KARACHI: An international credit rating agency on Thursday termed the ongoing no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Imran Khan as “credit negative” for the country, saying it was casting doubt on policy continuity in Pakistan while creating an overall environment of uncertainty.
Pakistan’s opposition parties tabled a no-trust resolution against the prime minister on Monday, accusing his administration of mismanaging economy and failing to provide good governance.
As the opposition claimed the government had lost its parliamentary majority, Moody’s, a credit rating corporation, raised concern over the economic ramifications of the prevailing political situation.
“We view the no-confidence motion as credit negative because it raises significant uncertainty over policy continuity, as well as the government’s ability to continue to implement reforms to increase productivity growth and secure external financing, including from the International Monetary Fund (IMF),” it said in a statement.
The no-trust motion comes at a time when Pakistan is encumbered with surging inflation and widening current account deficit amid rising global commodity prices. A further deterioration in its external position, including an erosion of foreign exchange reserves, would threaten the government’s external repayment capacity and heighten liquidity risks, according to Moody’s.
Pakistan has faced significant pressure on its foreign exchange reserves in recent months, amid elevated global commodity prices and a recovery in domestic demand. The Russia-Ukraine military conflict, which has driven up global commodity prices, has also amplified pressure on the country’s external position. Pakistan is a net oil importer, with petroleum and related products accounting for about 20 percent of its total imports.
Its current account deficit amounted to more than $12 billion between July 2021 and February 2022, a stark contrast to a $1 billion surplus in the same period a year before.
“We now expect the deficit to widen to 5-6 percent of GDP in fiscal 2022 compared with our previous forecast of 4 percent,” Moody’s statement said.
The further widening of the current account deficit would put greater pressure on Pakistan’s foreign reserves, which declined to $12 billion as of March 25, 2022, from $18.9 billion in July 2021, according to Moody’s and the State Bank of Pakistan.
Officials of the country’s finance ministry also said the economic situation was moving in the right direction before the no-confidence move, adding the alarm bells of uncertainty were now beginning to ring.
“So far, there was no impact on the economy,” Muzammil Aslam, the ministry’s spokesperson, told Arab News on Thursday. “The foreign investors were confident which was reflected in the Reko Diq gold mine dispute settlement and credit off-take was up.”
“Now it seems the deadlock which is prevailing will make things worse because the IMF is silent and the Chinese rollover [of $2.3 billion] has been agreed, but the payment made to China has not been returned yet which will cause a major dip in the reserves,” he said.
Pakistan’s reserves decreased by $2.915 billion to $12 billion, the country’s central bank said on Thursday. It informed that this decline reflected repayment of external debt, adding the rollover facility provided by China was being processed and was expected shortly.
Pakistan is also undergoing its seventh review under the IMF Extended Fund Facility program, which has disbursed $3 billion out of the stipulated $6 billion. However, discussions between Pakistan and the IMF appear to have stalled since the beginning of March when the global lending agency expressed concerns over the government’s recent relief package in response to rising inflation, according to Moody’s.
Pakistani economists said the current political situation had made local and foreign investors nervous who were waiting for the political dust to settle down.
“The state of uncertainty has been prevailing for almost a month and the government’s focus is on its defense,” Dr. Ashfaque Hassan Khan, senior economist, told Arab News.
Some experts said people who had invested in Pakistani bonds and sukuk were also feeling jittery which was reflected in the huge depreciation of the national currency.
The rupee on Thursday plunged to a new historic low of Rs183.46 against the US dollar in the interbank market.
“The dollar is going up and the oil prices are high,” Khurram Schehzad, senior financial analysts, commented, adding none of this was good for the economy.
However, Miftah Ismail, the country’s former finance minister and member of the opposition Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz party, said things would get better after the formation of the new government.
“We are fully aware of the situation,” he said. “The markets, currency and bond, will settle down once the new setup is formed.”
However, Moody’s said anyone managing Pakistan’s government would find it difficult to balance revenue-raising reforms to secure external financing and political pressure from people facing rising cost of living.
Moody’s calls no-confidence motion ‘credit negative’ for Pakistan as finance ministry says ‘no impact’
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Moody’s calls no-confidence motion ‘credit negative’ for Pakistan as finance ministry says ‘no impact’
- Moody's says no-confidence motion raises uncertainty over policy continuity, government’s ability to continue to implement reforms
- Economists say current political situation has made local and foreign investors nervous, awaiting the political dust to settle
Police in Islamabad briefly detain senior rights activists protesting Israel’s war in Gaza
- Tahira Abdullah and Samina Khan were detained by police outside the Islamabad Press Club
- No charges were specified, and both rights activists were released by the police later in the day
ISLAMABAD: Two senior human rights activists, Tahira Abdullah and Samina Khan, were briefly detained by police on Friday outside the Islamabad Press Club for ostensibly protesting against Israel’s war in Gaza before their release later in the day.
A video purportedly showing their arrest depicts them wearing Palestinian flags and keffiyeh scarves as they are escorted away by women police personnel, along with a man and three youths.
Abdullah can be seen asking a policeman why they are being taken away. She then tells the female police personnel not to push her and Khan, and requests that they be moved to a separate car instead of the police truck.
“They [Abdullah and Khan] were illegally picked up from outside the Islamabad Press Club premises and taken away to the women police station in G-7,” lawyer Hadi Ali Chattha told Arab News.
“They aren’t allowed to meet their counsel to discuss options,” he continued. “Station House Officer (SHO) Misbah Waqas is refusing to let their families and counsel meet them.”
Police did not specify any charges against the two rights activists. Islamabad police spokesperson Dr. Taqi Javed also did not respond to a query from Arab News in this regard.
Last year in May, Abdullah was among the protesters who staged a demonstration at Islamabad’s D-Chowk in support of the Palestinians. She had urged everyone to come out in large numbers, saying the Pakistani government would not pay heed to their demands otherwise.
The Islamabad Press Club is a key venue in Pakistan’s capital where journalists and activists hold press conferences and protests. It serves as a platform for raising awareness and drawing media attention to political and social issues. Protesters use it to voice demands and push for government action.
A video of Abdullah and Khan that was later shared by lawyer Chattha shows them stepping out of the police precinct after being released, chanting the slogan, “Free, free Palestine.”
Pakistan does not recognize Israel and supports an independent Palestinian state based on pre-1967 borders, with Jerusalem as its capital.
Farhan and Abrar star as resurgent Pakistan win Bangladesh series
- This is Pakistan’s first Twenty20 home series win since December 2021
- Pakistan also won the first match against Bangladesh by 37 runs in Lahore
LAHORE: Opener Sahibzada Farhan notched his maiden half century and spinner Abrar Ahmed grabbed three wickets to guide Pakistan to another convincing 57-run win over Bangladesh in Lahore on Friday.
Farhan smashed a 41-ball 74 and Hasan Nawaz unbeaten 51 off 26 balls to help the home team post 201-6 before Abrar grabbed 3-19 to keep Bangladesh to 144-9 in 19 overs, with the last man Shoriful Islama unable to bat due to injury.
Pakistan, who won the first match by 37 runs at the same venue, take an unassailable 2-0 lead with the final match on Sunday, also in Lahore.
The win also gives a kickstart to Pakistan’s new white-ball head coach Mike Hesson appointed earlier this month to stem a slide which saw them win just three of their last 13 T20s before this series.
Bangladesh raced to 32 in the first two overs but openers Parvez Hossain (eight) and Tanzid Hasan (19-ball 33 with five boundaries and a six) fell within two runs of each other.
From 46-2, Bangladesh slumped to 56-5 with Abrar dismissing Tohid Hridoy (five) and Jaker Ali (nought) off successive deliveries while pacer Hasan Ali had skipper Litton Das for six.
Tanzim Hasan, who topscored with a career best 31-ball 50, and Mehidy Hasan Miraz, 23 off 17 balls, added 33 for the eighth wicket but it was too late, too little.
Pakistan’s first T20 home series win since December 2021 delighted skipper Salman Agha.
“It feels good, I didn’t know it was three and a half years ago that we won a series at home,” said Agha of Pakistan’s last win over the West Indies at home.
“This is what I want, we should always have players who can come in and replace anyone, any captain would love that,” said Agha, praising the new coach.
“It’s been a few days and we are loving the environment, credit to Hesson. He has managed to gel the team really well and built a nice environment, he has done that very quickly.”
Bangladesh skipper Litton Das rued loss of wickets in cluster.
“There were back-to-back wickets and in cricket you have to follow basics, sometimes you don’t follow the basics that cost you,” said Das. “We still have a game to comeback strongly.”
Earlier, Pakistan posted a consecutive 200-plus total with Farhan and Nawaz ably supported by Mohammad Haris whose 41 came off 25 balls after the home team won the toss and batted.
After losing fellow opener Saim Ayub to a run out for four, Farhan put the innings on a solid footing with a 103-run second wicket stand of 54 balls with Haris.
The Farhan-Haris duo smashed Bangladesh bowlers to all corners, with Farhan hitting six sixes and four boundaries while Haris’s knock had two sixes and four boundaries.
Farhan was finally caught by Litton Das off leg-spinner Rishad Hossain in the 12th over. His previous best of 39 was against Australia in Dubai in 2018.
Nawaz gave a final polish to the innings by hitting three sixes and two boundaries as Pakistan added 40 in the last five overs.
Agha fell for 19 and Shadab Khan made seven.
For Bangladesh Tanzim finished with 2-36 and Hasan Mahmud took 2-47.
Senior Pakistani official killed in Balochistan as government blames ‘Indian-backed’ militants
- Balochistan CM says Hidayatullah Buledi was shot dead when he tried to protect civilians in a local market
- Pakistan’s PM and army chief say the country’s war will continue until militant violence is fully eradicated
KARACHI: The Pakistani government on Friday condemned the killing of a senior administration official in a gun attack in the volatile southwestern Balochistan province, with top officials attributing the assault to what they described as “Fitna Al-Hind” — or Indian-sponsored proxies — fueling unrest in the region.
Additional Deputy Commissioner (ADC) Hidayatullah Buledi was shot dead by armed militants in the Sorab area as he reportedly intervened to protect civilians, including women and children, during an armed assault in a local market.
In a post on social media platform X, the province’s chief minister, Sardar Sarfraz Bugti, said the attack was carried out by militants affiliated with the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), a separatist group banned in Pakistan, which he said was backed by the neighboring Indian state.
“Despite holding the office of ADC Revenue, when terrorists of Fitna Al-Hind BLA opened fire on women and children in Sorab today, Hidayatullah Buledi honored the traditions of Baloch valor and sacrificed his life in defense of the Pakistani state,” he said in the post while praying for the deceased officer and his family.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif also issued a statement, condemning the “cowardly attack” on a local bank, civilians and public officials in Sorab and paying tribute to Buledi for defending his community.
“The entire nation stands with the family of Shaheed [martyr] Hidayatullah Buledi,” he said, vowing to bring the perpetrators to justice.
“Their attack reflects a mindset that is openly hostile to Pakistan’s progress and stability in Balochistan,” he added.
The prime minister also praised the efforts of the Pakistani armed forces and reiterated the government’s commitment to eradicating militant violence from the country.
Pakistan’s army chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, who was in Quetta during the day to address officers at the Command and Staff College, also promised to take Pakistan’s war against militancy to its “logical conclusion.”
“The nation’s fight against terrorism will be driven to a logical conclusion — success against all forms and manifestations of terrorism,” the military’s media wing, Inter-Services Public Relations, quoted him as saying in a statement.
Balochistan, Pakistan’s largest but least developed province, has long been the site of a separatist insurgency, with militants blaming the state for exploiting the mineral resources of the region without doing much for the local population.
The government has repeatedly denied the allegation, pointing to the infrastructure and livelihood projects it has been carrying out in the area for years.
Pakistan has also frequently accused India of funding and arming militant groups, a charge New Delhi denies.
Afghans married to Pakistanis fear split from families amid deportation drive
- Around 1.3 million Afghans, both undocumented and those with Afghan Citizen Cards, have left Pakistan since expulsion drive started in 2023
- Afghans married to Pakistanis have found themselves in a legal limbo and have had to leave families and lives behind after being deported
PESHAWAR: Muhammad Alam, 40, wakes up daily to the laughter and noise of his seven children as they begin their day at the family’s rented home in the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar while their mother prepares breakfast in a small kitchen.
These days, Alam’s heart is full of dread, and he is having frequent arguments with his wife over whether she and the children, six daughters and one son, will accompany him to Afghanistan if he has to leave.
Alam is an Afghan refugee who is married to a Pakistani woman. Under an ongoing repatriation drive targeting "illegal" foreigners that was launched by the Pakistan government in November 2023, Alam may have to leave the country soon. If that happens, he will be separated from his family, all of whom are Pakistani nationals and are refusing to accompany him.
Around 1.3 million Afghans have left Pakistan since the expulsion drive was started.
“We are in trouble because of the deportation drive,” Alam told Arab News at his home in Peshawar, the capital of the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
“I can’t refuse to leave but who will convince my family? Just for me, these seven children will not go to Afghanistan and I can’t leave these seven behind.”
Alam holds a Proof of Registration (PoR) card, a document issued by the National Database and Registration Authority that provides temporary legal status and freedom of movement for registered Afghan refugees. It serves as an identification document, allowing Afghan refugees to legally reside in Pakistan. The PoR card was initially issued in 2007 and has been extended multiple times, currently valid until June 30, 2025.
Alam is unsure what will happen after that deadline passes next month: “If the government arrests and deports me, who will take care of my family?”
When he spoke to his children about going to Afghanistan with him, one of them replied: “You are an Afghan, you should go.”
Alam’s wife holds a Pakistani Computerized National Identity Card (CNIC) and his children all have the Form-B, an important document for children under 18 years old in Pakistan, serving as a child's identification document and necessary for various purposes like school admissions, passports, and international travel.
One of Alam’s daughters Laiba, 14, said the government should make a special case for her father as he had a Pakistani family.
“We and our mother have Pakistani identification documents, only he doesn’t have it. He should be given the [CNIC] card, the whole fight will end,” she said.
“What will we do in Afghanistan? We have neither seen nor gone there.”
Troubles have already begun for the family.
Laiba said she was refused enrollment in the 8th standard after she failed to present a Pakistani CNIC for her father.
“They asked for my mother’s [CNIC] card, I produced it. Then they asked for my father’s card. My father didn’t have a [CNIC] card, from where should I have produced it? So, they expelled me from the school,” the teenager said.
“Our school is gone already. What should we do?”
Qudratullah, 38, another Afghan refugee from Jalalabad who is married to a Pakistani women, is facing the same issue, saying his children and wife were refusing to accompany him to Afghanistan.
While he has an Afghan passport, his Pakistan visa had expired, after which he was deported to Afghanistan in October 2024. It took him nearly four months to get a new visa from Afghanistan and return to Pakistan in February this year, with a multiple-entry family visit visa that expires in February 2026.
“I have married a Pakistani woman but my wife doesn’t want to go with me to [Afghanistan],” Qudratullah told Arab News. “When I tell her to go, she starts fighting with me. She doesn’t want to go with me at any cost.”
Qudratullah's wife Nasreen Bibi described the situation as “too difficult.”
“Sometimes he [my husband] gets a visa and sometimes the visa is rejected, and he sometimes gets stuck there [in Afghanistan] and we are left alone,” she said at the couple’s home in Peshawar.
“We have children who are studying here, we have a house. We can’t go with him there, our children can’t live in that country.”
“HOSPITALITY”
Nauman Mohib Kakakhel, a Peshawar High Court advocate, has fought cases for families, where a Pakistani is married to an Afghan with Proof of Registration (POR) or Afghan Citizen Cards (ACC). The ACC is a document issued by the Pakistan government to undocumented Afghan nationals, allowing them to legally reside in Pakistan for a limited time and provides temporary protection from deportation.
“We filed a case for hundreds of families, and it was decided by the Peshawar High Court that since NADRA already has records of these families in the shape of Afghan Citizen Cards or Proof of Registration cards, as they enjoy refugees’ status in Pakistan and that’s a legal status,” Kakakhel said.
“And now they have got married to a Pakistani citizen, so this should be sufficient for them to get permanent residency in Pakistan.”
As per the law, children born to a couple where one partner is Pakistani and the other is Afghan, will automatically be entitled to the citizenship of Pakistan by descent when they turn 21, the lawyer explained.
After they turn 21, they must opt for the nationality of one country while Pakistani women married to an Afghan can hold the citizenship of both countries under Pakistani law.
Speaking to Arab News, Qaisar Afridi, a spokesperson for UNHCR in Pakistan, said Afghans, including human rights activists, journalists and others married to Pakistani nationals, were facing challenges in Pakistan:
“As the Pakistani government and the people of Pakistan have hosted Afghans for the past 40-45 years, we request the government of Pakistan that this hospitality should be continued until the situation in Afghanistan improves.”
Pakistan formally initiates talks with US on ‘reciprocal tariffs’ amid export concerns
- US imposed a 29% tariff on Pakistani goods as Islamabad pushes for export-led growth
- Pakistan says it sees the move as both a challenge and an opportunity to reset trade ties
KARACHI: Pakistan has formally begun negotiations with the United States over newly imposed “reciprocal tariffs,” an official statement said on Friday, with Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb holding a conference call with US Trade Representative Ambassador Jamieson Greer to launch the process.
The talks come after US President Donald Trump imposed steep tariffs on a number of countries earlier this year, a move widely viewed as a setback for the global economy still recovering from the coronavirus pandemic. Defending the action, Trump said the tariffs were necessary to correct trade imbalances and counter what he described as unfair treatment of American goods abroad.
Pakistan was among the countries affected, with a 29 percent tariff placed on its goods at a time when Islamabad is pushing for export-driven growth.
Aurangzeb called the development both a challenge and an opportunity to reset trade ties in April, adding that a high-level delegation would soon travel to Washington to pursue the matter further.
“Pakistan’s formal negotiations on US reciprocal tariffs kick-started between Mr. Muhammad Aurangzeb, Pakistan’s Finance Minister and Ambassador Jamieson Greer, United States Trade Representative through a telephonic/conference call on 30th May, 2025,” the finance ministry said.
“The two sides exchanged their viewpoint through a constructive engagement with the understanding that technical level detailed discussions would follow in the coming few weeks,” it added.
The ministry said both sides expressed confidence in advancing the negotiations toward a successful conclusion at the earliest.
The US is Pakistan’s largest export destination, and the newly imposed duties threaten to undermine Islamabad’s fragile economic recovery.
According to Pakistan’s central bank, the country exported $5.44 billion worth of goods to the US in 2024. From July to February of the current fiscal year, exports to the US reached $4 billion, up 10 percent from the same period last year.
Nearly 90 percent of those exports are textiles, which analysts say will be hardest hit.
Experts have also warned previously the tariffs could reduce Pakistan’s competitiveness, especially if regional exporters such as China, Bangladesh and Vietnam redirect more goods to Europe, intensifying competition in alternative markets.
