Pakistan, Bahrain military leaders discuss regional security, bilateral cooperation
Pakistan, Bahrain military leaders discuss regional security, bilateral cooperation/node/2593973/pakistan
Pakistan, Bahrain military leaders discuss regional security, bilateral cooperation
In this handout picture provided by Inter Service Public Relations on March 18, 2025, Commander of the National Guard of the Kingdom of Bahrain, Gen. Sheikh Mohammed Bin Isa Bin Salman Al Khalifa (left), meets Pakistan's Army Chief General Asim Munir at General Headquarters in Rawalpindi, Pakistan. (ISPR)
ISLAMABAD: The top military officials of Pakistan and Bahrain discussed regional security and ways to strengthen bilateral military cooperation to meet security challenges, Pakistan’s military said on Tuesday.
General Sheikh Mohammed Bin Isa Bin Salman Al Khalifa, the commander of the National Guard of Bahrain, met Pakistan’s Army Chief General Syed Asim Munir at the General Headquarters (GHQ) in Rawalpindi, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the Pakistani military’s media wing, said.
Al Khalifa praised Pakistan Army’s professionalism and appreciated their efforts in combating “terrorism,” the ISPR said.
“During the meeting, both leaders engaged in discussions on matters of mutual interest, the regional security landscape, and avenues for strengthening bilateral military cooperation,” the military’s media wing said.
Munir underscored the significance of enhanced collaboration in addressing shared security challenges and fostering peace and stability in the region, the ISPR added.
Bahrain is a key member of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), and a favorite destination for the Pakistani workforce since the early 1970s, according to Pakistan’s foreign ministry.
Pakistan enjoys cordial relations with Gulf countries and regularly partakes in bilateral military drills with them to foster joint cooperation to counter security challenges.
Both countries have established a Joint Ministerial Commission (JMC) at the level of the foreign ministers, with the Pakistan-Bahrain trade volume between $500 million and $1 billion in recent years, as per Pakistan’s foreign ministry.
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif visited the Prophet Mosque in Madinah and offered prayers there during his visit to Saudi Arabia, Sharif’s office said late Thursday.
Sharif is on a four-day visit to the Kingdom to strengthen trade and investment ties. The two countries enjoy close defense, diplomatic, political and cultural relations, though they have consolidated their ties further in recent years as Pakistan grappled with a prolonged economic crisis and sought the kingdom’s help.
Pakistan has tried to strengthen business-to-business (B2B) relations with the Kingdom, with both sides announcing during his visit to Riyadh last October they had signed 34 memorandums of understanding and agreements worth $2.8 billion to enhance private sector collaboration and commercial partnerships.
“Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif visited and paid his respects at Roza-e-Rasool (Peace Be Upon Him) after arriving in Madinah,” Sharif’s office said.
“The doors of Riyazul Jannah were exclusively opened for the prime minister and his delegation.”
The prime minister, along with his delegation, offered prayers at Prophet’s Mosque and prayed for the unity of the Muslim world and the prosperity of Pakistan, according to his office.
Earlier upon his arrival in Madinah, Sharif was received at the airport by Madinah Governor Prince Salman bin Sultan.
On Thursday, the Pakistan premier also met Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and discussed cooperation between both countries in economic, trade, investment, energy and defense sectors, according to Sharif’s office.
Separately, Sharif also met Saudi Investment Minister Khalid Al-Falih and Mohammad Al-Tuwaijri, the head of the Joint Task Force for Economic Engagement. The discussions focused on strengthening economic cooperation, attracting Saudi investments and expediting joint initiatives in key sectors.
“The PM reaffirmed Pakistan’s commitment to facilitating Saudi investors, highlighting the country’s strategic position and investment-friendly policies,” the PM’s office said. “He emphasized Pakistan’s vast potential in energy, infrastructure, agriculture and technology, inviting Saudi businesses to explore opportunities under the Special Investment Facilitation Council.”
The two sides also discussed enhancing institutional collaboration to accelerate investment projects and ensure smooth implementation and strengthening the Pakistan-Saudi economic partnership through “structured engagements and swift execution of joint projects.”
KARACHI: Pakistan’s foreign direct investment (FDI) witnessed a slump of 45 percent in the month of February, the CEO of the Overseas Investors Chambers of Commerce & Industry (OICCI) said on Thursday, pointing to reluctance of investors to park their money in a country where “policies remain mostly inconsistent and businesses over-regulated.”
Pakistan’s government is working hard to convince foreign countries, including China, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates as well as multinational firms, to invest in its mineral, agriculture, information technology and other sectors under the banner of the Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC), a civil-military forum.
The South Asian country of more than 240 million people, however, could only attract $95 million FDI in February compared with $172 million in the same month last year, according to the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) data. Pakistan’s total FDI inflows in the first eight months of this fiscal year (Jun. 2024-Feb. 2025) stood at $1.62 billion.
“We lack consistency in our policies. Though political uncertainty is also important, policies that keep facing sudden changes, matter more,” said M. Abdul Aleem, chief executive officer of the Overseas Investors Chambers of Commerce & Industry (OICCI), told Arab News.
The OICCI is the oldest chambers of South Asia which represents more than 200 multinational companies operating in Pakistan. Some of its prominent members include Citibank N.A., Coca-Cola Beverages Pakistan Ltd., Akzo Nobel Pakistan Ltd., Toyota’s Pakistan unit Indus Motor Company Ltd., Mitsubishi Motors Corporation and Maersk Pakistan (Pvt.) Ltd.
In the past decade, Aleem said, his chamber had reinvested more than $22 billion in Pakistan, compared with $19.8 billion the country attracted on account of FDI from new projects, including the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).
“About 100 billion rupees of tax refunds of our member companies are stuck (with the government),” said the OICCI official, who has an extensive portfolio of leadership positions in Exxon Chemicals, Engro Corporation and the British American Tobacco Group UK.
Pakistan saw the departure of some large multinational companies in recent years.
TotalEnergies sold its 50% shareholding in Total PARCO Pakistan Limited to commodities giant Gunvor Group last year in August, while Shell Petroleum Company Limited signed an agreement with Wafi Energy LLC of Saudi Arabia to sell its majority stake in the Pakistan business in Nov. 2023.
“You saw some oil companies leaving Pakistan recently. Shell left, Total Parco left. They left because of all these factors that kept building up for years,” Aleem said.
“Many pharmaceutical companies shrank their businesses in Pakistan after the government started controlling the prices of medicines,” he said, without naming the firms.
Aleem cited Pakistan’s recently introduced refinery policy as an example that was “hurting” investor sentiment as a sudden change in the relevant tax laws made the deal “unviable” for companies.
“The foreign investors look at all these things and get upset. Good or bad you make a policy at once and do not change it,” he explained.
Pakistan faces a balance of payment crisis time and again and should therefore incentivize exports-oriented businesses that could invest their money in the country and export what they produce, according to the OICCI official.
“IT was one such area where the potential was very high. But then you see what sort of problems the Internet speed is facing,” he said.
Pakistan, a country of over 240 million, has witnessed up to 40% drop in Internet speeds in the last few months, according to the Wireless and Internet Service Providers Association of Pakistan (WISPAP). The drop came as the government last year moved to implement a nationwide firewall to block malicious content and protect government networks from cyberattacks, with IT associations saying the slowdowns have resulted in significant losses.
The OICCI secretary general said the government should activate the Board of Investment (BoI) to facilitate foreign investors through a one-window operation.
“The SIFC must be doing a good job but it is the Board of Investment’s job. If a foreign investor would deal with the army what impression would he get,” he said.
Pakistan constituted the SIFC, a civil-military body, in June 2023 to attract international investment in agriculture, energy, livestock, tourism, mining and minerals, and other priority sectors, amid an economic meltdown. The South Asian country averted a default that year, thanks to a $3 billion International Monetary Fund (IMF) program, and is currently navigating a path to economic recovery under another $7 billion IMF bailout.
Last week, Pakistan’s finance adviser Khurram Schehzad said the government was actively working to attract efficient, export-driven FDI to strengthen Pakistan’s economic foundation. But the country’s volatile security situation and the cash-strapped government’s revision of mid-stream unilateral contracts are further deteriorating the situation.
Kaiser Bengali, a Karachi-based development economist, said the SIFC was an ad hoc body which was working without having any “constitutional basis.”
“It is here today, gone tomorrow. Investors need certainty,” he said.
Bengali said Pakistan’s macroeconomic framework over the last four decades was geared to promote wealth generation via speculation in the stock market, real estate and under-invoicing of imports, rather than investment in productive sectors like manufacturing.
“Thus, foreign funds flow as short-term portfolio investment,” he said. “Thus, there is little incentive for serious FDI.”
ISLAMABAD: A Pakistani army captain and ten militants were killed in a gunfight in Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province, the Pakistani military said on Friday, in the latest incident of militant violence in the region.
The gunfight took place during an intelligence-based operation in KP’s Dera Ismail Khan district, according to the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the Pakistani military’s media wing.
The slain officer was identified as Captain Husnain Akhtar, while the dead militants were described as “Khwarij,” a phrase authorities use for the Pakistani Taliban, or the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).
“During the operation, weapons and ammunition were also recovered from the killed khwarij, who remained actively involved in numerous terrorist activities against the Law Enforcement Agencies as well as target killing of innocent civilians,” the ISPR said in a statement.
“Sanitization operation is being conducted to eliminate any other Kharji found in the area, as the security forces of Pakistan are determined to wipe out the menace of terrorism from the country and such sacrifices of our brave young officers further strengthen our resolve.”
Pakistan has struggled to contain a surge in militancy in KP since a fragile truce between the Pakistani Taliban and Islamabad broke down in November 2022. The TTP and other militant groups have frequently targeted security forces convoys and check-posts, besides targeted killings and kidnappings of law enforcers and government officials in recent months.
Earlier this month, a paramilitary troop and 12 militants were killed in a gunbattle in KP’s Tank district after the militants carried out a suicide attack at the Frontier Constabulary (FC) headquarters, a police official with direct knowledge of the development said.
Pakistan says the takeover of Kabul by the Afghan Taliban in 2021 has emboldened the TTP as it is able to operate out of and launch attacks from safe havens in neighboring Afghanistan. Kabul denies the allegation.
ISLAMABAD: Prominent Pakistani religiopolitical party Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan (JI) is expected to hold a protest march outside the US embassy in Islamabad and its consulates in other parts of the country today, Friday, against Washington’s support for Israel’s fresh strikes in Gaza that have killedover 500 people this week and threatened to disrupt the fragile ceasefire in the enclave.
Since Tuesday, Israeli airstrikes have killed 510 Palestinians, with more than half of them women and children, a health official in Gaza said. The Israeli military said on Thursday it had begun conducting ground activities in the northern Gaza Strip, along the coastal route in the area of Beit Lahia.
The latest escalation is a blow to the ceasefire agreement reached between Israel and Hamas on Jan. 15 following more than a year of Israeli airstrikes that flattened much of Gaza’s infrastructure, including schools, hospitals and residential neighborhoods. Around 48,000 Palestinians in Gaza were killed during the 15-month war that began in October 2023.
“We will march toward all American consulates and its embassy in Islamabad,” Naeem-ur-Rehman, the head of the party, said at a news conference on Thursday. “We will protest and our protest will be peaceful.”
— Jamaat e Islami Pakistan (@JIPOfficial) March 20, 2025
He pointed out that protests outside consulates and embassies take place worldwide, wondering why authorities in Pakistan do not allow the same to take place.
“It will be a peaceful [protest] from our side but it is the government’s responsibility to ensure the situation remains peaceful and it allows this peaceful protest to take place,” Rehman said. “So that just like the entire world is standing against oppressors, Pakistan can also contribute to it.”
This is not the first time that the JI has announced a rally outside the US embassy to protest Israel’s bombardment in Gaza. In May last year, Islamabad police prevented JI supporters from marching toward the US embassy in Islamabad to protest against Israel’s airstrikes in Gaza.
Police used batons on the demonstrators, angering hundreds of rallygoers who briefly blocked a key road and later staged a sit-in near a high-security area where foreign embassies and the offices of president, prime minister and parliament are located.
JI students posted videos on social media, claiming they were beaten by police who did not allow them to go toward the American embassy for a peaceful rally.
Pakistan does not have diplomatic relations with Israel and has frequently criticized it for its military operations in Gaza.
Pakistan’s ambassador at the UN, Munir Akram, this week called for the resumption of humanitarian aid to the Palestinian enclave and the need for a revival of negotiations leading to a two-state solution.
He also called for an independent Palestinian state along pre-1967 borders and East Jerusalem as its capital.
ISLAMABAD: Wearing his signature pink Foodpanda uniform, Hajji Khan stood waiting outside the white gate of a house in the Pakistani capital an hour before sunset would usher in the iftar meal in the holy month of Ramadan earlier this week.
Minutes later, the gate opened, and a customer received his order and paid Khan, who hurriedly hopped back onto his bike and sped off to complete the next delivery for Foodpanda, a prominent online food and grocery delivery platform in Pakistan.
The going gets a bit tough for Khan and other Foodpanda riders during the holy month of Ramadan, when Muslims fast from dawn to dusk and often order food through restaurants or home chefs for the iftar and pre-dawn suhoor meals. Because the timing of the fasting meals are set, there is no room to be late, and riders like Khan, 25, often have to break their fast on the go with water and a fried snack bought from a nearby food stall, or by sitting down for a quick, free meal at a roadside charity ‘dastarkhwan.’
“We do our best to ensure timely deliveries before iftar so that customers can break their fast peacefully,” Khan said this week as Arab News accompanied him on pre-sunset delivery runs.
Haji Khan, a Foodpanda rider, picks up an order from a restaurant in Islamabad, Pakistan, on March 14, 2025. (AN Photo)
“We usually break our fast at free iftar dastarkhwans set up along the roadside. However, if I have many orders, then I break my fast while on the way to a delivery.”
The youngest of five brothers who left his home in the eastern Pakistani city of Sargodha four years ago to find work in Islamabad, Khan says he works in Ramadan from 2pm till the end of the suhoor meal at around 5am, making around Rs50,000 [$178.61] during the holy month, a modest income that barely covers basic expenses.
GoNSave, a data company that serves leading gig platforms, said in a survey this month riders who worked during Ramadan and Eid cited personal financial needs, higher earnings from increased demand and incentives, and more job flexibility. At least 26.66 percent choose only to work during Ramadan.
‘SMALL ACTS OF KINDNESS’
While there are few orders during the morning and afternoon, Ramadan rush hour begins at around 4pm, around two hours before iftar. Then, it is no doubt a challenge to navigate the city’s busy and traffic-snarled roads on an empty stomach, the aroma of food wafting from the delivery box.
“Normally the day passes smoothly while fasting, but it becomes very challenging in the afternoon, when we start delivering food orders and the smell of food intensifies our hunger,” Khan said.
“This is our peak time, and fasting feels particularly difficult but we push ourselves to take as many orders as possible and deliver them before iftar.”
Haji Khan, a Foodpanda rider, prays at a local mosque in Islamabad, Pakistan, on March 14, 2025. (AN Photo)
Khan, who delivers around 25 orders per day, says generous customers sometimes invite him in to break his fast if it is close to iftar time.
These “small acts of kindness,” as Khan described them, made “all the difference” and pushed him to keep performing his duties despite the challenges.
“Sometimes, a kind customer invites me to break my fast with them or they hand me an iftar parcel,” he said, as he stopped at a mosque for Asr, the third of five obligatory prayers in Islam.
“But if there’s nothing, I stop at a roadside dastarkhwan and share a meal with strangers who for a moment feel like family.”
