ISLAMABAD: Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi told Arab News in an exclusive interview on Thursday that Pakistan’s mediation gesture during the Middle East crisis in the beginning of the year was applauded by Saudi Arabia and Iran.
“Both Saudi Arabia and Iran have appreciated Pakistan’s positive intentions behind the mediation effort,” Qureshi said, adding that the Saudi foreign minister, Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud, told him during a meeting in Riyadh that Pakistan was “on the right track and all the regional countries should immediately join hands to deescalate the situation in the Middle East.”
On the directives of Prime Minister Imran Khan, Qureshi visited Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United States earlier this month to urge all stakeholders to practice “maximum restraint” in the wake of the killing of a top Iranian commander, Qassem Soleimani, in a US drone strike in Baghdad.
“With the help of other countries, Pakistan succeeded in its efforts to deescalate the Middle East situation. The country assured everyone it was willing to be partner in peace but could not become part of any other conflict,” Qureshi said.
“I also contacted foreign ministers of other regional states. Everyone understood the importance of convincing the countries concerned to exercise maximum restraint,” he continued.
“I met with the Iranian foreign minister and president. My meeting with President Hassan Rouhani lasted for an hour wherein we discussed how to defuse the situation and minimize tensions in the region,” the foreign minister said, adding: “I shared all the findings of my discussions in Tehran with my counterpart in Riyadh, saying it was Pakistan’s utmost desire to reduce tensions in the region.”
The minister continued that Pakistan wanted to minimize misunderstandings among Muslim states.
“Saudi Arabia is our very close friend while Iran is our neighbor. We don’t want tensions to mount among Muslim countries since that can be harmful for the whole Muslim Ummah.”
Asked about the expected visit of United States President Donald Trump to Pakistan, he said the American leader would visit Pakistan this year.
“President Trump has expressed his desire to pay an exclusive and independent visit to Pakistan which would not be linked to his visit to India. Pakistan is an independent and important country in the eyes of President Trump, therefore he desires to pay an exclusive visit to Pakistan,” Qureshi said.
The foreign minister said it now depended on President Trump’s “schedule where the visit will fit in.”
“It may come before or after the next US presidential election, but it will take place this year,” he said.
Pakistan’s role in Middle East deescalation hailed, says Qureshi
https://arab.news/jdz95
Pakistan’s role in Middle East deescalation hailed, says Qureshi
- Says the country’s diplomatic efforts have produced positive results in the region
- Informs that US President Donald Trump is planning an exclusive visit to Pakistan this year
Heartbroken Afghans cross over into homeland from northwest border as Pakistan ramps up expulsions
- Repatriation drive of “illegal” foreign citizens began in November 2023 with over 948,870 Afghans repatriated since
- Around 16,242 Afghan Citizen Card holders deported from Torkham border between Apr. 1-11 in latest repatriation push
Torkham, Pakistan: Muhammad Rasool stood waiting at the Torkham border crossing in northwestern Pakistan earlier this month, set to return to his homeland of Afghanistan after 45 years with only a few belongings on his back.
The journey is not one Rasool, an Afghan refugee, is making by choice.
Earlier this year, Pakistan’s interior ministry asked all “illegal foreigners” and holders of Afghan Citizen Cards — a document launched in 2017 to grant temporary legal status to Afghan refugees — to leave the country before Mar. 31, warning that they would otherwise be deported from Apr. 1. The move is part of a larger repatriation drive of “illegal” foreign citizens that began in November 2023, with over 948,870 Afghans repatriated since, as per figures published on state broadcaster Radio Pakistan on Monday.
The campaign was launched after a spike in militant attacks in recent years that Islamabad says is partly to blame on Afghan nationals residing in the country without offering proof. The drive is also taking place amid worsening relations with Afghanistan, whose Taliban-led government Pakistan has accused of providing sanctuary to militants who carry out cross-border attacks. Kabul denies the accusations.
Millions of Afghans have sought refuge in Pakistan over the past four decades, fleeing successive conflicts including the Soviet invasion, a civil war and the post-9/11 US-led takeover of Kabul by the hard-line Taliban government. Thousands were born in Pakistan or left Afghanistan while they were children, and many have never even visited the country they are now forced to return to.
Rasool, 55, is one such refugee.
“We have lived in Pakistan for 45 years,” Rasool, a daily wage laborer most of his life, told Arab News on Saturday at the Torkham Border Crossing just to the west of the historic Khyber Pass in the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province that borders Afghanistan.
He was leaving the country with his wife, three daughters and two sons.
“We were so happy here. We are so sad that one can’t imagine.”
Rasool complained of harassment of Afghans by authorities in the days leading up to his departure for Torkham from Taxila in the eastern Punjab province where he was based in Pakistan.
“Afghan refugees were disrespected and harassed by the police. Some of the Afghans living near me were picked up from home,” he said. “I was worried that the police would also come to my home so to save my honor, I packed my belongings and left.”
A short distance away, Muhammad Islam, a man in his mid-thirties who was waiting with his family of five for a transport vehicle to take them to Jalalabad in Afghanistan, also spoke about the fear of harassment.
“Due to the fear that our female family members would be picked up by the police, we rushed to leave for Afghanistan,” he told Arab News.
The Pakistan government says it is ensuring the “dignified” repatriation of all illegal aliens.
“MY HEART ACHES”
As per latest figures obtained from the KP Tribal and Home Affairs Department, 500,040 illegal foreigners, mostly Afghan nationals, have been repatriated through various border crossings in the province since September 2023. Between Apr. 1-11, at least 16,242 ACC holders and 17,689 ‘illegal’ Afghan nationals have been repatriated through the Torkham border, according to the home department’s data.
Among them are many like Rasool, whose children can’t even speak the official languages of Afghanistan, Dari and Pashto, and who don’t know what lies ahead.
“They don’t know a word of Pashto, they are all worried as they don’t know the language and the place is new for them,” he said. “Where should we go? What should we do? We are worried about this.”
Sakhi Gul, a 57-year-old Afghan refugee who has worked as a bread maker in Pakistan’s Attock district for over 35 years, said he was barely ten years old when he left his homeland.
“How should we know now where we are being sent? People are saying that a camp has been established,” Gul said. “We don’t know any place or home to go to.”
When asked what he would do in Afghanistan, he said, “I will see once I cross the border … We worked hard in Pakistan and will try to work harder in Afghanistan. At first, I will try to find work as a laborer to feed my family.”
Muhammad Islam, a man in his mid-thirties, also said his professional and personal future in Afghanistan was uncertain.
“I don’t know what I will be doing in Afghanistan. I have never seen Afghanistan. I will see what to do once I cross my family over.”
What most of the refugees do know is that they will miss the life they are leaving behind.
Gul said his Pakistani friends and neighbors, with whom he had spent most of his life, were pained to see him leave.
“Yesterday, they were also weeping and asking why are we going.”
Islam too said he would miss the Pakistani community he was leaving behind in the eastern Chakwal district where he had lived for several years and worked at a junkyard. His spouse and four children, one of them a baby in his wife’s lap, were accompanying him to Afghanistan.
“I miss my friends, my heart aches for them,” Islam said. “They wept with us when I was getting on the vehicle, and I also wept. My heart says that I shouldn’t go.”
IMF mission to conclude Pakistan governance and corruption assessment today
- GCDA is tool used by IMF to identify governance vulnerabilities in fiscal management, financial oversight, rule of law
- It is designed to support targeted reforms to improve transparency, accountability and institutional performance
KARACHI: An IMF team visiting Pakistan to undertake a Governance and Corruption Diagnostic Assessment (GCDA) will conclude its mission today, Monday, an official with direct knowledge of the review said.
IMF staff reached a deal with Pakistan for a new $1.3 billion arrangement last month and also agreed on the first review of the ongoing 37-month bailout program. Pending board approval, Pakistan can unlock the $1.3 billion under a new climate resilience loan program spanning 28 months. The IMF will also release $1 billion for the South Asian nation under its $7 billion bailout program, which would bring those disbursements to $2 billion.
“Following a scoping mission in February, an IMF team is in Pakistan until April 14 [Monday] to undertake a Governance and Corruption Diagnostic Assessment (GCDA),” an official privy to the negotiations told Arab News, requesting anonymity as he was not authorized to speak to the media. “A press release will be issued at the conclusion of the mission.”
The IMF bailout program, secured mid-year in 2024, has played a key role in stabilizing Pakistan’s economy and the government has said the country is on course for a long-term recovery.
The GCDA is a detailed assessment tool used by the global lending agency to identify governance vulnerabilities in areas such as fiscal management, financial oversight and the rule of law. It is designed to support targeted reforms to improve transparency, accountability and institutional performance.
The IMF conducted the preliminary phase of the assessment in February at the request of the Pakistani government. Following the visit, it praised the country’s commitment to governance reform. A second review began on Apr. 4.
A separate technical team from the IMF is also scheduled to visit Pakistan this week to hold discussions with senior officials from the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) regarding taxation proposals for the upcoming budget of 2025-26.
“The visit … will see talks focused on expanding the country’s narrow tax base, with a particular emphasis on bringing retailers and other untaxed sectors into the tax system,” Profit, a top Pakistani business publication, reported last week.
“One of the key issues on the table will be the government’s desire to reduce tax rates for salaried individuals, a move the IMF will likely evaluate as part of broader fiscal discussions.”
A high-powered Pakistani delegation, led by Finance Minister Mohammad Aurangzeb, will participate in the upcoming annual spring meetings of the IMF and World Bank in Washington from April 21-26.
No intention of responding to tariffs imposed by Trump administration — Pakistan finmin
- Islamabad was slapped with 29% tariff rate before Trump’s 90-day temporary pause
- 10% blanket duty on almost all US imports will remain in effect, the White House has said
ISLAMABAD: Pakistani Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb has said Islamabad was concerned about new tariffs imposed by the US administration of President Donald Trump but had no intentions of imposing reciprocal taxes, BBC reported on Sunday.
Islamabad would have been slapped with a 29% tariff rate before Trump’s temporary suspension announcement on Wednesday. A 10% blanket duty on almost all US imports will remain in effect, the White House has said.
“There is a minimum tariff of 10% and then there is an additional tariff, I think we need to talk about this issue,” Aurangzeb said in an interview to the BBC.
In response to a question about reciprocal tariffs, he said: “If your question is whether we are going to give any response [to the US] in return, the answer is no.”
“There is a situation of uncertainty, and we all have to think about how to move forward with this new world order,” the finance minister added.
When asked if he felt Pakistan was losing out in the tug-of-war between the US and China, he said Washington had been a “strategic partner” of Pakistan for a long time, not just in trade but also in other sectors, while relations with China were important in their own right.
A study by the Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (PIDE) entitled ‘Impact of Unilateral Tariff Increase by United States on Pakistani Exports’ said this month when added to the existing 8.6% Most Favored Nation (MFN) tariff, the total duty after the imposition of the 29% tariff could reach 37.6%. This would likely result in a 20-25% decline in Pakistani exports to the US, translating into an annual loss of $1.1-1.4 billion, with the textile sector bearing the brunt of the blow.
The textile sector in Pakistan generates about $17 billion in exports and is the largest employer in the country, according to the Pakistan Textile Council. The industry is expected to face significant challenges from the tariffs, with potential losses of up to $2 billion in textile exports estimated by experts if the 29% tariff rate is reinstated after Trump’s 90-day pause ends.
Despite the risks, the PIDE reports also view the tariffs crisis as an “opportunity for strategic transformation.”
In the short term, it recommended that Pakistan engage in high-level diplomatic efforts to highlight the mutual costs of the tariffs and preserve long-standing trade relations. In the long term, it called for the need to diversify both export products and markets, seeing destinations such as the European Union, China, Asean nations, Africa and the Middle East as offering growth potential in sectors like IT, halal food, processed foods and sports goods.
Pakistan’s pink-salt themed pavilion ‘global crowd-puller’ at Osaka Expo
- Pakistan Pavilion features design inspired by the country’s iconic salt mines amid a broader effort to promote exports
- Expo officially opened Sunday, with Japan hoping event will help restore global unity in time of conflicts and trade wars
ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Pavilion is a “global crowd-puller” at the World Expo 2025 that opened in Osaka, Japan, on Sunday, with an official statement saying crowds were lining up to visit “one of the most unique pavilions” on site.
Expo 2025 Osaka was officially inaugurated by Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba on Sunday with the theme of life, world and the future, with Tokyo hoping that the event will help restore global unity in a world plagued by conflicts and trade wars. Pakistan’s national pavilion features a design inspired by the country’s iconic salt mines amid a broader effort to promote exports of the globally popular pink salt.
During the six-month event on the reclaimed island and industrial waste burial site of Yumeshima, which means dream island, in the Osaka Bay, the city is hosting some 180 countries, regions and organizations showcasing their futuristic exhibits inside of about 80 pavilions of unique designs.
It is Osaka’s second world expo after the 1970 event that scored a huge success and attracted 64 million visitors — a record until Shanghai in 2010.
“Pakistan offers something refreshingly grounded. Here, visitors don’t just look— they run their hands across majestic pink rock salt formations, feel the textures, and reconnect with nature in a way that’s rare in today’s fast-paced world,” the official Instagram page for the Pakistan Pavilion said.
Aligned with the Expo’s theme, “Designing Future Society for Our Lives,” the Pakistan pavilion “reimagines progress through the lens of harmony with the earth.”
The pavilion’s design, inspired by the Khewra Salt Mines in Pakistan’s Punjab province, incorporates a tranquil “salt garden” meant to offer visitors a multi-sensory experience reflecting both the country’s natural beauty and economic potential. The Pakistani salt mines are among the oldest and largest in the world, renowned for producing pink Himalayan salt, which is prized worldwide for its distinctive color and health benefits.
Pakistan also seeks to export more of its products by leveraging platforms such as the Osaka Expo.
“This pavilion belongs to all of you,” Muhammad Naseer, Project Director of the Pakistan Pavilion, said while addressing the soft launch of the pavilion earlier this month. “Your stories, contributions, and connection to Pakistan are part of this journey.”
“Over the next months, this space will be a place of discovery, dialogue, and celebration, where we invite the world to experience Pakistan’s culture, innovation, and aspirations.”
‘Spiritual home’: Sikh pilgrims mark Baisakhi at Pakistan’s Panja Sahib shrine
- Pakistan has issued more than 6,500 visas to Indian Sikh pilgrims for the Baisakhi festival from April 10-19
- Sikhism’s founder Guru Nanak was born in 1469 in village in Nankana Sahib near eastern Pakistani city of Lahore
HASAN ABDAL, Pakistan: For much of the year, Hasan Abdal, a small town about 45 kilometers northwest of Islamabad, remains quiet and uneventful. But this week, its narrow streets have come to life with color and devotion as Sikh pilgrims from India and other countries gather at Gurdwara Panja Sahib in their vibrant turbans and flowing beards to mark Baisakhi, one of the holiest days in the Sikh calendar.
The festival, held every April 14, commemorates the founding of the Khalsa, the Sikh order established by Guru Gobind Singh in 1699, and coincides with the spring harvest.
For many pilgrims, the journey to Pakistan, which is home to some of Sikhism’s most sacred sites, is a once-in-a-lifetime spiritual experience.
“What Makkah and Madinah are for Muslims, Pakistan is for Sikhs,” Sardar Sartook Singh, president of the temple in Hasan Abdal, told Arab News.
“Every year, around 3,000 pilgrims come from India, along with many more from other parts of the world, to Gurdwara Panja Sahib for the Baisakhi celebrations,” he continued. “This year, the Government of Pakistan issued over 6,000 visas to Indian pilgrims. Out of these, around 5,800 have arrived.”
In recent years, Pakistan has stepped up efforts to promote religious tourism by providing easy access to historic sites linked to Hinduism, Sikhism and Buddhism.
A key initiative is the Kartarpur Corridor, launched in November 2019, which allows Sikhs from India to visit Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Kartarpur without a visa. The site holds deep significance as the place where Guru Nanak, the founder of Sikhism, spent his final years.
The temple in Hasan Abdal also holds immense importance. According to legend, Guru Nanak once stopped a boulder, thrown at him by a local saint, with his hand, leaving behind the imprint, or panja, that gives the shrine its name.
Today, the site draws pilgrims from India, the United Kingdom, Canada and beyond, many of whom also visit two other important Gurdwaras of Kartarpur Sahib and Nankana Sahib.
“I had always dreamt of visiting Guru [Nanak] Ji’s shrine,” said 60-year-old Jaranjeet Kaur, who traveled from Patiala in India with her niece. “Seeing it made me happier than the birth of my first child.”
Her niece Sugdeep Kaur also expressed her emotions about their ongoing journey.
“Since childhood, we heard of the imprint of Guru Nanak’s hand on a boulder with flowing water,” she said. “But witnessing it in person brings immense peace. I’ll return next year with my children from Canada.”
One of Sikhism’s features is selfless service, or sewa, which is also central to this spiritual gathering. Pilgrims from India and other places can be seen working in the kitchen or helping others. One of them, Sukhpal Kaur, washes dishes with a smile.
“Without sewa, there is no mewa [reward],” she said. “No one has asked us to help, but it’s a blessing to serve.”
Amarjeet Kaur, another Indian pilgrim from Barnala, said her trip to Pakistan was like a dream come true.
“I used to pray daily to see Baba Guru Nanak’s shrine,” she said. “This year, he has listened. The care shown by Pakistani pilgrims also compelled us to join in sewa.”
Speaking to Arab News, Saifullah Khokhar, additional secretary of shrines at the Evacuee Trust Property Board, said there was a marked increase in the number of Sikh pilgrims every year.
“Religious tourism has grown 72 percent in the past seven months,” he said. “Visitors leave with a changed view of Pakistan, one of hospitality and peace.”
As Sikh pilgrims at the temple chanted hymns, shared meals and bathed in the sacred water at Panja Sahib, their presence transformed the quiet town into a vibrant expression of faith, community and cross-border connection.
“Pakistan is more sacred to Sikhs [living abroad] than to Pakistanis themselves,” Singh, the Gurdwara’s president, said. “Our faith began here. It is our spiritual home.”
