Pakistan Financial News

Pakistan has made a formal request to IMF for seeking the next bailout package in the range of USD 6 to USD 8 billion with the possibility of augmentation through climate financing, a media report said on Saturday. Cash-strapped Pakistan also requested to dispatch the International Monetary Fund (IMF) review mission next month to firm up details of the next bailout package for three years under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF). However, the exact size and timeframe of the new package will only be determined after evolving consensus on the major contours of the next programme in May 2024, Geo News reported from Washington.

Amit Shah said on Thursday that on one side there is Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi who take vacation abroad every three months and on the other side, is Narendra Modi who does not take leave even on Diwali. Addressing a public meeting here today, Amit Shah exuded confidence in winning all the 25 seats in Rajasthan. «Rajasthan is going to give all 25 seats to Modi ji for the third time by doing a hat-trick. This election is clearly divided into two camps. On one side there is Congress which committed Rs 12 lakh crore scam and on the other side there is Narendra Modi, on whom nobody can put allegations of even 25 paisa. On one side there is Rahul baba and his sister who take vacation abroad every three months and on the other side there is Narendra Modi who does not take leave even on Diwali,» he said.

violence marred voting in Cooch Behar in West Bengal, with violent incidents being reported from Sitai, Dinhata, Bhetaguri and other parts of the constituency. Despite ECI keeping a close watch, BJP and Trinamool workers clashed with each other and «bombs were recovered from BJP block president's house».

National Investigation Agency (NIA) has frozen the immovable property of a key operative in a 2021 case relating to a fatal motorcycle-borne explosion in Punjab, with links to notorious Pakistan-based Khalistterrorists Habib Khan, alias Doctor and Lakhveer Singh, alias Rode.

e suicide bombing incident that took place in Pakistan's port city of Karachi, said police, adding that the attacker detonated his explosive-laden vest near a van carrying the workers. Local police chief Arshad Awan said said the vehicle was heading to an industrial area where five Japanese nationals worked at Pakistan Suzuki Motors, The Associated Press reported. Police escorting the Japanese returned fire after coming under attack, killing an accomplice of the suicide bomber whose remains were found from the scene of the attack.

Pakistan Army has constituted a high-level inquiry committee headed by a major general to look into the allegations against Lt-Gen (retd) Faiz Hameed that he as the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) director-general misused his authority, according to a media report on Thursday. The inquiry has been ordered according to the orders of the Supreme Court and in the light of the directives of the Ministry of Defence, The Express Tribune newspaper reported. This is the first formal inquiry ordered against Gen Faiz, who resigned in November 2022, four months before his retirement. Faiz served as the Director-General Counter Intelligence in the ISI and later headed the same spy agency. His name surfaced in many controversies, including the Faizabad Dharna case.

Bushra Bibi. PTI reported that Bushra Bibi, 49, was convicted in a corruption case as well as in the case of illegal marriage with Khan, 71, and is currently held in detention at their Bani Gala residence in the suburbs of Islamabad. Imran Khan in a conversation with journalists at Adiala Jail where he is currently incarcerated hurled allegations against the army chief, according to a long post uploaded on Khan's official X account.

Rajnath Singh on Wednesday questioned the intention behind the CPI(M)'s poll manifesto promise to dismantle nuclear weapons in the country and demanded to know the stand of the Congress on this issue. Singh alleged talk of dismantling India's nuclear weapons amounted to playing with national security and that there was a «deep-rooted conspiracy to weaken the country». He accused the Left and the Congress, both allies in the anti-BJP INDIA bloc, of apparently trying to weaken the country. Speaking at a public meeting in Kasaragod Lok Sabha seat seeking votes for BJP candidate M L Ashwini, Singh demanded that the Congress should clarify its stand on the CPI(M)'s promise in the manifesto to dismantle nuclear weapons as it was the Indira Gandhi government which kicked off the country's nuclear programme in 1974.

Army Training Command (ARTRAC), Lt Gen Manjinder Singh, has said that the war between Russia-Ukraine and Israel-Hamas has been a learning experience for India, as it may face similar warfare practices from terror-hit regions on Pakistan's borders. He said this at the Army Training Command (ARTRAC) investiture ceremony held at the Army Training Command in Shimla on Tuesday. Lt Gen Singh, awarded ARTRAC Unit awards to the Army officials for their noteworthy performance in the year 2022-23.

Also Read: Explained | Why are crude oil prices elevated after OPEC+ policy decision and how will it impact India? Primorsk on the Baltic handled 10 tankers in three of the past four weeks, possibly reflecting a diversion to exports of crude that would have been processed at refineries hit by Ukrainian drones. The port hasn’t handled more than 11 tankers in a week in data back to the start of 2022. Refining rates are languishing near an 11-month low as repairs continue.

Officials say Pakistan’s prime minister has called for closer cooperation between Saudi Arabia and his cash-strapped Islamic nation to enhance Saudi investment in his country

Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister is leading a high-level delegation on a two-day visit to Pakistan, which is seeking help in overcoming one of its worst economic crises

BJP believes in winning the hearts of people which will ultimately lead to the 'lotus', his party's poll symbol, blooming across the Valley, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said on Tuesday, rejecting rival parties' charge the BJP was more interested in the land of Kashmir than the welfare of its people. While reaching out to the youths of Kashmiri, he slammed the Congress, the National Conference and the PDP, alleging these parties were responsible for fake encounters and incidents of firing on the youth in the Valley. But the BJP, under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, restored peace and ensured development after the abrogation of Article 370 by putting an end to terrorism, stone-pelting and Pakistan-sponsored strikes, he said. The BJP's rival parties have asked people not to vote for the BJP and its «proxies», claiming the ruling party was more interested in the land of Kashmir than the welfare of its people.

Lightning and heavy rains have killed at least 49 people across Pakistan in the past three days, officials said Monday, as authorities in the country's southwest declared a state of emergency. Some deaths occurred when lightning struck farmers harvesting wheat. Rains caused dozens of houses to collapse in the northwest and in eastern Punjab province.

India has showcased itself as a global leader, the top intelligence official from the US Department of Defense has told the Congress that in 2023, India took steps to modernise its military to compete with China and reduce its dependency on Russian origin-equipment. «During the past year, India has showcased itself as a global leader by hosting the Group of 20 economic summit and demonstrated a greater willingness to counter PRC (People's Republic of China) activity throughout the Indo-Pacific region,» Lt Gen Jeffrey Kruse, Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency told members of the House Armed Services Committee — the subcommittee on intelligence and special operations during a Congressional hearing on defence intelligence countering China. India, he said, has advanced partnerships in the Indo-Pacific with regional South China Sea claimants, such as the Philippines, through training and defence sales and deepened cooperation with the US, Australia, France and Japan.

Swaminathan Aiyar, Consulting Editor, ET Now, says “the emphasis is on more of the same. The thing is not to be different. The aim of the exercise is saying I am guaranteeing you that I have done so well for you. I am such a fantastic guy, the world looks up to me, I have improved India’s stature in the world, I have defended you against Pakistan, so I am such a great guy. I am giving you more of the same and I am giving my guarantee that I am more of the same. So, the emphasis really is more of the same, I would say, rather than saying how it is different.” Aiyar further says: “In four areas – education, employment, environment, and the police judicial system, major structural reforms are required, but they have not been attempted. And they have not been attempted because they are not easy areas to do. The attempts so far have not got very far. The BJP does not want to rock the boat at this particular point of time, even though it does have the political capital to do so. So, it is not attempting to do structural change in these four very important areas.”

Strait of Hormuz on Saturday. Amir-Abdollahian conveyed this to External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar during a telephonic conversation on Sunday, according to an Iranian readout. In the talks, Jaishankar called for release of the Indians onboard Portuguese-flagged cargo vessel MSC Aries.

Revanth Reddy has made predictions regarding the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, suggesting that Prime Minister Modi's party may not achieve the landslide victory it seeks. Despite the bold slogan «Ab Ki Baar, 400 Paar,» Reddy anticipates a more modest outcome for the ruling party. In an interview on Rajat Sharma's show «Aap Ki Adalat,» Reddy said, «There are 129 LS seats in the South. In Karnataka, they can win at most 10 to 12 seats and in Telangana they can win only two seats this time, compared to four in 2019.» Reddy further elaborated, «Even if they score 100 per cent, they can win only up to 300. ...The remaining 100 seats they can win only in Pakistan, not in Hindustan.»

Indian prisoner Sarabjit Singh's killer Amir Sarfaraz shot dead in Pak's Lahore Hooda had also attended the last rites of Sarabjit's sister Dalbir Kaur who died in 2022. On Sunday, a group of unidentified gunmen shot bullets into Tamba's chest in Sanat Nagar, Lahore. The assailants came on a motorcycle to Tamba's residence and started gunfire.

Indian prisoner Sarabjit Singh's killer Amir Sarfaraz shot dead in Pak's Lahore “If three or four people were involved in my father's murder, then this is them (Pakistan government) covering it up by killing that man (Tamba) to conceal the conspiracy that took place at that time," Sarabjit Singh's daughter stated. Amir Sarfaraz Tamba, an accused in the murder of Sarabjit Singh, the Indian death row prisoner in Pakistan, and a close associate of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terror outfit founder Hafiz Sayeed, was killed by unidentified gunmen in Lahore on Sunday.

New Delhi: Amir Sarfaraz Tamba, an accused in the murder of Indian death row prisoner in Pakistan Sarabjit Singh and a close associate of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terror outfit founder Hafiz Sayeed, was killed by unidentified gunmen in Lahore on Sunday, official sources said. Tamba was attacked by motorcycle-borne assailants in the Islampura area of Lahore in Pakistan and was rushed in critical condition to a hospital where he succumbed to his injuries, the sources said. Singh, 49, died of cardiac arrest in Jinnah Hospital Lahore in the wee hours of May 2, 2013, after being comatose for nearly a week following a brutal assault by inmates including Tamba, inside the high-security Kot Lakhpat jail. Tamba, whose father's name is Sarfaraz Javed, was born in Lahore in 1979 and was a close associate of the LeT founder.