was withdrawing its ambassador and senior diplomats from Pakistan
Pakistan, China to continue ‘cooperation for regional peace’ after India conflict
- The statement comes after Pakistan declared its victory in a military standoff with India that saw Islamabad use China’s J-10Cs
- India and China, two South Asian giants and nuclear powers, are widely seen as competitors and long-term strategic rivals
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and China have resolved to continue “bilateral cooperation for regional peace, development and stability,” the Pakistani foreign office said on Tuesday, following a four-day military conflict between Pakistan and India.
The statement came during Pakistan Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar’s three-day visit to Beijing after Pakistan and India exchanged missiles, drones and artillery fire until the United States brokered a ceasefire on May 10.
Pakistan declared a victory in the standoff, saying its air force used Chinese J-10C aircraft to shoot down six Indian fighter jets, including three French Rafales, and the army targeted several Indian military installations during the recent flare-up.
Dar on Tuesday held in-depth consultations with the Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on the evolving situation in South Asia and the future trajectory of Pakistan-China partnership, according to the Pakistani foreign office.
“Both leaders expressed satisfaction at the commonality of views on all issues of mutual interest and expressed their firm resolve to continue bilateral cooperation for regional peace, development and stability,” it said in a statement.
For China, Pakistan is a strategic and economic ally. Beijing is investing over $60 billion to build infrastructure, energy and other projects in Pakistan as part of its China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.
India and China, on the other hand, are competing regional giants and nuclear powers and widely seen as long-term strategic rivals, sharing a 3,800 Himalayan border that has been disputed since the 1950s and sparked a brief war in 1962.
The most recent standoff — that started in 2020 — thawed in October as the two sides struck a patrolling agreement.
Dar, who is also the foreign minister of Pakistan, earlier began his day with a meeting with Liu Jianchao, Minister of the International Department of the Communist Party of China (IDCPC), who reiterated that “China will continue to prioritize its relations with Pakistan as an All-Weather Strategic Cooperative Partner and ironclad friend.”
Pakistan’s foreign office said in an earlier statement that Dar would discuss with Chinese leaders “the evolving regional situation in South Asia and its implications for peace and stability.”
“The two sides will also review the entire spectrum of Pakistan-China bilateral relations and exchange views on regional and global developments of mutual interest,” the statement added.
The conflict between India and Pakistan has offered the world a first real glimpse into how advanced Chinese military technology performs against proven Western hardware and Chinese defense stocks have already been surging as a result.
A rising military superpower, China hasn’t fought a major war in more than four decades but has raced under President Xi Jinping to modernize its armed forces, pouring resources into developing sophisticated weaponry and cutting-edge technologies.
It has also extended that modernization drive to Pakistan, long hailed by Beijing as its “ironclad brother.”
Over the past five years, China has supplied 81 percent of Pakistan’s imported weapons, according to data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). Those exports include advanced fighter jets, missiles, radars and air-defense systems. Some Pakistan-made weapons have also been co-developed with Chinese firms or built with Chinese technology and expertise.
Pakistan slams Israeli plan to control whole of Gaza, warns of ‘grave threat’ to peace
- Israel’s war on Gaza has killed around 53,000 Palestinians and displaced two million
- Islamabad urges world to call for an immediate end to Israeli hostilities against Gazans
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has condemned Israel’s deliberate targeting of hospitals in Gaza and described its announcement of taking control of the entire territory as a “grave threat” to regional peace, the Pakistani Foreign Office said on Tuesday.
Israeli airstrikes last week hit Gaza’s European and Nasser hospitals, causing casualties and crippling medical services. Days later, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared that Israel would take full control of the Gaza Strip.
Israel began pounding Gaza after Hamas attacked southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people and taking over 200 others as hostages. In response, Israel’s military campaign has so far killed around 53,000 Palestinians and displaced nearly all of Gaza’s two million residents.
“The expansion of Israeli ground operations in Gaza as well as its announcement to ‘take control of all’ of Gaza poses a grave threat to efforts aimed toward achieving peace and stability in the region,” Foreign Office spokesperson Shafqat Ali Khan said.
“Pakistan condemns in the strongest possible terms the continued Israeli aggression in Gaza as well as deliberate targeting of hospitals and other critical infrastructure along with mass evacuation orders.”
The statement said Israel continued to obstruct humanitarian aid from reaching millions, amounting to an “imposition of collective punishment” on the Palestinian people.
It highlighted UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ statement in which he voiced alarm over the situation in Gaza, where one in every five people faces starvation and the rest of the population is at risk of famine.
Pakistan’s Foreign Office urged the world to call for an immediate end to Israeli atrocities and take steps for the provision of humanitarian supplies to Palestinians.
“Furthermore, Pakistan reiterates its unequivocal opposition to any attempts to displace the Palestinians from their ancestral lands, expand illegal Israeli settlements or to annex any part of the territory,” it said.
Pakistan posts 2.4 percent growth in third quarter of fiscal year
- This month, the central bank cut key policy rate by 100 basis points to 11 percent, citing improved inflation outlook
- The latest aggregates for fiscal 2024/25 show the size of the economy at $410.96 billion up from $371.66 billion
KARACHI: Pakistan’s economy grew 2.4 percent in the third quarter of the fiscal year that ends in June, the national accounts committee said on Tuesday, while revising up growth prospects for the current fiscal year.
In a statement the committee approved a projection of 2.68 percent provisional growth in GDP during FY 2024/25, taking the size of Pakistan’s economy to $410.96 billion.
This month Pakistan’s central bank cut its key policy rate by 100 basis points to 11 percent, citing an improved inflation outlook and resuming a series of cuts from a record high of 22 percent, following a brief pause in March, to support growth.
The latest national accounts aggregates for fiscal 2024/25 showed the size of the economy at 114.7 trillion rupees ($410.96 billion) up from 105.1 trillion rupees ($ 371.66 billion), the committee said.
Growth in the agriculture sector was 1.18 percent in Q3, despite a decline in important crops, while industry contracted 1.14 percent, hit by negative growth in mining and quarrying and large-scale manufacturing.
The committee also approved Pakistan’s revised GDP growth at 1.37 percent in the first quarter and 1.53 percent in the second.
Pakistan’s manufacturing sector growth slowed to a seven-month low in April, with the HBL Pakistan Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) easing to 51.9 from 52.7 in March, weighed by concerns over global trade.
Pakistan top court upholds death penalty for Zahir Jaffer, convicted in grisly murder of Noor Mukadam
- Noor Mukadam, daughter of a former diplomat was found dead in Islamabad in 2021, after being brutally murdered by her friend
- The case sparked nationwide outrage and became one of Pakistan’s most widely followed trials involving violence against women
ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court of Pakistan on Tuesday upheld the death penalty of Zahir Zakir Jaffer, a Pakistani-American, who was convicted of murdering 27-year-old Noor Mukadam, daughter of a former diplomat, a lawyer of Mukadam’s father said.
Jaffer, son of a wealthy industrialist, was sentenced to death in 2022 for the brutal killing of Mukadam, whose beheaded body was found in July 2021 at a residence in Islamabad’s upscale F-7/4 sector.
Last year, the Islamabad High Court upheld Jaffer’s death sentence, originally handed down by a sessions court. Subsequently, he filed an appeal in the Supreme Court in April 2023, seeking to overturn the punishment.
On Tuesday, Justice Hashim Kakar upheld the death penalty in the case that sparked nationwide outrage and became one of Pakistan’s most widely followed trials involving violence against women.
“We are quite satisfied with the Supreme Court’s decision as his death sentence in the murder case remained intact. It is a sense of relief for Noor’s parents, relatives, and civil society,” Shah Khawar, who represented Mukadam’s father, told Arab News.
“It was a very important case, as it involved the brutal murder of a young girl who was killed in an extremely violent manner. The family of the accused was financially very strong, so people believed they would be able to influence the court— but that was proven wrong today.”
Khawar said the trial court had given the accused a death sentence for murder, 25-year imprisonment for rape, and 10-year imprisonment for abduction.
“When we appealed the decision in the High Court, his 25-year imprisonment for the rape case was also converted to a death sentence. The High Court also upheld his death sentence for murder,” he said.
“In today’s decision, the Supreme Court upheld the death sentence for murder, commuted the death sentence for rape to 25 years of imprisonment, and acquitted him in the abduction case. Two of his servants, who had each been sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment, were released with the order that the time they had already served would count as their sentence.”
‘Justice for Noor,’ an advocacy page on Instagram run by Mukadam’s friends, hailed Tuesday’s verdict and said it was a “powerful reminder” that women’s lives matter.
“This is not just for Noor. This is for every woman in Pakistan,” it said.
Khawar, who represented Mukadam’s father Shaukat Mukadam, said the convict now has “very limited” legal options left.
“One is to file a review petition, which will be heard by the same bench, offering very limited scope for any relief,” he said.
“The final step would be to file a mercy appeal before the President of Pakistan under Article 45. If they choose to pursue this option, the sentence will remain suspended until the mercy petition is decided.”
Pakistan Islamic banking assets at $40.7 billion by March end for first time — central bank
- On deposits, Islamic banks currently hold Rs. 8.4 trillion, about 25.4 percent of the total deposits in the banking industry
- Federal Shariat Court has ordered government to eliminate interest, align banking system with Islamic principles by 2027
ISLAMABAD: The governor of the Pakistani central bank said on Tuesday Islamic banking assets had for the first time reached Rs11.5 trillion ($40.7 billion) by the end of March this year, as the country actively moves toward implementing a fully Shariah-compliant financial system.
Pakistan’s Federal Shariat Court (FSC) directed the government in April 2022 to eliminate interest and align the country’s entire banking system with Islamic principles by 2027. Following the order, the government and the State Bank have taken several measures ranging from changing laws to issuing sukuk Islamic bonds to replace interest-based treasury bills and investment bonds.
“For the first time in the history of Islamic finance in Pakistan, by the end of March 2025, Islamic banking assets have reached Rs. 11.5 trillion, that’s 21.1 percent of the total banking sector assets,” central bank governor Jameel Ahmad said at a ceremony in Karachi.
“While there’s still a long way to go, this share is gradually increasing.”
On deposits, Islamic banks currently hold Rs. 8.4 trillion, about 25.4 percent of the total deposits in the banking industry.
“That means nearly one-fourth of all bank deposits are now mobilized under Islamic principles. So, the share of Islamic banking is steadily rising, and the number of Islamic banking branches has surpassed 8,000,” Ahmad added. “As a result of these achievements, we can see that access to Islamic banking services has significantly improved.”
He said to support the transformation of Islamic banking, the government of Pakistan had formed a steering committee in 2022 and launched a strategic five-year plan known as SBP Vision 2028.
Ahmad said the non-issuance of sukuk Islamic bonds was a “big hurdle” hindering the promotion of Islamic banking. He called on the banking industry, regulators and the government to play their “required role” to address underlying issues and issue more sukuk bonds and offer investors Shariah-compliant products.
“This would increase the share of Islamic banking investments in the overall industry. We all should play our respective role in this respect,” the governor added.
