You are here

  • Home
  • Pakistan PM speaks to Iranian president after deadly port blast, discusses regional tensions

Pakistan PM speaks to Iranian president after deadly port blast, discusses regional tensions

Update Pakistan PM speaks to Iranian president after deadly port blast, discusses regional tensions
Thick, black smoke rises as rescuers arrive near the source of an explosion at the Shahid Rajaee port dock southwest of Bandar Abbas in the Iranian province of Hormozgan on April 26, 2025. (IRNA/AFP)
Short Url

https://arab.news/reurg

Updated 34 min 43 sec ago
Follow

Pakistan PM speaks to Iranian president after deadly port blast, discusses regional tensions

Pakistan PM speaks to Iranian president after deadly port blast, discusses regional tensions
  • The explosion that killed four took place at Iran’s largest commercial port in the southern Bandar Abbas city
  • The blast, likely caused by a fire at a hazardous materials depot, was felt by people within 50-kilometer radius
Updated 34 min 43 sec ago
SAIMA SHABBIR
Follow

KARACHI: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif spoke with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on Saturday, expressing condolences over a deadly explosion at Iran’s Shahid Rajaee port and discussing recent regional developments, including tensions with India.

At least four people were killed and more than 500 injured when a powerful blast ripped through the port in the southern city of Bandar Abbas earlier in the day, according to Iranian state media.

Authorities in Tehran said the explosion likely originated from a fire at a hazardous materials storage depot, with footage showing thick black smoke rising from the site and helicopters deployed to control the blaze.

“I spoke to my brother, Dr. Masoud Pezeshkian @drpezeshkian, President of Iran this evening, to express my deep shock at the tragic explosion at Shahid Rajaee Port, Bandar Abbas,” Sharif said in a social media post, adding that he expressed solidarity with the neighboring state on the loss of lives and prayed for early recovery of the injured.

The Shahid Rajaee port, located in Hormozgan province, is Iran’s largest commercial port. Iranian President Pezeshkian has ordered an investigation into the explosion, dispatching the interior minister to oversee the situation.

The blast caused significant damage to port infrastructure and was felt up to 50 kilometers away, according to Iranian news agencies.

During the call, Sharif also briefed Pezeshkian on Pakistan’s position regarding India’s recent actions following a deadly attack on tourists in Indian-administered Kashmir that killed 26 people earlier this week.

India has blamed Pakistan-based groups for the assault, expelled Pakistani diplomats and suspended the decades-old Indus Waters Treaty.

Islamabad has denied any involvement, offered a neutral investigation and warned that the use of water as a weapon was unacceptable and would be resisted.

Sharif said Pakistan desired regional peace and condemned militant violence in all forms and manifestations. He also reaffirmed Islamabad’s support for the Kashmiri people’s right to self-determination as enshrined in UN resolutions.

President Pezeshkian thanked Sharif for Pakistan’s message of solidarity and invited him to visit Tehran, according to the statement.

Pakistan and Iran share a long border and maintain complex political and economic ties.

Only a day earlier, Tehran had offered to mediate between Pakistan and India following the Kashmir attack, expressing readiness to help de-escalate tensions between the nuclear-armed neighbors.

– With input from AFP

Topics: Iran port blast Iran Shahid Rajaee port

Pakistan requests extra 10 billion yuan on China swap line, says finance minister

Pakistan requests extra 10 billion yuan on China swap line, says finance minister
Updated 12 min 21 sec ago
Reuters
Follow

Pakistan requests extra 10 billion yuan on China swap line, says finance minister

Pakistan requests extra 10 billion yuan on China swap line, says finance minister
  • Muhammad Aurangzeb says Pakistan aims to diversify its lending base by issuing panda bond
  • He expects IMF board to approve first loan review, climate resilience disbursement early next month
Updated 12 min 21 sec ago
Reuters

WASHINGTON: Pakistan has put in a request to China to augment its existing swap line by 10 billion yuan ($1.4 billion), Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb said, adding he expected the country would launch a Panda bond before year-end.

Pakistan has an existing 30 billion yuan swap line already, Aurangzeb told Reuters in an interview on the sidelines of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank Group spring meetings in Washington.

“From our perspective, getting to 40 billion renminbi would be a good place to move toward ... we just put in that request,” Aurangzeb said.

China’s central bank has been promoting currency swap lines with a raft of emerging economies, including the likes of Argentina and Sri Lanka.

Pakistan has also made progress on issuing its first panda bond — debt issued on China’s domestic bond market, denominated in yuan. Talks with the presidents of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) and Asian Development Bank (ADB) — the two lenders who are in line to provide credit enhancements for the issue — had been constructive, he said.

“We want to diversify our lending base and we have made some good progress around that — we are hoping that during this calendar year we can do an initial print,” he said.

Meanwhile, Aurangzeb expected the IMF executive board to sign off in early May on the Staff Level Agreement on its new $1.3 billion arrangement under a climate resilience loan program as well as the first review of the ongoing $7 billion bailout program.

Getting the green light from the IMF board would trigger a $1 billion payout under the program, which the country secured in 2024 and has played a key role in stabilizing Pakistan’s economy.

Asked about the economic fallout from the tensions with India following the killing of 26 men at a tourist site earlier this month, Aurangzeb said it was “not going to be helpful.”

The attack triggered outrage and grief in India, along with calls for action against neighbor Pakistan, whom New Delhi accuses of funding and encouraging terrorism in Kashmir, a region both nations claim and have fought two wars over.

After the attack, India and Pakistan unleashed a raft of measures against each other, with Pakistan closing its airspace to Indian airlines and suspending trade ties, and India suspending the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty that regulates water-sharing from the Indus River and its tributaries.

Trade flows between the two countries had already fallen off sharply following past frictions and totalled just $1.2 billion last year.

Aurangzeb estimated growth around 3% in the current financial year which ends in June 2025, and in the 4-5% range next year, with a view to hitting 6% thereafter.

Topics: Pakistan Pakistan China Ties Panda bonds Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb Arab News Pakistan

Pakistan engages Egypt, Turkiye, China after rejecting India’s accusations over Kashmir attack

Pakistan engages Egypt, Turkiye, China after rejecting India’s accusations over Kashmir attack
Updated 26 April 2025
Follow

Pakistan engages Egypt, Turkiye, China after rejecting India’s accusations over Kashmir attack

Pakistan engages Egypt, Turkiye, China after rejecting India’s accusations over Kashmir attack
  • Ishaq Dar reaffirms Pakistan’s commitment to safeguarding its national interests in his conversations
  • China and Pakistan agree to have close communication, coordination over the regional developments
Updated 26 April 2025
Arab News Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister (DPM) and Foreign Minister (FM) Ishaq Dar on Saturday engaged with his counterparts from Egypt and Turkiye and held a meeting with China’s envoy as Islamabad seeks to rally diplomatic support after rejecting India’s accusations over a deadly militant attack on tourists in Kashmir.
At least 26 people were killed earlier this week when gunmen opened fire at a popular tourist site in Indian-administered Kashmir, in one of the deadliest attacks on civilians in the disputed region in decades.
India blamed Pakistan for orchestrating the attack amid calls for retaliatory strikes from its media. Islamabad denied any involvement, warning of a “befitting response” to any escalation and offering a neutral investigation into the incident.
India has already unilaterally suspended the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT), a landmark river water distribution mechanism signed in 1960, expelled Pakistani diplomats and shut down a major land border crossing.
Dar discussed recent regional developments over the phone with Egypt’s Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty during the day.
“DPM/FM Dar firmly rejected India’s baseless allegations, condemned its unilateral actions, and false propaganda against Pakistan,” Pakistan’s foreign ministry said in a statement after the two officials held the conversation.
“He reaffirmed Pakistan’s commitment to safeguarding its national interests while promoting regional peace and stability,” it added.
In a separate call with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, Dar briefed him on decisions taken by Pakistan’s National Security Committee in response to India’s accusations.
He thanked Turkiye for its consistent support to Pakistan at international forums, and the two sides agreed to maintain close coordination as tensions rise in the region.
Earlier in the day, the deputy prime minister met Chinese Ambassador Jiang Zaidong in Islamabad.
Reaffirming their “all-weather strategic partnership,” both Pakistan and China agreed to maintain close communication and coordination, said another statement.
Dar’s conversation with Jiang comes at a time when Pakistan has rejected India’s move to suspend the IWT, warning that any attempt to block waters from flowing into Pakistan would constitute an act of war and set a dangerous precedent for New Delhi, given India’s own reliance on rivers originating from China.

Topics: Pakistan India Ties Pahalgam attack

Pakistan’s forex reserves triple since early 2023 as central bank targets $14 billion

Pakistan’s forex reserves triple since early 2023 as central bank targets $14 billion
Updated 26 April 2025
Follow

Pakistan’s forex reserves triple since early 2023 as central bank targets $14 billion

Pakistan’s forex reserves triple since early 2023 as central bank targets $14 billion
  • Central bank governor says Pakistan’s reserves have seen both qualitative and quantitative improvement
  • Governor Jamil Ahmed was briefing executives of global financial and investment institutions in the US
Updated 26 April 2025
Ismail Dilawar

KARACHI: Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves have more than tripled since early 2023, driven by a surplus in the external current account rather than fresh borrowing, the top central bank official said, according to a statement on Saturday, as the country targets $14 billion in reserves by June.

Pakistan’s forex reserves had touched critically low levels two years ago, giving it an import cover of less than a month. Faced with the threat of a sovereign debt default, the country secured a $3 billion short-term International Monetary Fund (IMF) bailout, tightened fiscal and monetary policies, restricted imports and allowed greater exchange rate flexibility.

Governor of the State Bank of Pakistan, Jameel Ahmad, told senior executives from global financial and investment institutions on the sidelines of the IMF-World Bank Spring Meetings in Washington the country’s external buffers had seen a “substantial qualitative as well as quantitative improvement” since then, as he briefed them about the current economic situation.

“Unlike previous episodes of reserve build-up, the ongoing rise in external buffers is not due to any further accumulation of external debt,” he said. “In fact, Pakistan’s public sector external debt, both in absolute terms and as a percent of GDP, has declined since June 2022.”

Ahmad added that the central bank had been able to strengthen reserves through foreign exchange purchases in the open market, supported by a current account surplus.

“The SBP is targeting to increase [forex] reserves to $14 billion by June 2025,” he said.

Ahmad said Pakistan had made tangible progress in stabilizing its economy, crediting a prudent monetary policy and sustained fiscal consolidation efforts for the improvement.

He informed that headline inflation had declined sharply over the past two years, reaching a multi-decade low of 0.7 percent in March 2025, while core inflation had also dropped from above 22 percent to a single digit and was expected to moderate further in the coming months.

Topics: Pakistan’s forex reserves

Pakistan’s IT exports seen reaching $4 billion in FY25 as industry seeks tax relief

Pakistan’s IT exports seen reaching $4 billion in FY25 as industry seeks tax relief
Updated 26 April 2025
Follow

Pakistan’s IT exports seen reaching $4 billion in FY25 as industry seeks tax relief

Pakistan’s IT exports seen reaching $4 billion in FY25 as industry seeks tax relief
  • Country’s software association calls IT industry the only sector with 75% trade surplus
  • Government has set an ambitious target of reaching $10 billion in IT exports by 2029
Updated 26 April 2025
NAIMAT KHAN

KARACHI: Pakistan’s information technology (IT) sector expects exports to reach $4 billion in the current fiscal year and seeks regulatory reforms and a 10-year tax holiday to sustain growth momentum, said the country’s top software association on Saturday.

The IT sector is one of Pakistan’s priority industries as the country looks to boost export revenues and stabilize its external accounts.

Under the government’s “Uraan Pakistan” initiative, launched last year in December, Islamabad aims to raise IT exports to $10 billion by 2029.

Industry leaders say IT remains one of the few sectors capable of exponential growth despite the broader economic challenges.

“Muhammad Umair Nizam, Senior Vice Chairman of Pakistan Software Houses Association (P@SHA), has apprised that information technology has become the fastest growing export industry of Pakistan – and, the country is set to achieve $4 billion in its IT exports for the FY25,” the software association said in a statement, adding that Pakistan’s IT exports stood at $3.2 billion in the last fiscal year with the prospect for a 25% year-on-year growth.

However, P@SHA warned regulatory bottlenecks and inconsistent tax policies were hampering the sector’s expansion at a time when new tech sub-sectors were emerging.

The association said it had also submitted detailed budget proposals to the government, seeking a facilitative framework that includes streamlined foreign exchange regulations, banking sector support, removal of sales tax anomalies and accelerated development of special technology zones and IT parks.

Pakistan’s IT industry is the only sector with a trade surplus of around 75%, the statement said, underlining its potential to create jobs, develop skilled human capital and reduce the trade deficit on a sustainable basis.

The software association also raised concerns over income tax disparities between salaried employees and freelancers, saying the current structure discourages formal employment and needs urgent correction in the upcoming federal budget.

Topics: Pakistan IT Pakistan IT exports tax relief

Top Pakistani filmmaker says actors should seek government permission before signing Indian projects 

Top Pakistani filmmaker says actors should seek government permission before signing Indian projects 
Updated 26 April 2025
Follow

Top Pakistani filmmaker says actors should seek government permission before signing Indian projects 

Top Pakistani filmmaker says actors should seek government permission before signing Indian projects 
  • The statement comes after Indian cinema federation banned release of Pakistani actor Fawad Khan’s ‘Abir Gulaal’ following the Pahalgam militant attack
  • Nabeel Qureshi says India has a huge film industry and many Pakistani artists want to work there, but they should not compromise on their self-respect
Updated 26 April 2025
BURAQ SHABBIR

KARACHI: Pakistani filmmaker Nabeel Qureshi has urged the government to ask Pakistani actors to seek a no-objection certificate (NoC) prior to signing any Indian projects, following the imposition of a ban by the Indian cinema federation on Pakistani actor Fawad Khan’s Bollywood movie ‘Abir Gulaal.’
The romantic comedy marks Khan’s highly anticipated return to the Indian film industry after almost nine years. The movie starring Khan, who is widely famous in India, alongside Indian actor Vaani Kapoor is scheduled to release on May 9.
However, Indian media reported on Friday that the movie will not be released in India after the Federation of Western India Cine Employees (FWICE) asked authorities to ban it, following a militant attack in India-administered Kashmir that killed 26 tourists on April 22.
New Delhi has blamed the attack on Pakistan, an allegation denied by Islamabad. Both India and Pakistan have since unleashed a raft of measures against each other as tensions remain heightened between the two nuclear-armed neighbors.
“It’s a matter of the country’s dignity,” Qureshi told Arab News. “In future, the way India is imposing a blanket ban on Pakistan, our government should also ask actors to seek NoC before signing up for any project there.”
India has a huge film industry and many Pakistani artists want to work there, according to Qureshi. But they should not compromise on their self-respect.
“Our actors should have some integrity not just as artists but also as Pakistanis. [It’s] a country that doesn’t welcome you at all, irrespective of the recent Pahalgam terror attack,” he said.
“There were speculations around the film’s release already, now it’s impossible for the film to release in India.”
India barred Pakistani artists from working in the country after a militant attack in Uri town in Indian-administered Kashmir, which killed 19 Indian soldiers in 2016. Prior to that, Khan starred in Bollywood films ‘Khoobsurat,’ ‘Kapoor & Sons’ and ‘Ae Dil Hai Mushkil.’
The promotion of his movie Abir Gulaal began in Dubai, with the music launch. But two songs from the film, ‘Khudaya Ishq’ and ‘Angreji Rangrasiya,’ have been removed from YouTube India following the Pahalgam attack.
“It was not like this was unexpected. If it had not been the recent tragedy in Pahalgam, it would have been any other reason, big, small, legit or otherwise,” Kamran Jawaid, a Pakistani film critic and journalist, told Arab News.
“Cinema-goers [in Pakistan] will give the film a warm welcome. However, given FWICE’s hard anti-Pakistan stance, the decision to release the film here would only land them in hotter waters in India. Nobody wants to do that.”
Nadeem Mandviwalla, a leading film importer and distributor in Pakistan who also owns a cinema in Karachi, said India’s ban on the movie’s release is “understandable” under the current circumstances.
“Allegedly, Pakistan has also refused to grant permission to the movie,” he said. “Actors will always play a part in projecting peace and love. Given a chance, it’s commendable for both parties to make this attempt.”
Jawaid, on the other hand, said Pakistani actors should have an “active role” in building up the quality of Pakistani productions, given the wafer-thin, prickly relationship between Pakistan and India.
“They should not run after Bollywood collaborations because the audience-base is bigger or that the pay is better,” he said. “The ‘arts transcend borders’ and ‘arts can make a difference’ mantra can only be beneficial if there is unilateral reciprocation in both industries.”

Topics: Fawad Khan NAbeel Qureshi Bollywood Pakistani actor Pakistan India Ties Pahalgam attack Pakistan India

Latest updates

Nice defender Abdelmonem sidelined with cruciate ligament tear
Nice defender Abdelmonem sidelined with cruciate ligament tear
What We Are Reading Today: The Teacher in the Machine
Photo/Supplied
Saudi ministries unite for safe Hajj
Saudi ministries unite for safe Hajj
Jazan municipality plants seedlings for green goals
Jazan municipality plants seedlings for green goals
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has appointed a new deputy in a major step in naming a successor
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has appointed a new deputy in a major step in naming a successor

Search form

Print Edition
Read pdf version Subscribe now
© 2025 SAUDI RESEARCH & PUBLISHING COMPANY, All Rights Reserved And subject to Terms of Use Agreement.