In meeting with US lawmakers, Pakistani delegation says Delhi resisting dialogue with Islamabad

In meeting with US lawmakers, Pakistani delegation says Delhi resisting dialogue with Islamabad
Pakistan’s diplomatic mission, led by former foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, meets members of the Pakistan Caucus in the US Congress in Washington on June 5, 2025. (Photo courtesy: Bilawal House)
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Updated 05 June 2025
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In meeting with US lawmakers, Pakistani delegation says Delhi resisting dialogue with Islamabad

In meeting with US lawmakers, Pakistani delegation says Delhi resisting dialogue with Islamabad
  • Pakistan’s PM set up delegation last month, tasking it to present Islamabad’s perspective on recent India conflict
  • Pakistani delegation criticizes India’s suspension of water-sharing agreement, says endangers future of entire region

KARACHI: A Pakistani delegation led by former foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari met a group of American lawmakers on Thursday, telling them that India is consistently resisting dialogue to resolve bilateral issues.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif set up the delegation last month, tasking it to present Pakistan’s point of view regarding the country’s conflict with India last month. India and Pakistan last month engaged in four days of fighting, striking each other with missiles, drones, artillery and fighter jets before Washington brokered a ceasefire on May 10.

Bhutto Zardari’s delegation has held a series of meetings with top international diplomats since arriving in New York on Monday, urging the global community to help India and Pakistan enter a comprehensive dialogue to peacefully resolve their differences.

On Thursday the delegation met members of the US Congressional Pakistan Caucus in Washington. These included Republican party leaders Jack Bergman and Ryan Zinke and Democratic leaders Tom Suozzi and Ilhan Omar, among others.

“Pakistan remains committed to peace, but sadly, India consistently resists dialogue,” Bhutto Zardari was quoted as saying by Bilawal House, his official residence.

The former foreign minister criticized India’s decision to hold in abeyance the Indus Waters Treaty, a decades-old water-sharing agreement with Pakistan.

“India has weaponized water, endangering the future of not only Pakistan but the entire region,” he said.

He warned that if Indian hostility is not curbed in time, it could “seriously jeopardize regional peace.” The Pakistani politician reaffirmed his country’s desire for constructive engagement based on mutual respect and peaceful resolution of disputes, the statement said.

“The members of Congress welcomed the delegation, listened carefully to Pakistan’s concerns, and expressed willingness to strengthen bilateral engagement and regional stability,” the statement concluded.

Tensions between the arch-rivals began on April 22 when militants attacked a resort in Indian-administered Kashmir’s Pahalgam area, killing 26 tourists.

India blamed Pakistan for supporting militants involved in the attack, a charge Pakistan vehemently denied and called for a transparent, international probe into the incident.

Pakistan and India, bitter rivals, have fought two out of three wars over the disputed territory of Kashmir that they both claim in full but govern only parts of.

India accuses Pakistan of supporting militants in the part of Kashmir it administers. Islamabad denies the allegation and says it extends only diplomatic and moral support to the people of Kashmir.


Pakistan June inflation rises 3.2 percent year-on-year, in line with ministry forecast

Pakistan June inflation rises 3.2 percent year-on-year, in line with ministry forecast
Updated 35 sec ago
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Pakistan June inflation rises 3.2 percent year-on-year, in line with ministry forecast

Pakistan June inflation rises 3.2 percent year-on-year, in line with ministry forecast
  • On a month-on-month basis, prices increased 0.2 percent in June, reversing a 0.2 percent decline in May
  • The data comes after Pakistan’s central bank kept key interest rate unchanged at 11 percent in June

KARACHI: Pakistan’s consumer price inflation rose 3.2 percent year-on-year in June, the statistics bureau said on Tuesday, broadly in line with the finance ministry’s projection of 3 percent to 4 percent issued a day earlier.

On a month-on-month basis, prices increased 0.2 percent in June, reversing a 0.2 percent decline in May.

The data comes after Pakistan’s central bank kept its key interest rate unchanged at 11 percent in June.

The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) said in its latest monetary policy statement that inflation was expected to show some near-term volatility but gradually stabilize within the 5 percent to 7 percent target range.

The figures also come weeks after Pakistan unveiled its annual budget, which included new revenue measures and subsidy cuts as part of efforts to secure a long-term loan program from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Analysts have warned that higher energy and tax costs could stoke inflation in the second half of the year.

Pakistan’s stock exchange rose 2.3 percent on the day to close at an all-time high of 128475.7 points, on Tuesday, the first day of the new fiscal year.


Pakistan looking to sell excess LNG amid supply glut curbing local gas output — document

Pakistan looking to sell excess LNG amid supply glut curbing local gas output — document
Updated 27 min 22 sec ago
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Pakistan looking to sell excess LNG amid supply glut curbing local gas output — document

Pakistan looking to sell excess LNG amid supply glut curbing local gas output — document
  • The country has at least three LNG cargoes in excess that it imported from top supplier Qatar and has no immediate use for
  • Power generation from gas-fired plants, which historically accounted for a lion’s share of LNG, has declined in last 3 years

KARACHI/SINGAPORE: Pakistan is exploring ways to sell excess liquefied natural gas (LNG) cargoes amid a gas supply glut that could cost domestic producers $378 million in annual losses, according to a presentation and a government official familiar with the matter.

The country has at least three LNG cargoes in excess that it imported from top supplier Qatar and has no immediate use for, and is currently selling natural gas at steep discounts to local users, a second government official said.

Power generation from gas-fired power plants, which has historically accounted for a lion’s share of LNG use in the country, has declined for three straight years ended 2024, with cheaper solar power use dramatically gaining at the expense of gas-fired generation, data from energy think-tank Ember showed.

That has forced domestic producers of the fuel to curb production.

Pakistan is currently exploring the possibility of transferring LNG cargoes to rented tankers for “offshore storage and onward sale,” state-owned oil and gas producer OGDCL said in a presentation to industry and government.

“Excess LNG in the gas network has resulted in significant production operations impact for local exploration and production companies over last 18 months,” OGDCL said, adding that it had forced curtailment of domestic supply.

The domestic industry could suffer $378 million in losses over the next 12 months at the current rate of curtailment, according to the presentation dated May 29 reviewed by Reuters.

It is not immediately clear if Pakistan’s long-term LNG import contracts with QatarEnergy allows for a resale of cargoes. One of the government officials said the country was still exploring ways to do it.

Qatar typically has a destination clause in long-term supply contracts with buyers that restrict where the cargoes can be sold.

QatarEnergy did not immediately respond to a request seeking comment.

Pakistan has already deferred five contracted LNG cargoes from Qatar without financial penalty, shifting delivery from 2025 to 2026, as the country grapples with surplus capacity.

Pakistan’s petroleum minister Ali Pervaiz Malik declined to comment on the presentation, but said renegotiating contracts with Qatar was a “complex” process that could take at least a year, and a final decision on initiating it had yet to be made.

“While the existing contract with Qatar allows Pakistan to decline vessels, doing so incurs penalties and other complications,” Malik told Reuters.

The glut has stemmed from several gas-fired power plants, previously operating under must-run contracts, now being sidelined, Malik said.

“It was expected that summer season will create extraordinary demand but the trend indicates the opposite,” OGDCL said in the presentation.


Teenager killed, 11 injured as militants storm southwestern Pakistani town

Teenager killed, 11 injured as militants storm southwestern Pakistani town
Updated 01 July 2025
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Teenager killed, 11 injured as militants storm southwestern Pakistani town

Teenager killed, 11 injured as militants storm southwestern Pakistani town
  • The militants attacked and set fire to a bank, tehsil and other offices in Balochistan’s Mastung
  • Two militants were also killed in exchange of fire with security forces who responded to assault

QUETTA: Dozens of militants armed with guns and rockets stormed the Mastung town in Pakistan’s restive Balochistan province, a government spokesman and health officials said on Tuesday, with a teenager killed and 11 others injured in the attack.

The militants stormed a bank, tehsil and other offices, Balochistan government spokesman Shahid Rind said, adding that gunfire by militants killed a 16-year-old boy and injured seven others.

Dr. Saeed Meerwani, medical superintendent of Mastung District Headquarters Hospital, told one body and three injured were brought to the hospital, while Arbab Awais Kasi, a spokesman for Nawab Ghous Bukhsh Raisani Hospital, said the facility treated and discharged eight injured persons.

“FC [Frontier Corps paramilitary], CTD [Counter-Terrorism Department] and Levies [paramilitary] surrounded the area and the militants retreated,” Rind said in a statement.

“Two terrorists were killed and three were injured in the exchange of fire between security forces and terrorists.”

Rind said the attack was carried out by “Fitna Al-Hindustan,” a reference to alleged Indian-backed Baloch separatist groups in the region. New Delhi denies supporting militancy in Pakistan.

Balochistan has long been the scene of a low-level insurgency by separatists seeking independence from the central government. The province is also home to militants linked to the Pakistani Taliban and the Daesh (Islamic State) group.

“The swift response by security forces helped prevent further loss of lives,” Rind said. “A full-scale operation is underway against the terrorists present in the area.”

He said security agencies have also started searching for the facilitators of the attackers.

In recent months, the separatists have mounted their attacks against the government and security forces in Balochistan, where the military has a huge presence in and has long run intelligence-based operations against groups such as the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA).

In March, the BLA separatist hijacked a train with hundreds of passengers aboard near Balochistan’s Bolan Pass, which resulted in the deaths of 23 soldiers, three railway employees and five passengers. At least 33 insurgents were also killed.

More than 50 people, including security forces, were killed in August last year in a string of coordinated assaults in the province that were claimed by the BLA.


Militants storm police station, torch banks, kill a boy in southwest Pakistan

Militants storm police station, torch banks, kill a boy in southwest Pakistan
Updated 01 July 2025
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Militants storm police station, torch banks, kill a boy in southwest Pakistan

Militants storm police station, torch banks, kill a boy in southwest Pakistan
  • Local officials say some insurgents were killed in a shootout with security forces
  • No group has claimed responsibility, though suspicion is likely to fall on BLA militants

QUETTA: Dozens of militants armed with guns and rockets stormed a police station and set fire to two banks in restive southwestern Pakistan on Tuesday, killing a boy and wounding nine others before fleeing, officials said.

The boy died when the attackers fired on civilians indiscriminately during the attacks in Mastung, a district in Balochistan province, said Jan Mohammad, a local government administrator.

Mohammad said some of the insurgents were also killed in the shootout with security forces.

A provincial government spokesman, Shahid Rind, said a security operation had been launched to pursue the assailants.

No group immediately claimed responsibility, though suspicion is likely to fall on the outlawed Baloch Liberation Army, or BLA, which often targets security forces and civilians in Balochistan and elsewhere.

The United States designated the BLA a terrorist organization in 2019.

Balochistan has long been the scene of a low-level insurgency by separatist groups seeking independence from the central government.

The province is also home to militants linked to the Pakistani Taliban and Daesh group.
 


Pakistan arrests alleged land route agent linked to deadly Morocco boat tragedy

Pakistan arrests alleged land route agent linked to deadly Morocco boat tragedy
Updated 01 July 2025
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Pakistan arrests alleged land route agent linked to deadly Morocco boat tragedy

Pakistan arrests alleged land route agent linked to deadly Morocco boat tragedy
  • Migrant boat, which set off from Mauritania for Spain in January with 86 on board, mostly Pakistanis, drowned near coast of Morocco
  • Land route agent Ghulam Mustafa had been sending people to Europe since 2023 via maritime routes through Morocco, says FIA

ISLAMABAD: The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) on Tuesday announced it had arrested an agent involved in the Morocco boat tragedy, in which dozens of Pakistanis attempting to travel illegally to Europe had drowned near the African country’s coast earlier this year.

The boat had set off from Mauritania in January with 86 migrants on board, among them 66 Pakistanis, for the Canary Islands administered by Spain, international rights group Walking Borders had said. Moroccan authorities said on January 16 that 36 people were rescued from the vessel, while Pakistan confirmed survivors of the tragedy included 22 of its nationals.

Pakistani authorities have launched a crackdown against agents involved in illegally sending impoverished migrants through dangerous sea routes by offering them a chance at a better life in Europe. The FIA said its Faisalabad chapter arrested Ghulam Mustafa, a land route agent who was wanted for his involvement in the Morocco boat tragedy.

“Since 2023, the suspect had been working as a land route agent to send people to Europe via the maritime route through Morocco,” the FIA said in a press release.

It said Mustafa was part of the same network of human smugglers Abdul Ghaffar and Muhammad Sarfaraz, who were arrested by the FIA in February, for smuggling the migrants on the same boat that met an accident near Morocco.

The FIA said Mustafa, Ghaffar and Sarfraz were in contact with notorious African human smuggler Abubakar.

“The suspects were involved in extorting millions of rupees from Pakistani citizens under the pretext of sending them to Spain,” the statement said. “They were found to be facilitating the illegal transport of citizens to Spain via sea routes.”

A record 10,457 migrants, or 30 people a day, died trying to reach Spain in 2024. Most of them died while attempting to cross the Atlantic route from West African countries such as Mauritania and Senegal to the Canary Islands, according to Walking Borders.

In 2023, hundreds of migrants, including 262 Pakistanis, drowned when an overcrowded vessel sank in international waters off the southwestern Greek town of Pylos, marking one of the deadliest boat disasters ever recorded in the Mediterranean Sea.

The Pakistani government has ramped up efforts in recent months to combat human smugglers facilitating dangerous journeys for illegal immigrants to Europe, resulting in several arrests.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has also urged increased collaboration with international agencies like Interpol to ensure swift action against human trafficking networks.