KARACHI: Women’s access to health care assumed center-stage across Pakistan on Monday as thousands of Pakistanis took part in rallies to mark International Women’s Day, with the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) urging the government to uphold the public’s right to peaceful marches and safe spaces.
The theme for Aurat Azadi March, or Women’s Freedom March, 2021, this year is ‘The Crisis of Care in the COVID-19 Pandemic’, organizers of the march said in a statement.
“We believe in a grassroots movement and the mobilization of the working class against patriarchy, be it domestic workers, teachers, lady health workers or any worker who performs physical or mental labor (paid or unpaid),” the statement said.
“Commission expects the state to uphold women’s constitutional right to freedom of peaceful assembly and to ensure that women’s marches across Pakistan on 8 March are provided security and safe public spaces,” HRCP chairperson Hina Jilani said.
The nationwide event saw protests being held in different cities on Monday, with organizers saying they were expecting a low turnout this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The march will be held with strict health guidelines...we are expecting 3,000 to 5,000 participants this year,” Qurat Mirza, an organizer of the Karachi leg of the event, told Arab News. “Last year, 10,000 participated in the march in Karachi, which is the largest of Aurat marches in the country whereas the participation across Pakistan was estimated to be 50,000 including in major urban units like Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad, Quetta and Peshawar and small cities like Hyderabad, Faisalabad, Multan.”
Since its inception three years ago, tens of thousands of women in Pakistan have attended Aurat March, demanding gender parity and making headlines with messages about taboo subjects like online harassment, rape, and sexual rights.
Broadly, the theme for this year’s march is women’s health care struggles, with 15 demands that highlight patriarchal violence and discrimination faced by women and sexual minority groups while accessing health care in Pakistan.
“We have added a sit-in to the march to press for our demands. We will come out on the roads again for our rights if they are not fulfilled by authorities,” Sheema Kermani, one of the Aurat March pioneers, told Arab News on Sunday.
Last year, a court in Lahore was petitioned to place restrictions on the event, which the complainant said had an agenda of spreading ‘anarchy, vulgarity, blasphemy and hatred’ against Islam. But the court gave the march a conditional go-ahead.
Access to health care takes center stage as Pakistanis hold women’s day rallies
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Access to health care takes center stage as Pakistanis hold women’s day rallies
- Human Rights Commission of Pakistan urges government to protect participants during peaceful marches on International Women’s Day
- Aurat March has attracted thousands over the last three years and made headlines for highlighting taboo subjects like sexual rights and violence
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.
Pakistan plans virtual assets regulator as crypto council convenes next week
- Pakistan says it aims to shape a future-ready financial infrastructure while ensuring stability and compliance
- The country has announced this month to allocate 2,000 megawatts (MW) of electricity to power bitcoin mining
KARACHI: Pakistan plans to establish a regulatory body to oversee digital assets, with the proposal set to be discussed at a meeting of the Pakistan Crypto Council next week, the finance minister said on Friday.
The move marks a significant shift for the South Asian nation, which had previously banned cryptocurrency transactions in 2018, citing financial risks and lack of regulation.
The Pakistan Crypto Council, set up in March, was formed to guide policy on blockchain, digital currencies and attract crypto-related investment as the government reconsiders its approach to digital finance.
“The Pakistan Crypto Council will convene a high-level meeting on Monday, 2nd June 2025, to be chaired by Senator Muhammad Aurangzeb, Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue,” the ministry said in an official statement.
“Key items on the agenda include the development of a robust regulatory framework to govern digital and virtual assets in Pakistan, in alignment with global standards and technological advancements,” it continued. “A focal point of discussion will be the groundwork for the establishment of the Pakistan Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (PVARA) — a proposed autonomous body to oversee the digital finance and crypto ecosystem in the country.”
Earlier this month, Pakistan announced the allocation of 2,000 megawatts (MW) of electricity in the first phase of a national initiative to power bitcoin mining and artificial intelligence (AI) data centers.
Additionally, Bilal Bin Saqib, CEO of the Pakistan Crypto Council, unveiled the country’s first government-led strategic bitcoin reserve at the Bitcoin 2025 conference in Las Vegas.
The upcoming council meeting aims to lay down the foundation for a secure, transparent and innovation-friendly regulatory environment.
The finance ministry said the upcoming meeting would reflect the government’s commitment to shaping a future-ready financial infrastructure while ensuring stability and compliance in the emerging digital economy.
Pakistan’s deputy PM says Islamabad to appoint envoy to Kabul, signaling thaw in ties
- Announcement comes days after trilateral talks in China where both countries agreed to upgrade relations
- It remains unclear who will be Pakistan’s new envoy to Afghanistan and when the appointment will take effect
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar said on Friday Islamabad would upgrade diplomatic relations with neighboring Afghanistan by appointing an ambassador in Kabul in a bid to deepen engagement between the two neighboring countries.
The move comes amid long-running tensions, with Pakistan repeatedly accusing the Afghan Taliban administration of “facilitating” cross-border attacks by militant groups such as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA).
Kabul has denied the allegations, insisting Pakistan’s security challenges are its internal issue. Relations have further deteriorated in recent years after Islamabad launched a nationwide deportation drive targeting undocumented foreigners, the majority of whom are Afghan nationals. Pakistani authorities also maintained that some of them were linked to a spate of militant attacks in the country including suicide bombings.
Despite the strains, both countries have sought to improve ties in recent months. Dar led a delegation to Kabul in April and later participated in trilateral talks involving Chinese and Afghan foreign ministers in Beijing earlier this month.
“Pakistan-Afghanistan relations are on [a] positive trajectory after my very productive visit to Kabul with Pakistan delegation on 19th April 2025,” he said in a post on social media platform X. “To maintain this momentum, I am pleased to announce the decision of the Government of Pakistan to upgrade the level of its Chargé d’Affaires in Kabul to the level of Ambassador.”
“I am confident this step would further contribute towards enhanced engagement, deepen Pak-Afghan cooperation in economic, security, CT [counterterrorism] & trade areas and promote further exchanges between two fraternal countries,” he added.
The announcement comes after the recent trilateral meeting in Beijing, where Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said both Pakistan and Afghanistan had “clearly expressed” a willingness to elevate diplomatic ties, according to an official statement.
At the same meeting, the three countries also agreed to expand cooperation under China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), including the extension of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) to Afghanistan.
The BRI — China’s multi-trillion-dollar infrastructure plan — aims to build land and maritime trade routes linking Asia with Africa and Europe. CPEC, considered the flagship of the initiative, includes over $60 billion in Chinese investments in Pakistan’s energy, transport, and industrial sectors.
It remains unclear who will be Pakistan’s new envoy to Kabul or when the appointment will take effect.
Pakistan criminalizes child marriages in Islamabad despite opposition from Council of Islamic Ideology
- Under the new law, the minimum age for marriage is set at 18 for both men and women in the federal capital
- Prison terms of up to seven years have been introduced for those who facilitate or coerce children into early marriages
ISLAMABAD: Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari on Friday signed into law a bill criminalizing child marriages in the federal capital of Islamabad, despite opposition from a constitutional body that advises the Pakistani government on the compatibility of laws with Islam.
The law criminalizes underage marriages and introduces strict penalties of up to seven years in prison for family members, clerics and marriage registrars who facilitate or coerce children into early marriages. Any sexual relations within a marriage involving a minor, regardless of consent, will be considered statutory rape, according to the law. An adult man who marries a girl under the legal age could face up to three years in prison.
Pakistan’s National Assembly had unanimously passed the Islamabad Capital Territory Child Marriage Restraint Bill tabled by Pakistan Peoples Party’s (PPP) Sharmila Faruqui on May 16. Under the new law, the minimum legal age for marriage for both men and women in Islamabad is 18. Previously, it was 16 for girls and 18 for boys.
However, the Council of Islamic Ideology this week declared the said bill “un-Islamic,” saying that clauses of the bill, such as fixing the age limit for marriage and declaring marriage below the age of 18 as child abuse and punishable, did not conform with Islamic injunctions.
“The Islamabad Capital Territory Child Marriage Restraint Bill, 2025 is assented to, as passed by the Parliament,” President Zardari was quoted as saying in a notification issued from his office.
In Pakistan, 29 percent of girls are married by the age of 18 and 4 percent marry before the age of 15, according to Girls Not Brides, a global coalition working to end child marriage. In comparison, five percent of boys marry before 18.
PPP Senator Sherry Rehman thanked the president for signing the bill into law “despite all pressure.”
“Proud moment for Pakistan,” she said on X. “Thank you to all the women and men who made this possible after a long journey of twists and turns.”
Pakistan ranks among the top 10 countries globally with the highest absolute number of women who were married or in a union before turning 18.
Girls who marry young are less likely to complete their education and are more vulnerable to domestic violence, abuse and serious health complications.
Pregnancy poses significantly higher risks for child brides, increasing the chances of obstetric fistulas, sexually transmitted infections and even maternal death. Teenagers are far more likely to die from childbirth-related complications than women in their twenties.
Pakistan, India close to completing border troop reduction, senior Pakistani general says
- Both nations attacked military installations in their mainlands this month before the US brokered a ceasefire on May 10
- General Sahir Shamshad Mirza says latest conflict has lowered the ‘threshold,’ won’t be restricted to disputed Kashmir
SINGAPORE: Pakistan and India are close to reducing the troop build up along their border to levels before conflict erupted between the nuclear-armed neighbors this month, a top Pakistani military official told Reuters on Friday, although he warned the crisis had increased the risk of escalation in the future.
Both sides used fighter jets, missiles, drones and artillery in four days of clashes, their worst fighting in decades, before a ceasefire was announced.
The spark for the latest fighting between the old enemies was an April 22 attack in Indian-administered Kashmir that killed 26 people, most of them tourists. New Delhi blamed the incident on “terrorists” backed by Pakistan, a charge denied by Islamabad.
On May 7, India launched missiles at what it said were “terrorist infrastructure” sites across the border and as Pakistan responded with its own attacks, both countries built up additional forces along the frontier.
General Sahir Shamshad Mirza, Pakistan’s chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, said the two militaries had started the process of drawing down troop levels.
“We have almost come back to the pre-22nd April situation... we are approaching that, or we must have approached that by now,” said Mirza, the most senior Pakistani military official to speak publicly since the conflict.
India’s ministry of defense and the office of the Indian chief of defense staff did not immediately respond to Reuters’ requests for comment on the remarks by Mirza.
Mirza, who is in Singapore to attend the Shangri-La Dialogue forum, said while there was no move toward nuclear weapons during this conflict, it was a dangerous situation.
“Nothing happened this time,” he said. “But you can’t rule out any strategic miscalculation at any time, because when the crisis is on, the responses are different.”
He also said the risk of escalation in the future had increased since the fighting this time was not limited to the disputed territory of Kashmir, the scenic region in the Himalayas that both nations rule in part but claim in full. The two sides attacked military installations in their mainlands but neither has acknowledged any serious damage.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi warned Pakistan this month that New Delhi would target “terrorist hideouts” across the border again if there were new attacks on India.
‘DANGEROUS TREND’
The two countries have fought three major wars, two of them over Kashmir, and numerous armed skirmishes since both were born out of British colonial India in 1947.
New Delhi blames Pakistan for an insurgency in India-administered part of Kashmir that began in 1989 and has killed tens of thousands. Pakistan says it provides only moral, political and diplomatic support to Kashmiris seeking self-determination.
“This (conflict) lowers the threshold between two countries who are contiguous nuclear powers...in the future, it will not be restricted to the disputed territory. It would come down to (the) whole of India and (the) whole of Pakistan,” Mirza said. “This is a very dangerous trend.”
Reuters has reported that the rapid escalation of hostilities ended in part because of behind-the-scenes diplomacy involving the US, India and Pakistan, and the key role played by Washington in brokering peace. India has denied any third-party role in the ceasefire and said that any engagement between India and Pakistan has to be bilateral.
But Mirza warned that international mediation might be difficult in the future because of a lack of crisis management mechanisms between the countries.
“The time window for the international community to intervene would now be very less, and I would say that damage and destruction may take place even before that time window is exploited by the international community,” he said.
Pakistan was open to dialogue, he added, but beyond a crisis hotline between the directors general of military operations and some hotlines at the tactical level on the border, there was no other communication between the two countries.
India’s foreign ministry spokesperson said on Thursday “talks and terror don’t go together” in response to a question on the possibility of dialogue with Pakistan.
Mirza said there were no backchannel discussions, or informal talks, to ease tensions. He also said he had no plans to meet General Anil Chauhan, India’s chief of defense staff, who is also in Singapore for the Shangri-La forum.
“These issues can only be resolved by dialogue and consultations, on the table. They cannot be resolved on the battlefield,” Mirza said.
