A once-banned Bangladeshi Islamist party, poised for its strongest electoral showing in February’s parliamentary vote, is open to joining a unity government and has held talks with several parties, its chief told Reuters on Wednesday. Opinion polls suggest that Jamaat-e-Islami will finish a close second to the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) in the first election […]
Over six months have passed since show-cause notices were issued to Spud Energy Limited (SEPL) and Frontier Holdings Limited (FHL) over alleged changes in ownership and effective control without prior government approval, yet no visible enforcement action has followed. The Petroleum Division’s inaction has raised serious questions about regulatory oversight in Pakistan’s upstream energy sector, […]
Pakistan’s equity market kicked off 2026 on a powerful note, with the benchmark KSE-100 index surging to a fresh all-time high amid broad-based buying and strong liquidity. The index closed Thursday’s session above 176,350, marking a robust gain of slightly over 2,300 points, as investor sentiment was buoyed by easing inflation, expectations of accommodative monetary […]
The federal minister for Pakistan Railways (PR) has claimed that by the end of 2026, all passenger trains operating across the railway network will be upgraded to offer a better travel experience, a move that, if materialised, would add comfort for passengers across all categories. Muhammad Hanif Abbasi said the initiative aims to significantly improve […]
Pakistan’s liquid foreign exchange reserves saw a modest increase in the final week of 2025, with the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) reporting a $13 million rise in its holdings. As of December 26, 2025, the SBP’s foreign currency reserves stood at $15.915 billion, up from $15.902 billion in the previous week. Net reserves held […]
The year 2025 brought both pain and gain in the energy sector during which the Shehbaz Sharif-led government made efforts to address the emerging and longstanding challenges. A major problem plaguing the energy sector for decades has been the chronic circular debt, which has impacted the entire chain. The current government inked a Rs1.225 trillion […]
Shining India has lost its lustre under Modi mania which grips India today. Unfortunately, the Nehruvian secularism has been totally eclipsed by the RSS-driven Hundutva Manusmriti. The Laws of Manu consecrating human indignity have engulfed Indian state as well as public imagination. As a perfect exemplar of the “Theory of Radicalization” of Crenshaw, the Indian […]
Nothing that is morally wrong can be politically right. — William Gladstone The recent confrontation between the Lahore High Court (LHC) and the Punjab government has brought into sharp focus a perennial dilemma of governance in Pakistan: how to balance speedy relief for citizens with the constitutional guarantees of due process and judicial oversight. At […]
For years, Pakistan’s digital governance architecture has been held hostage by a stubborn over-reliance on a single, fallible biometric marker on the other. The federal government’s decision to amend the National Identity Card Rules to legally recognise facial and iris scans — alongside fingerprints — marks a long-overdue correction to this imbalance. This is a major structural […]