Pakistan asks intending pilgrims to get vaccinated against meningitis, flu before leaving for Hajj

KARACHI: A high-level Pakistani delegation will “shortly” visit the United States to address trade imbalance between the two countries, Pakistani Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb said on Friday.
The statement came after Aurangzeb’s meeting with Thomas Lersten, a senior State Department Official for economic growth, energy and environment, in Washington, on the sidelines of the International Monetary Fund-World Bank spring meetings.
The development comes as Islamabad mulls options, which range from importing crude oil from the US to abolishing tariffs on American imports, to offset a trade imbalance that has triggered higher tariffs from Washington.
In his meeting with Lersten, Aurangzeb thanked the United States for the participation of a well-represented US delegation in a minerals summit held in Pakistan this month, according to the Pakistani finance ministry.
“He expressed Pakistan’s desire to engage constructively to address the trade imbalance between the two countries and informed that a high-level trade and investment delegation was expected to visit the United States shortly to explore avenues of mutually rewarding economic engagement,” the ministry said.

Pakistan is looking to buy more cotton and soybean from the US, while it is also in talks to tear down non-trade barriers to open its markets to more US products.
“We can also look at if there are any issues with respect to non-tariff discussion, whether there are any onerous inspections at our end for US products, we can obviously view that,” Aurangzeb told Bloomberg this week.
Islamabad is trying to appease the US to seek reprieve from the 29 percent reciprocal tariffs imposed by Trump. Those levies are on hold until July.
The US is Pakistan’s largest export market with over $5 billion in annual exports as of 2024, while Pakistan’s imports from the US are about $2.1 billion.
Aurangzeb also held a meeting with senior representatives of the US Export-Import Bank (EXIM), led by its Vice Chairman Jim Barrows, according to his ministry. The finance minister briefed the EXIM delegation on Pakistan’s improving macroeconomic fundamentals and the fiscal consolidation measures undertaken by the government.
“He called for the EXIM Bank’s enhanced support to facilitate greater US investment in Pakistan,” the finance minister said.
“Senator Aurangzeb further expressed Pakistan’s desire to engage constructively with the United States to address tariff-related issues and strengthen bilateral trade relations.”
Authorities are trying to rebuild Pakistan’s tattered economy after it came close to a default in 2023. The South Asian nation last year secured a 37-month, $7 billion IMF program to help stabilize the $350 billion South Asian economy.
This month, Fitch upgraded Pakistan’s credit rating, citing confidence that the South Asian country will be able to sustain reforms under the IMF loan program.

QUETTA: Police in Pakistan’s southwestern Balochistan province have killed nine suspected militants in an intelligence-based operation in the Pishin district, the provincial police’s counter-terrorism department (CTD) said on Saturday.
The militants belonging to the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) were killed during a raid in Khanai Baba, a remote area of Pishin district located 55 kilometers from the provincial capital of Quetta, according to the CTD.
The TTP, which has been fighting with the Pakistani state since 2007, has stepped up its attacks in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan provinces, following the Taliban’s takeover of Kabul in August 2021.
Islamabad has frequently accused Afghanistan of sheltering and supporting anti-Pakistan militant groups, including the TTP, that carry out cross-border attacks in Pakistan. Taliban authorities deny the allegation.
“The Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) Balochistan carried out the raid in Pishin, killing nine terrorists of TTP after an exchange of fire,” the CTD said in a statement. “Explosives and arms were seized during the operation.”
The CTD said the slain militants had been involved in various militant activities in the province, without offering any evidence.
Pakistan has been battling twin insurgencies: one led my religiously motivated groups like the TTP, mainly in its Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, and the other by ethno-nationalist Baloch separatist groups in Balochistan.
The CTD raid followed a roadside blast in Balochistan that killed three paramilitary troops and injured four others in the Marget coalfield area near Quetta on Friday, a local administration official said.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, but suspicion is likely to fall on ethnic Baloch separatist militants, who frequently target security forces, Chinese nationals, ethnic Punjabi commuters and laborers in the restive province.
The separatists accuse Islamabad of exploiting the province’s natural resources, such as gold and copper. Successive Pakistani governments have denied the allegations and said they only worked for the uplift of the region and its people.
Last month, the Baloch Liberation Army separatist group hijacked a train with hundreds of passengers aboard near Balochistan’s Bolan Pass, which resulted in the deaths of 23 soldiers, three railway employees and five passengers. At least 33 insurgents were also killed.
In a statement, Balochistan Chief Minister Sarfaraz Bugti praised the CTD action against militants in Pishin.
“The intelligence-based operation averted a major tragedy in Balochistan,” he said. “The law enforcement agencies remain fully determined to completely eradicate terrorism from Pakistan.”