The government has decided to clear liabilities of banks and employees of the Pakistan Agricultural Storage and Services Corporation (Passco) by disposing of the old stored wheat through competitive bidding. Passco has been holding stocks of imported wheat since 2022 and paying billions of rupees in interest costs. During discussions in a recent meeting of […]
Pakistan received $3.46 billion in workers’ remittances in January 2026, maintaining strong external inflows despite mixed performance across major corridors, with Europe and Western economies showing robust growth while remittances from the United States and parts of Asia weakened, according to provisional data released by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP). The January inflows were […]
The government has projected the collection of an additional Rs132 billion annually from power consumers through fixed charges across various domestic categories. However, the net impact on cross-subsidy is estimated at Rs101 billion, as the government has reduced electricity tariffs by up to Rs1.53 per unit for CY2026. On Tuesday, the National Electric Power Regulatory […]
Special Assistant to the Prime Minister for Industries and Production Haroon Akhtar Khan on Tuesday addressed the Japan-Pakistan Business Forum, reaffirming that relations between the two countries are not limited to diplomacy but represent a strong, mature, and forward-looking economic partnership built on mutual trust and shared prosperity. Addressing the forum in the presence of […]
The war did not begin on October 7, 2023, no matter how loudly that date is repeated to erase the long history of occupation and conflict that came before it. October 7 is used as a licence to forget, a convenient starting line that allows seventy-five years of dispossession, occupation, siege and repeated military assaults […]
A breakthrough of sorts in Imran Khan’s legal cases was attained yesterday as Supreme Court allowed PTI counsel, Salman Safdar, to meet the incarcerated former PM. This development has come after a long hiatus and severe political somersaults, as the family and lawyers have been denied an audience with the PTI founder. The secrecy around […]
As the country prepares for the holy month of Ramazan, many wholesalers and shopkeepers are also getting ready by marking up food prices, including a few items that had been getting cheaper in recent weeks. While movement of prices in either direction is normal, and slight increases would be expected for items that see increased […]
Wars in the twenty-first century are no longer confined to borders, battalions or battlefields. Some wars seep quietly into societies — through markets, kiosks, and everyday habits — causing damage that is slow, cumulative and devastating. Pakistan today is facing such a silent war, and one of its most visible weapons is illicit smokeless tobacco, particularly Indian-manufactured […]
The case of Jeffrey Epstein and the subsequent release of court documents, the ‘Epstein Files’ has become a powerful and controversial symbol of the intersection between extreme wealth, power and alleged criminality. Jeffrey Epstein, although highly intelligent and resourceful person with formidable cognitive agility, was a convicted sex offender. He pleaded guilty in 2008 to […]
A United Nations Security Council (UNSC) report has said that attacks on Pakistan by the banned terrorist Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) group from Afghanistan have increased, endorsing Islamabad’s long-running complaints about militant sanctuaries across the border. The 37th report by the Analytical Support and Sanctions Monitoring Team, dated February 4, not only endorsed Islamabad’s stance that Afghanistan […]