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Pakistan shuts its airspace for 24 hours after fresh exchange of strikes with India

Pakistan shuts its airspace for 24 hours after fresh exchange of strikes with India
Ground staff stand next to the Pakistan International Airline (PIA) aircraft ahead of its takeoff for Paris at the Islamabad International Airport on January 10, 2025. (AFP/File)
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Updated 10 May 2025
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Pakistan shuts its airspace for 24 hours after fresh exchange of strikes with India

Pakistan shuts its airspace for 24 hours after fresh exchange of strikes with India
  • India-Pakistan tensions, sparked by last month’s attack Kashmir that killed 26 people, spiraled into a military conflict this week
  • The ongoing conflict has forced intermittent closure of airspaces in both countries, plunging the regional air traffic into disarray
Updated 10 May 2025
NAIMAT KHAN
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KARACHI: Pakistan has once again closed its airspace to all domestic and international flights for 24 hours, the country’s airports authority said on Saturday, hours after Islamabad hit Indian military targets in retaliation to what it said were strikes on three of its air bases.
India-Pakistan tensions, sparked by last month’s attack in Indian-administered Kashmir that killed 26 people, spiraled into a military conflict this week, when India conducted missile strikes on what it called “militant training camps” in five Pakistani cities, which Islamabad said killed 31 civilians.
Both sides have since exchanged drone, missile and artillery strikes, with either one claiming to have acted in retaliation. The ongoing conflict forced intermittent closure of airspaces in both countries, where flight operations were already affected since the neighbors closed their airspaces for the other shortly after the Kashmir attack.
While Pakistan partially resumed flight operations this week, Islamabad decided to close its airspace for another 24 hours after Pakistan launched strikes on Indian military targets in response to what it said were attacks on three of its air bases, one close to the capital, in the wee hours of Saturday.
“Pakistan’s airspace will remain closed for all types of flights until 12PM tomorrow (May 11),” a Pakistan Airports Authority (PAA) spokesperson said around Saturday noon.
The ongoing tensions between Pakistan and India have plunged flight operations across the region into a disarray, with several domestic and international flights delayed, canceled or returned. The state-run Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) this week suspended all flights after halting ground operations and initially diverting airborne planes to Karachi.
The latest closure bars both domestic and international air traffic from entering Pakistan’s airspace, a major corridor for flights between Europe and Asia.
Several Asian airlines, including EVA Air, Korean Air, Thai Airways and China Airlines, have rerouted or delayed flights for Europe, citing “safety concerns” due to the ongoing conflict. A Taipei-Milan flight was diverted to Vienna for refueling this week, while Korean Air opted for a longer route via Myanmar and Bangladesh.
India’s flight operations have also been impacted, with several airports closed.
The conflict has drawn international concern and world powers, including the United States, United Kingdom and China, have urged both countries to exercise restraint and avoid any escalation.

Topics: Pakistan India Ties

Pakistan says 700 army personnel killed in militant attacks in last 2 years

Pakistan says 700 army personnel killed in militant attacks in last 2 years
Updated 14 June 2025
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Pakistan says 700 army personnel killed in militant attacks in last 2 years

Pakistan says 700 army personnel killed in militant attacks in last 2 years
  • Pakistan has suffered a surge in militant attacks in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan provinces recently
  • Defense Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif blames New Delhi for supporting militant outfits in Pakistan
Updated 14 June 2025
Muhammad Ibrahim

ISLAMABAD: Around 700 army personnel have been killed in various militant attacks over the past two years, Pakistan’s Defense Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif said on Saturday, accusing India of supporting terror outfits in the country. 

Pakistan has witnessed a surge in militant attacks since November 2022 in its northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and southwestern Balochistan provinces bordering Iran and Afghanistan. In KP, the Pakistani Taliban or Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) outfit has carried out some of the deadliest attacks against law enforcers. 

In Balochistan, separatist ethnic Baloch militant groups demand independence from the state, accusing Islamabad of denying locals a share in the province’s mineral resources. Islamabad denies the allegations.

“In the past two years, 700 of our soldiers have been martyred,” Asif told lawmakers during a televised parliamentary session. “Our civilians have been martyred. Several districts of a province of ours are being targeted by terrorism.”

The minister said that militant outfits such as the TTP or the separatist Baloch Liberation Army are “agents of India,” alleging that they were fighting New Delhi’s war on Pakistani soil. 

“Any person who even has a speck of sympathy toward them is not a Pakistani,” Asif said, vowing that Islamabad would win its war against militancy. 

India and Pakistan have traded allegations of supporting militant groups for years. New Delhi blames Islamabad for supporting militant outfits who carry out attacks in Indian-administered Kashmir, an allegation that Pakistan has always rejected. 

The two countries engaged in a military confrontation for days last month after India attacked Pakistan with missiles, accusing it of supporting an April 22 attack in the Pahalgam tourist resort in Indian-administered Kashmir. 

Pakistan denied the allegations and called for an international, credible probe into the incident. 

The defense minister expressed solidarity with Iran over Israel’s recent attacks against it, vowing to extend support to the neighboring country.

“In this hour of trial, we are with them in every way,” Asif said. “Whatever help they need at the international level, at the United Nations or any other institution or at the Islamic conference, we will defend their interests there.”
 

Topics: militancy in Pakistan terrorism Tehreek e Taliban Pakistan

Pakistan calls for enhancing aid, educational assistance for Palestinians

Pakistan calls for enhancing aid, educational assistance for Palestinians
Updated 14 June 2025
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Pakistan calls for enhancing aid, educational assistance for Palestinians

Pakistan calls for enhancing aid, educational assistance for Palestinians
  • Pakistan’s foreign minister chairs meeting to review status of ongoing assistance for Palestinians
  • Palestinian death toll from 20-month Israel-Hamas war has passed 55,000, official figures say
Updated 14 June 2025
SAIMA SHABBIR

ISLAMABAD: Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar on Saturday stressed the need to enhance humanitarian relief and educational assistance for Palestinians bearing the brunt of Israel’s military operations in Gaza and the West Bank, the Pakistani foreign office said in a statement.

The Palestinian death toll from the 20-month Israel-Hamas war has passed 55,000, the Gaza Health Ministry said this week. Israeli forces have destroyed vast areas of Gaza, displaced about 90 percent of its population and in recent weeks have transformed more than half of the coastal territory into a military buffer zone that includes the now mostly uninhabited southern city of Rafah.

Pakistan has dispatched several aid consignments for the people of Palestine since last year and also granted scholarships and admissions to hundreds of Palestinian students in Pakistani universities since the war began in 2023.

“Reaffirming Pakistan’s unwavering moral, political, and diplomatic support for the Palestinian cause, the DPM/FM emphasized the need to enhance the provision of humanitarian relief to the Palestinian people as well as to extend educational assistance to the Palestinian students,” the foreign office said.

The statement was issued after Dar chaired a meeting to review the status of the ongoing assistance provided by Pakistan to the people of Palestine.

“The DPM/FM expressed deep concern over the worsening humanitarian situation in Gaza & West Bank, resulting from Israel’s blatant violations of human rights,” the statement said.

The war between the two sides began when Hamas fighters killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, in the Oct. 7, 2023 attack in Israel and abducted 251 hostages. More than half the captives have been released in ceasefires or other deals. Israeli forces have rescued eight and recovered the remains of dozens more.

Israel’s military campaign, one of the deadliest and most destructive since World War II, has transformed large parts of cities into mounds of rubble. Hundreds of thousands of people are living in squalid tent camps and unused schools, and the health system has been gutted, even as it copes with waves of wounded from Israeli strikes.

Topics: Pakistan Palestine War on Gaza

OIC’s COMSTECH eyes enhanced academic collaboration between Pakistan, Bangladesh

OIC’s COMSTECH eyes enhanced academic collaboration between Pakistan, Bangladesh
Updated 14 June 2025
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OIC’s COMSTECH eyes enhanced academic collaboration between Pakistan, Bangladesh

OIC’s COMSTECH eyes enhanced academic collaboration between Pakistan, Bangladesh
  • COMSTECH to organize visit by Bangladeshi delegation of universities to Pakistan from June 16-21
  • Visit to explore partnerships in higher education, science and technology, says COMSTECH
Updated 14 June 2025
Arab News Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: The OIC Ministerial Standing Committee on Scientific and Technological Cooperation (COMSTECH) is organizing an upcoming visit by a high-level delegation of Bangladeshi universities to Pakistan next week, the global body said this week, as it aims to enhance academic collaboration between the two countries.

The 10-member delegation will comprise vice-chancellors and senior officials from leading public and private sector universities of Bangladesh, COMSTECH said in a statement on Friday. The delegation is set to visit Pakistan from June 16 to 21.

The visit is being organized at COMSTECH’s invitation and is being facilitated by the Bangladesh High Commission in Islamabad, it said.

“The primary objective of the visit is to explore and enhance avenues of academic collaboration and institutional partnerships in the fields of higher education, science, and technology,” COMSTECH said in a press release.

“The delegation will participate in a series of high-level meetings, discussions, and interactive sessions with top Pakistani universities in Lahore and Islamabad.”

It said that these Pakistani institutions are members of COMSTECH’s Consortium of Excellence (CCoE), a collaborative network of premier universities dedicated to advancing scientific cooperation and educational excellence among OIC member states.

“This initiative reflects COMSTECH’s continued commitment to fostering inter-university cooperation and strengthening academic ties across the Muslim world, particularly between Bangladesh and Pakistan,” the statement concluded.

Ties between Pakistan and Bangladesh have improved recently. Once one nation, Bangladesh split from Pakistan after a brutal 1971 war with Dhaka drawing closer to Islamabad’s arch-rival New Delhi over the years.

However, long-time Bangladeshi prime minister Sheikh Hasina was ousted in August 2024 after her government was overthrown by a student-led protest. She fled via helicopter to India, with Dhaka attempting to extradite her.

Relations between India and Bangladesh’s interim government have been frosty since then, allowing Islamabad and Dhaka to rebuild ties slowly.

Topics: COMSTECH

Pakistan, EU discuss global security in fifth round of disarmament talks

Pakistan, EU discuss global security in fifth round of disarmament talks
Updated 14 June 2025
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Pakistan, EU discuss global security in fifth round of disarmament talks

Pakistan, EU discuss global security in fifth round of disarmament talks
  • Discussions focus on disarmament, non-proliferation of biological and chemical weapons, says Pakistani foreign office
  • Pakistan, European Union agree to hold sixth round of disarmament, non-proliferation talks in Brussels next year
Updated 14 June 2025
SAIMA SHABBIR

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and the European Union this week held the fifth round of non-proliferation and disarmament talks in Islamabad this week, where the two sides discussed enhanced cooperation and implications of emerging technologies on global and regional security, Pakistan’s foreign office said.

The talks between the two sides were held on June 12. The Pakistani delegation was led by Ambassador Tahir Andrabi, the additional foreign secretary for arms control, disarmament and international security. The EU delegation was headed by Ambassador Stephan Klement, the bloc’s special envoy for disarmament and non-proliferation.

The annual dialogue between both sides seeks to ensure global peace and regional stability through non-proliferation of weapons.

“Both sides engaged in a comprehensive exchange of views on issues related to international and regional peace, security, and strategic stability,” a statement from Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) said.

“Pakistan side briefed their EU interlocutors on developments in the wake of recent Pakistan-India conflict.”

India and Pakistan both engaged in the worst fighting between the nuclear-armed neighbors in decades last month before Washington brokered a truce on May 10. India accused Pakistan of deploying its nuclear-capable missile against it, a charge Islamabad denied.

The discussions also focused on various dimensions of disarmament and non-proliferation, with particular reference to the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) and the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), the statement said.

“In addition, the Dialogue reviewed recent trends in Multilateral Export Control Regimes (MECRs) and assessed the implications of Emerging Technologies on global security,” MoFA said. “The avenues for enhanced cooperation in the domain of Science Diplomacy were explored as well.”

The two sides agreed to hold the sixth round of the dialogue in Brussels in 2026.

The Pakistan–EU Dialogue on Non-Proliferation and Disarmament is a key part of the broader strategic engagement between Pakistan and the European Union, which has been institutionalized since 2012.

Pakistan says it attaches high importance to the dialogue, recognizing it as a vital platform for engagement on global and regional security, as well as on disarmament and non-proliferation issues.

Topics: Pakistan EU Ties

IMF-backed tariff reforms raise concerns for Pakistan’s auto industry despite rising car sales

IMF-backed tariff reforms raise concerns for Pakistan’s auto industry despite rising car sales
Updated 14 June 2025
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IMF-backed tariff reforms raise concerns for Pakistan’s auto industry despite rising car sales

IMF-backed tariff reforms raise concerns for Pakistan’s auto industry despite rising car sales
  • Government aims to cut overall tariffs by 4% over five years to promote export-led growth
  • Industry stakeholders warn removing regulatory duties could hurt local manufacturers
Updated 14 June 2025
Ismail Dilawar

KARACHI: While Pakistan’s automobile manufacturers are still parsing the government’s new financial plan, industry experts on Friday said proposed International Monetary Fund (IMF)-mandated reforms, such as the rationalization of trade tariffs, could erode long-standing protections for local industry.

Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb said the government plans to reduce the overall tariff regime by more than four percent over the next five years to steer the country toward an export-led growth model in line with the IMF program.

Under the National Tariff Policy 2025-30, the government aims to abolish additional customs duties (ACDs), regulatory duties (RDs) and provisions under the Fifth Schedule of the Customs Act, 1969. The goal is to simplify Pakistan’s tariff structure by reducing it to four duty slabs ranging from 0 to 15%.

The IMF-backed reforms are expected to lower Pakistan’s weighted average tariff by 3.2% points to 7.4%, said Shafiq Ahmed Shaikh, an automobile industry expert and former general manager of Pak Suzuki Motor Company Ltd.

“These tariff cuts will reduce protection to the auto industry along with reduction of the cost of vehicles,” he said. “It is a very sensitive point for industry… [and] must be discussed with the stakeholders for good, long-term and acceptable solutions.”

PARA-TARIFFS

Abdul Waheed Khan, spokesperson for the Pakistan Automotive Manufacturers Association (PAMA), said regulatory duties are designed to protect local industry and discourage unnecessary imports.

“The ACD too should gradually be abolished because such para-tariffs are not good,” he told Arab News.

Para-tariffs are taxes and duties levied in addition to standard customs tariffs, such as ACDs and RDs. While often introduced to curb imports or raise revenues, they are controversial because they can create complexity, raise costs and distort trade policy.

Pakistan’s federal budget also proposes raising the sales tax on 850cc small vehicles to 18% to bring parity between petrol or diesel-powered cars and hybrids.

“This would increase the cost of vehicles for middle income groups,” said Khan of PAMA, which represents the local operations of Honda, Suzuki, Toyota and 16 other manufacturers.

“This is not good for our Made-in-Pakistan policy as small vehicles will go costlier at a time when people’s disposable incomes are already not so good,” he continued, declining further comment on the budget.

CARBON LEVY

Pakistan’s automobile market, long dominated by Japanese firms like Honda, Toyota and Suzuki, has recently seen new entrants, particularly Chinese and Korean electric vehicle (EV) manufacturers like BYD, SAIC and Kia, operating through joint ventures.

“The existing industry will face good competition from EV and as we know, the future is of Electric Vehicles specially from China,” Shaikh, the automobile industry expert, told Arab News.

As one of the countries most affected by climate change, Pakistan also plans to introduce a carbon levy of up to Rs10 ($0.04) per liter on petrol, diesel and furnace oil over the next two years.

The move is intended “to discourage excessive use of fossil fuels and provide financial resources for climate change and green energy programs,” Finance Minister Aurangzeb said in his budget speech earlier this week.

Shaikh dismissed suggestions that the levy would raise car prices, arguing that consumers would instead begin shifting to EVs.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif also announced plans to impose differential taxes on the sale and import of vehicles based on engine size to promote the adoption of two- and three-wheeled EVs and reduce oil imports and pollution.

Syed Asif Ahmed, general manager of marketing at MG Motors, said the “industry is seeking clarity on recent budget.”

He noted that while the finance bill was silent on hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs), social media was abuzz with reports that the government may raise the sales tax from eight % to 18 % next year.

“If true, this will jeopardize the huge investment done by almost all automakers on HEV,” Ahmed said.

The MG Motors executive also warned against reduced regulatory duties on used cars and commercial imports under schemes meant for returning expatriates.

“[The] used cars importers are abusing the gift, baggage and transfer of residence scheme for commercial trading,” Ahmed said.

CAR SALES

While stakeholders have voiced concerns over policy shifts, vehicle sales continue to show signs of recovery.

Passenger car sales rose 31% in May to 11,119 units, while cumulative sales from July to May in the outgoing fiscal year increased 32% year-on-year to 94,388 units, according to PAMA data.

“[The] growth is supported by a more stable macroeconomic environment, lower interest rates, easing inflation and improving consumer sentiment,” said Myesha Sohail, an analyst at Topline Securities Ltd., in a recent research note.

Sohail expects this momentum to continue into the next fiscal year, driven by lower interest rates and a pipeline of new models across combustion, hybrid and plug-in hybrid categories.

Topics: Pakistan IMF Talks Pakistan Budget 2025-26 islamabad police

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