Building internationally competitive auto industry

Globally competitive industry cannot be developed behind walls, without assuming additional risk If Pakistan wants to build globally competitive cars and export them, it must lower its protectionist walls, access lower cost parts, and frictionlessly integrate into GVCs. photo: file ISLAMABAD: In the 1990s, two new auto assemblers in Pakistan, Toyota and Honda, joined Suzuki,…

Read More

Awam Express gets upgraded second rake

. PESHAWAR: In a significant step aimed at improving travel facilities for passengers, Pakistan Railways has launched the second upgraded rake of the Awam Express service from Peshawar to Karachi. The train was formally flagged off by Divisional Superintendent (DS) Peshawar, Imran Hayat, along with divisional railway officials on Sunday. Passengers traveling on the Awam…

Read More

Budget 2026-27 signals reformist turn

. Budgets in Pakistan have for years been read as ledgers of disappointment. The numbers came out, the cynics added them up, and the verdict was usually returned before the Finance Minister had finished his speech. The Federal Budget 2026-27, scheduled for approval by 1st July, deserves a different kind of reading. It is not…

Read More

27 terrorists killed in North Waziristan operations

. RAWALPINDI: Security forces killed 27 terrorists during a series of intelligence-based operations (IBOs) in the general area of Miran Shah, North Waziristan district, the military’s media wing said on Sunday. According to a statement issued by the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the operations were conducted as part of ongoing efforts against terrorists. During the…

Read More

Naqvi delivers ‘special letter’ to Iran’s supreme leader

. ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi delivered a “special letter” on behalf of the country’s civil and military leadership addressed to Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei in Tehran, amid Islamabad’s ongoing diplomatic efforts to help break the deadlock between the United States and Iran, officials and Iranian media said on Sunday. Naqvi, who arrived…

Read More

4 LEA personnel martyred in Rawalakot

Over 20 sustain injuries as armed members of banned JAAC open fire on security personnel RAWALAKOT: Four law enforcement agencies’ (LEA) personnel were martyred and over 20 were injured after elements allegedly associated with the banned Joint Awami Action Committee (Jaac) opened fire on them in the Rawalakot area of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK)…

Read More

Iran fires missile barrage at Israel

WASHINGTON/TEHRAN: Iran fired missiles at Israel late on Sunday night, the first since a fragile truce went into effect in April, Iranian Revolutionary Guards confirmed. The Guards said that the missile attack on Israel was a “warning” after the Israeli strike on Beirut earlier in the day, threatening wider strikes in the event of new…

Read More

PPP takes early lead in G-B polls

An elderly woman casts her vote at a polling station in Gilgit. PHOTO: APP ISLAMABAD/GILGIT: The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) has emerged in the lead in the Gilgit-Baltistan (G-B) Assembly elections, as unofficial and incomplete results show the party ahead on 11 of the 24 seats contested in Sunday’s polling. The PPP is followed by…

Read More

Fresh Israeli blitz kills 10 in Gaza

. GAZA CITY: Gaza’s civil defence service and hospitals said Israeli attacks killed at least 10 people on Sunday, in the latest episodes of violence despite a months-old truce. Israel and Hamas have traded accusations of near-daily ceasefire violations, keeping the Gaza Strip gripped by bloodshed as progress on permanently ending the war remains stalled….

Read More