Pakistan’s deputy PM briefs Saudi FM on response to India’s actions after Kashmir attack

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Friday expressed satisfaction over the annual decline in Pakistan’s Sensitive Price Index (SPI), which he said had fallen to -3.52% in April 2025, compared to 26.94% in the same month last year.
The SPI measures weekly changes in the prices of essential items such as food, fuel and utilities across various consumption groups. Unlike the broader Consumer Price Index (CPI), which captures overall inflation, the SPI focuses on short-term price movements that affect low- and middle-income households most directly.
“The [SPI] rate stood at 26.94% in the same month last year, whereas in April 2025, it has been recorded at minus 3.52%,” the prime minister said in a statement issued by his office.
“The country’s economic indicators are improving with each passing day,” he added. “The government is making every effort to ensure that the benefits of these improving economic indicators reach the public.”
Sharif also commended his economic team for their efforts in stabilizing the economy and curbing inflation.​
In May 2023, Pakistan experienced its highest recorded inflation, with the CPI reaching 38% year-on-year, driven by surging food and energy prices.
The recent decline in the SPI indicates potential relief for consumers,​ though the government continues to face challenges in managing the economy, including meeting fiscal targets and securing external financing.

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Senate on Friday unanimously passed a resolution condemning what it called India’s “frivolous and baseless” attempts to link Islamabad to a deadly shooting in the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir, rejecting the allegation and accusing New Delhi of using “terrorism” as a political tool.
India has blamed Pakistan for the attack in the scenic town of Pahalgam in Kashmir’s Anantnag district, where gunmen killed 26 civilians on Tuesday in the deadliest assault on non-combatants in nearly two decades.
Pakistan has denied any involvement in the incident, with Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar reading out the resolution in the upper house of parliament that was later adopted by all the lawmakers.
“The Senate of Pakistan condemns terrorism in all its forms and manifestation, emphasizes that killing of innocent civilians is contrary to the values upheld by Pakistan [and] rejects all frivolous and baseless attempts to link Pakistan with the Pahalgam attack of 22nd April 2025 in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir,” he said.
The resolution denounced India’s suspension of the decades-old Indus Waters Treaty and reaffirmed Pakistan’s support for the Kashmiri people’s right to self-determination.
It also accused India of waging a “mala fide campaign” to malign Pakistan.
“The country’s sovereignty, security and interests demand that India should be held accountable for its involvement in different acts of terrorism and targeted assassinations on the soil of other countries, including Pakistan,” Dar continued.
He also reaffirmed Pakistan’s “unwavering moral, political and diplomatic support for and commitment to the Kashmiri people’s just struggle for realization of their inalienable right to self determination.”