Pakistan says will push for peace in Middle East if elected non-permanent UNSC member/node/2512931/pakistan
Pakistan says will push for peace in Middle East if elected non-permanent UNSC member
Pakistan’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations Ambassador Munir Akram speaks during a General Assembly meeting to review Palestine’s application for full membership at the United Nations in New York on May 1, 2024. (Photo courtesy: Pakistan Mission to UN)
Pakistan says will push for peace in Middle East if elected non-permanent UNSC member
Elections for five of 10 non-permanent seats of UNSC for 2025-26 to take place on June 6
Pakistan has been elected as non-permanent UNSC member seven times, most recently in 2013
Updated 19 May 2024
Shahjahan Khurram
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan will work for peace in the Middle East and Africa, and promote the right of self-determination of people living under foreign occupation if it gets elected as a non-permanent member of the Security Council, Pakistan’s ambassador to the UN said on Sunday.
Elections for five of the 10 non-permanent seats on the UN Security Council for 2025-26 are set to take place on June 6. Pakistan says its candidacy has the endorsement of the 55-member Asian Group.
The South Asian country has been elected to the Security Council seven times, most recently in 2013. Other times Pakistan got elected was in 1952-1953, 1968-1969, 1976-1977, 1983-1984, 1993-1994 and 2003-2004.
Speaking to members of the US-based Pakistan Students Association Coalition (PSA Coalition) via video link, Pakistan’s Ambassador to the UN Munir Akram said election to the Security Council would require Islamabad to play a leading role in addressing Kashmir, Afghanistan and counterterrorism issues.
“Pakistan will articulate developing countries’ aspirations, work for peace and in the Middle East and Africa as well as promote the right of self-determination for peoples under foreign occupation if elected as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council,” Akram said, according to the state-run Associated Press of Pakistan (APP).
Akram spoke about the current state of the world. including key global challenges amid regional conflicts.
“He said that as the intense competition between major powers became a new reality of the world order, the world was undergoing a fast transition from its unipolar status to a bipolar plus order,” the APP said.
The Pakistani ambassador’s comments came as Israel continues its relentless military assault on Gaza. Israel’s attacks against Hamas have killed at least 35,386 people, mostly civilians, according to the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry.
The Jewish state’s siege has brought dire food shortages and the threat of famine to the densely populated territory.
Pakistan, which does not have diplomatic ties with Israel, has consistently called for an immediate ceasefire in the Middle East and urged world powers to work toward a two-state solution in the restive region, according to the aspirations of the people of Palestine.
ISLAMABAD: Over 12,000 police personnel will be deployed in the cities of Lahore and Rawalpindi as Pakistan stages its first major International Cricket Council (ICC) tournament in nearly three decades from Feb. 19, police said on Monday.
A 2009 militant attack on the Sri Lanka team in the eastern city of Lahore led to international teams avoiding tours to Pakistan for almost a decade because of security concerns. The Sri Lankan test team returned in 2019 as international cricket made slow inroads back and foreign players were drafted for a men’s T20 domestic cricket league held annually in Pakistan.
Later this week, Pakistan will host the eight-team ICC Champions Trophy in Lahore, Karachi and Rawalpindi. However, arch-rival India’s matches will take place in the United Arab Emirates after its government refused to give permission for the squad to travel to Pakistan.
“For the Lahore and Rawalpindi matches, over 12,000 police officers and personnel will perform security duties,” a Punjab police spokesperson said in a statement. “More than 8,000 officers and personnel will perform security duties in Lahore and more than 5,000 in Rawalpindi.”
Senior officers, district superintendents of police, inspectors and women police personnel would be on duty for the series.
The statement quoted Punjab Inspector General of Police, Dr. Usman Anwar, as saying police were carrying out intelligence-based operations around the residences of players and team routes to stadiums, while Safe Cities Authority cameras would monitor these areas as well as stadiums and hotels.
Various police units would carry out patrols during the matches, with snipers stationed on tall buildings around the stadiums, Anwar added.
“We will ensure the organization of international matches in a peaceful and secure environment,” he added, calling on fans to follow police instructions on security and safety protocols.
The tournament will take place from Feb. 19 to Mar. 9 across three venues: Lahore, Karachi, and Rawalpindi. The Lahore and Karachi stadiums have recently reopened after extensive renovations to enhance broadcast quality and spectator comfort.
Pakistan won the Champions Trophy in 2017, defeating India by 180 runs in a one-sided final.
Pakistan’s last ICC event was when it co-hosted the 1996 World Cup with Sri Lanka and India.
ISLAMABAD: Among Internet users in Pakistan, 18% use virtual private networks (VPNs) with men and respondents under 30 years of age among “heavier users,” a survey conducted by leading research firm Gallup Pakistan said recently.
Pakistan’s government last year banned what it said were “illegal” VPNs, citing their use by militant groups for financial transactions and violent activities. The decision followed the government’s move to ban social media platform X in February 2024 after allegations of electoral manipulation and media reports of it installing a national firewall to monitor online content.
Pakistani rights activists and members of civil society have criticized the government, accusing it of taking restrictive measures to stifle dissent and crack down on opposition parties and their supporters. The government denies these allegations and says it is ensuring people’s protection in cyberspace.
Pakistanis have increasingly turned to VPNs, which hides users’ browsing activity, identity and location, allowing for greater privacy and autonomy. It also allows Internet users to access websites that are blocked by the government, such as X in Pakistan.
“Among Internet users in Pakistan 18% use VPN, with men (23%) and respondents under 30 (24%) among heavier users,” Gallup Pakistan said in a report published on Feb. 14.
When asked, “Please tell me if you use VPN?” 18% responded with a ‘Yes’ while 80% said ‘No’ and 2% either did not know or did not respond, Gallup Pakistan said. The firm said it carried out the survey on a sample of 1,042 men and women across urban and rural areas of all four provinces of the country from Jan. 7-12, 2025.
It said Internet users aged under 30 years were more likely to use VPN (24%) compared to those aged 30-50 (13%) and those aged over 50 (15%).
Of the 100% male respondents surveyed, 23% said they used VPNs while 75% said they did not, and 2% did not know or did not respond. As far as women respondents were concerned, 10% said they used VPNs while 87% said they did not, and 3% said they did not know or did not respond.
“Male Internet users were far more likely than women to use VPN,” the report said. “Twenty-three percent of men used VPN compared to 10% of women, a 13% difference.”
Pakistan’s interior ministry in November 2024 wrote a letter to the PTA, asking it to block illegal VPNs as they are also used by Internet users in the country to access pornographic websites and blasphemous content online.
PTA had already disclosed that nearly 20 million Pakistanis try to access pornographic websites banned by the authorities in 2011 on a daily basis.
ISLAMABAD: The Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FPCCI) has set up the Pak-EU Business Forum to explore “untapped” trade, investment, economic and industrial collaboration potential between the South Asian nation and the regional economic alliance, FPCCI said in a statement this month.
Pakistan has become the largest beneficiary of the EU’s GSP+ preferential trade scheme in recent years, with its businesses increasing their exports to the EU market by 108 percent since the launch of the trade scheme in 2014. The EU is also Pakistan’s second most important trading partner after China, accounting for over 14 percent of Pakistan’s total trade and absorbing 28 percent of Pakistan’s total exports. Pakistan’s major exports to the EU – including textiles and garments, agricultural products and leather goods – are valued at $10 billion annually.
“Cracking the EU market in a substantive manner can transform the entire economy of Pakistan – as geographical contiguity and regulatory uniformity offers a huge market for Pakistani products in a number of industries, sectors and verticals,” FPCCI President Atif Ikram Sheikh said in a statement, calling on the need to diversify Pakistan’s export portfolio.
Zubair Baweja, the chairman of the Pak-EU Business Forum, said the main aim of setting up the platform was to “diversify, enrich, expand and value-add” Pakistan’s export-basket to the EU member states.
“It was decided to make working groups on different sectors and product categories for a focused and result-oriented facilitation to the trade and industry,” the statement quoted Baweja as saying.
Last month, the European Union’s mission in Islamabad reminded Pakistan that the trade benefits it received under the GSP+ scheme depended on progress the country made on addressing a list of issues, including human rights, saying “tangible” efforts remained essential.
The statement came after a visit to Pakistan by Ambassador Olof Skoog, EU Special Representative for Human Rights (EUSR), to engage the country on human and labor rights issues and to discuss Pakistan’s plans to address them, including in view of the ongoing assessment under the GSP+ trade scheme.
The GSP+ scheme grants beneficiary countries’ exports duty-free access to the European market in exchange for voluntarily agreeing to implement 27 international core conventions, including on human and civil rights.
Multiple developments on the human rights front have raised concerns over Pakistan’s GSP+ status in recent weeks. The EU has openly criticized Pakistan for sentencing over 80 civilians in army courts after charging them for anti-government riots in May 2023 in which military installations were attacked, saying it was “inconsistent” with Pakistan’s international obligations.
The country’s GSP+ status was once more in the spotlight last month after parliament passed a controversial cybercrime law that journalists and digital rights activists have widely said aims to crackdown against dissent on social media platforms. The government denies this.
KARACHI: Aamir Ibrahim, the CEO of Jazz, Pakistan’s largest telecom company, has warned that cellphone operators could opt out of participating in a planned 5G spectrum auction if the government set high upfront prices and priced in US dollars over rupees, arguing that such a model would make little business sense for market players.
The South Asian country of 240 million people hopes to use the auction as a way to boost the economy and promote advanced telecoms technology among its over 165 million mobile phone users. According to a recent report by the Global System for Mobile Communications Association (GSMA), 5G could contribute over $1.5 billion to Pakistan’s GDP by 2030, and also improve connectivity, service quality, and innovation in agriculture, manufacturing, logistics, education, and health care.
However, the National Economic Research Associates (NERA), a US-based consultancy hired by the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) last year to oversee the 5G spectrum action, has identified major obstacles that could delay the rollout, which was planned for mid-2025. These include administrative restrictions on Internet services, low utilization of existing spectrum, auctioning the 5G spectrum in foreign instead of local currency, a delay in the Competition Commission of Pakistan’s (CCP) decision on the acquisition of Telenor Pakistan by Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) and litigation over spectrum availability in the 2.6 GHz band.
Speaking to Arab News in an interview last week, Ibrahim said Jazz, Pakistan’s leading digital service provider with around 71 million subscribers, had held discussions with the government on the structure of 5G licensing, which needed to be “investor-friendly and consumer-beneficial.”
“Some of the key recommendations have been that we have to delink the price of the spectrum from dollars to rupees and the reason for that is that we earn our revenues in rupees. So, we can’t really have a huge cost impact on dollars, which we can’t necessarily predict,” Ibrahim said.
Indeed, Pakistani telecom operators face a currency mismatch, as they charge customers in rupees but pay hefty regulatory fees — including license renewals and spectrum costs — in US dollars.
This exposes them to exchange rate volatility, making long-term financial planning difficult, especially as the rupee has sharply depreciated in recent years.
Ibrahim said Jazz had also sought “relief” from the government regarding payment terms, including the upfront component of the auction and the duration of the payment cycle, saying buyers of the 5G spectrum would need to invest up to $1 billion over time to import compatible equipment and upgrade their networks.
“There are less than two percent of all of our customers in Pakistan who have a 5G-compatible phone, and that’s why it’s important that the whole pricing mechanism of 5G has to be commensurate with the business potential,” the Jazz CEO said.
Ultimately, he said, higher prices upfront or initially would make a “weak business case”:
“And the operators may not be interested in participating in the auction, which again will not be beneficial for the government.”
The Jazz CEO said his company has conveyed these concerns as part of its recommendations to the government, and that they had resonated with NERA’s recommendations on what “we as an industry have been asking the government.”
He agreed that a main concern for investors was also the delay in the approval of PTCL’s acquisition of Telenor Pakistan, which has been awaiting clearance from the Competition Commission.
“It has taken quite a long time … it’s not a good signal for a foreign investor if a merger approval process takes more than 14 months,” Ibrahim said, adding that the prolonged delay was creating uncertainty, discouraging investment and making Pakistan’s telecom sector appear less business-friendly.
Additionally, the delay was affecting strategic planning for telecom operators, particularly in terms of competition and resource allocation.
“Because then we don’t necessarily know whether the spectrum is going to be made available for four players or for three players. So, that’s a requisite that I think has to be addressed before we move forward with the 5G auction.”
The 5G rollout has also been delayed due to ongoing legal disputes over spectrum allocation. A portion of the 2.6 GHz frequency band — essential for 5G deployment — remains tied up in litigation, leaving insufficient spectrum for optimal performance.
Last year, the Islamabad High Court ruled against China Mobile Pakistan Limited (Zong) for unauthorized use of the additional spectrum beyond its license period, further complicating the regulatory landscape.
Asked about the litigation, Ibrahim alleged that one operator had “illegally occupied the spectrum for a very long time,” without naming the company.
“We want all operators to comply with the same rules and regulations that exist for others,” he said, adding that whether it was 50 MHz or 68 MHz, the spectrum must be released.
He stressed that Pakistan ideally needed 100 MHz slots per operator, but spectrum constraints and subdued pent-up demand had hindered expansion.
“The 2,600 MHz band is a very desirable spectrum that should be released before the 5G auction,” Ibrahim said. “A couple of things certainly appear to be roadblocks, and I hope these roadblocks are taken out of the way very quickly.”
Commenting on the timeline for the rollout of 5G services in Pakistan, the Jazz CEO admitted it would not happen “overnight.”
“It will take a while before the rollout starts, it’s not going to be the case that one day somebody buys 5G spectrum and the next day they switch it on and the whole country is lit up,” he said.
“It takes a while to plan for the network, import the equipment, upgrade the equipment and start deploying the services. And you go pocket by pocket, city by city. So, it takes a while, but I think the journey can start within a few months of the auction results being concluded.”
A three-decade wait is about to end for Pakistan’s passionate cricket fans
International teams avoided Pakistan after 2009 terror attack on Sri Lankan cricket team in Lahore
Plenty of stars will be missing in action including India’s Jasprit Bumrah and Aussie pacer Pat Cummins
Updated 17 February 2025
AP
ISLAMABAD: A three-decade wait finally ends for Pakistan on Wednesday when it stages its first major International Cricket Council tournament since co-hosting the 1996 World Cup with Sri Lanka and India.
A 2009 terror attack on the Sri Lanka playing squad at Lahore resulted in international teams avoiding tours to Pakistan for almost a decade because of security concerns. The Sri Lankan test team returned in 2019 as international cricket made slow inroads back.
Since then, there’s been progress on bringing bigger, multinational events to Pakistan, where cricket — by a long margin — is the most popular sport.
But it doesn’t come without complications. Long-standing geo-political tensions mean India won’t send a team to Pakistan. So instead, India, which just about bankrolls the sport globally, will play its matches in the United Arab Emirates.
Why the hybrid hosting model?
India’s top team hasn’t played in Pakistan since 2008, and the two countries have tended to only compete against each other in major tournaments, including World Cups.
Pakistan traveled to India for the 50-over World Cup in 2023. But India’s reluctance to return the favor put this Champions Trophy tournament in doubt before the sport’s international governing body and both countries agreed on a solution. It’s similar to when Pakistan hosted the 2023 Asian Cup but India played its tournament games in Sri Lanka.
Fans hold Pakistani and Indian flags with a massaging banner as they watch the play of the tri-series ODI cricket match between Pakistan and New Zealand at Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore, Pakistan, on February 8, 2025. (AP)
Pakistan was subsequently awarded the 2028 Women’s T20 World Cup and the International Cricket Council agreed in principle that Pakistan will also play its games at a neutral venue when India hosts ICC tournaments until 2027.
When the archrivals do meet each other in ICC tournaments, it tends to catch the attention of more than a billion cricket-mad fans.
The group game on Feb. 23 in Dubai will certainly fit into that category. Pakistan will host 10 games, including one semifinal. The final will be played at Lahore on March 9 if India doesn’t qualify. Dubai is scheduled to host all three of India’s group matches and a semifinal.
What is the Champions Trophy?
The eight-nation, limited-overs tournament hasn’t been contested since 2017, when Pakistan beat India in the final in England.
The Champions Trophy was launched in 1998 and initially held every two years but later moved to a four-year cycle in between World Cups — the pinnacle in cricket’s one-day format.
International cricket has three main formats: test matches, which can last up to five days; one-dayers (or ODIs), where both teams are allocated 50 overs to bat and matches take up to 8 hours; and Twenty20s (or T20s), where both innings comprise 20 overs and games last just a few hours.
Pakistan was awarded the 2008 Champions Trophy, but due to security concerns the tournament was shifted to South Africa in 2009.
An auto-rickshaw drives past a billboard depicting portraits of the captains of participating cricket teams in ICC Champions Trophy 2025, installed at a roadside, in Lahore, Pakistan, on February 16, 2025. (AP)
India was due to host the Champions Trophy in 2021, but it was replaced with the T20 World Cup and was played in the UAE.
The eight participating teams this time were based on rankings after the 2023 World Cup in India, with Pakistan qualifying automatically as host. India, New Zealand and Bangladesh are in Group A with host Pakistan. England, South Africa, Australia and Afghanistan are in Group B.
Two former Champions Trophy winners — Sri Lanka and the West Indies — didn’t qualify for the ninth edition, which include 15 games across 19 days.
Boycott threat against Afghanistan
Politicians in England and South Africa urged their cricket authorities to boycott Champions Trophy group games against Afghanistan because of the Taliban’s ban on women’s sport and general erosion of women’s rights.
South Africa’s Sports Minister Gayton McKenzie last month said if the ultimate decision was his, then a South Africa vs. Afghanistan match “certainly would not happen.”
Afghan players celebrate after taking a wicket of New Zealand’s opening batsman Will Young during the practice match ahead of the upcoming ICC Champions Trophy 2025 cricket tournament, in Karachi, Pakistan, on February 16, 2025. (Photo Courtesy: Afghanistan Cricket Board)
In a similar move, more than 160 politicians in Britain urged the England and Wales Cricket Board to take a stand and boycott the Feb. 26 game against Afghanistan at Lahore.
However, despite describing the “appalling oppression” of women in Afghanistan as “gender apartheid,” English cricket administrators confirmed that the game will go ahead.
Stars missing
Australia will be without its World Cup-winning pace trio with Mitchell Starc joining injured Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood on the sidelines. With Marcus Stoinis’ surprisingly retired from ODI cricket late last month and allrounder Mitchell Marsh out injured, Australia will look to its bench strength to win the only missing ICC trophy from its cabinet.
Jasprit Bumrah, the key cog in India’s bowling armory, was ruled out of the tournament because of a back problem he sustained during the test series against Australia in January.
Also sidelined with injuries are England’s Jacob Bethell and Afghanistan spinner AM Ghazanfar. New Zealand is still sweating on the fitness of fast bowler Lockie Ferguson, who picked up hamstring injury during a recent T20 league series.
Stadiums upgrades
With work around the clock over the last four months and millions of dollars invested, Pakistan organizers finished upgrading the three stadiums at Karachi, Lahore and Rawalpindi.
A view of newly renovated National Bank Stadium, where fans watch the tri-series ODI cricket final match between Pakistan and New Zealand, in Karachi, Pakistan, on February 14, 2025. (AP)
Described as “miracle” by Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Mohsin Naqvi, Lahore’s Gaddafi Stadium has gone through a massive overhaul with all the stands being reconstructed in 117 days. Karachi’s National Bank Stadium and Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium in Rawalpindi are the two other venues where major works were carried out. Karachi is hosting the tournament opener Wednesday between Pakistan and New Zealand.
