Pakistani non-profit calls 2024 elections ‘flawed,’ welcomes government-opposition dialogue

Pakistani non-profit calls 2024 elections ‘flawed,’ welcomes government-opposition dialogue
Supporters of jailed former prime minister Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party shout slogans as they march towards Islamabad after clearing shipping containers placed by authorities during a demonstration demanding Khan's release, in Hasan Abdal in Punjab province on November 25, 2024. (AFP/File)
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Updated 01 January 2025
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Pakistani non-profit calls 2024 elections ‘flawed,’ welcomes government-opposition dialogue

Pakistani non-profit calls 2024 elections ‘flawed,’ welcomes government-opposition dialogue
  • PILDAT sees coalition parties assisting the establishment for ‘short-term selfish political gains’
  • It says recent amendments reflect growing centralization of decision-making in the country

ISLAMABAD: A leading Pakistani non-profit on Tuesday said the 2024 general elections led to a “fracture of popular mandate” and intensified political instability in the country, though it also expressed optimism over the newly initiated negotiations between the government and opposition.

The Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency (PILDAT), which focuses on democratic governance, released its end-of-year Quality of Democracy in Pakistan 2024 report a day earlier. The report provides an overview of the state of politics in Pakistan over the past year, marked by increasing polarization and systemic issues.

“The 12th General Election held in February 2024 after a considerable delay was a largely flawed exercise that served to fracture popular mandate and to provide citizens only with a modicum of political and electoral choice,” it said.

Pakistan’s national polls were marred by accusations of irregularities, including delayed results, amid claims by former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party that its candidates faced significant obstacles in running their campaigns.

PTI candidates were also forced to contest as independents after the Supreme Court ruled its intra-party elections flawed, stripping it of its election symbol. Party leaders alleged the system was heavily rigged against them.

The subsequent election results did not leave any party positioned to form a government independently, leading to political negotiations that helped the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif build a coalition with a razor-thin majority.

“Pakistan’s leading political parties have continued to display a sad and familiar proclivity to assist the establishment against a political opponent of the time in return for short-term selfish political gains,” the report noted, using a popular euphemism for the country’s powerful military and adding that the current political set-up “is no different.”

It also highlighted controversial developments, including amendments restructuring the judiciary and extending the tenures of defense chiefs, which it described as evidence of growing centralization of decision-making influenced by the establishment.

The PILDAT report also addressed persistent social media blackouts in the country, describing them as a means of suppressing critical political voices.

“To manage and silence political dissent, the current set-up has stepped up efforts to manage the use of Internet and social media platforms by blocking certain applications and controlling the flow of communication through others,” it said.

However, the report welcomed the dialogue between the government and PTI, which formally began last month, calling it a potential path to political and economic stability.

“Against this bleak horizon, the improving economic stability and the stated willingness and initiation for political dialogue between the PTI and the government offer the only silver lining,” PILDAT noted.

“Despite grandstanding by the government and its backers and tough bargaining and threats of civil disobedience by the PTI, it is our belief that a comprehensive dialogue must be sustained to find politically negotiated solutions,” it added.


Chinese official discusses security with delegation from Pakistan’s Balochistan

Chinese official discusses security with delegation from Pakistan’s Balochistan
Updated 26 May 2025
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Chinese official discusses security with delegation from Pakistan’s Balochistan

Chinese official discusses security with delegation from Pakistan’s Balochistan
  • Chinese nationals have been in crosshairs of separatist militants in Balochistan where China has a strategic port and mining interests
  • Beijing has been pushing Pakistan to allow its own security staff to provide protection to thousands of Chinese citizens working there

BEIJING: China’s Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs Liu Bin met with a delegation from Pakistan’s southwestern province of Balochistan on Monday, according to a ministry statement.

The two sides exchanged views on issues including security and cooperation between China and the province.

Chinese nationals have been in the crosshairs of separatist militants who believe Beijing is helping Pakistan exploit minerals in the underdeveloped province of Balochistan, where China has a strategic port and mining interests.

Beijing has been pushing Pakistan to allow its own security staff to provide protection to thousands of Chinese citizens working there, frustrated by the string of attacks on its citizens.

The push came after a bombing at the Karachi airport last October killed two Chinese engineers who were returning there to work at a power plant.


Pakistan says IMF approved $1 billion loan tranche ‘on merit’ despite Indian push for review

Pakistan says IMF approved $1 billion loan tranche ‘on merit’ despite Indian push for review
Updated 26 May 2025
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Pakistan says IMF approved $1 billion loan tranche ‘on merit’ despite Indian push for review

Pakistan says IMF approved $1 billion loan tranche ‘on merit’ despite Indian push for review
  • India has raised concerns with IMF on its loans to Pakistan after militant attack Delhi blamed on Islamabad
  • Last week, India announced plans to approach Financial Action Task Force to place Pakistan on grey list again

ISLAMABAD: Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb said on Monday the International Monetary Fund (IMF) had approved a $1 billion disbursement for Pakistan on “merit” despite India leaving “no stone unturned” to convince the lender to review the payout.

Pakistan secured a $7 billion bailout program from the IMF last year and was granted a new $1.3 billion climate resilience loan in March. Earlier this month, Pakistan received the second tranche of special drawing rights worth $1,023 million from the IMF under the extended fund facility (EFF) program, bringing disbursements to $2 billion within the latest bailout. 

The program is critical to the $350 billion economy and Pakistan has said it has stabilized under the bailout that helped it stave off a default threat.

India raised concerns with the IMF on its loans to Pakistan, asking for a review earlier this month as tensions soared after an attack on Hindu tourists in Indian-administered Kashmir that New Delhi blamed on Islamabad — an accusation it denies. The tensions erupted into military fighting as the two nuclear-armed nations launched missiles and drones deep into each other’s territories and exchanged gunfire on their de facto border, the Line of Control, until a ceasefire was announced on May 10. Nearly 70 people combined were killed on both sides of the border.

“Our armed forces and political leadership, the way they stood up against the [Indian] aggression, the entire nation has celebrated it, and rightly so,” Aurangzeb told reporters in Islamabad. 

“At the same time, there was no stone left unturned in terms of ensuring that the [IMF board] meeting doesn’t happen and if the meeting does happen, then these items are not on the agenda, whether it’s the second tranche [of $7 billion loan] under the EFF or the RSF [Resilience and Sustainability Facility] of $1.3 billion in terms of our climate resilient facility.”

The finance minister said he was thankful that the IMF went on to discuss and decide the Pakistan case “on merit.”

Last week, India also announced plans to approach the global financial watchdog, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), to place Pakistan on its grey list and said it would oppose a World Bank plan to focus $20 billion in lending to the cash-strapped nation over the coming decade on development issues like the impact of climate change as well as boosting private-sector growth.

Pakistan was removed from the FATF grey list in 2022, receiving a clean bill of health on terror financing, which significantly improved its standing with international lenders, crucial for its crisis-hit economy.
 


Iranian president calls for cooperation with Pakistan to combat militant activity on shared border 

Iranian president calls for cooperation with Pakistan to combat militant activity on shared border 
Updated 26 May 2025
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Iranian president calls for cooperation with Pakistan to combat militant activity on shared border 

Iranian president calls for cooperation with Pakistan to combat militant activity on shared border 
  • Iran and Pakistan have variously accused each other of not doing enough to stamp out militants allegedly sheltering across shared border
  • Last year, Iran launched strikes inside Pakistan’s border, saying it had destroyed terror bases, with Islamabad responding with strikes of its own 

ISLAMABAD: Islamabad and Tehran should increase cooperation to combat militant activity on their shared border, Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Monday during a televised news conference with Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. 

Sharif arrived in Iran on Monday after a visit to Istanbul as part of a regional diplomacy tour that will also include trips to Azerbaijan and Tajikistan. 

Relations between Iran and Pakistan have been strained in recent years, with both sides accusing each other of not doing enough to stamp out militants allegedly sheltering across their shared border.

“We believe that the joint borders between Iran and Pakistan should be free from any insecurity and free from the presence and activity of terrorist and criminal groups,” Pezeshkian said during a joint press conference with Sharif.

“In this regard, we believe we need to promote cooperation at the border areas to fight against those who are trying to create trouble.”

President of Iran, Masoud Pezeshkian (R) and Prime Minister of Pakistan Shehbaz Sharif shake hands after a joint press statement, at Sa'dabad Palace in Tehran on May 26, 2025. (PMO)

Last year, Iran launched strikes inside Pakistan’s border, saying it had destroyed two bases of Jaish al Adl, a Pakistan-based group that Tehran accuses of attacking Iranian security forces. Pakistan launched strikes on separatist militants inside Iran in response, saying it hit bases of the separatist Baloch Liberation Front and Baloch Liberation Army.

The militant groups operate in an area that includes Pakistan’s southwestern province of Balochistan and Iran’s southeastern Sistan-Baluchestan province. Both regions are restive, mineral-rich and largely underdeveloped and wracked by decades-long separatist insurgencies. 

The tit-for-tat conflict quickly de-escalated and the foreign minister of Iran visited Islamabad, with both nations saying they respected each other’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and would expand security cooperation in a bid to mend ties.

The most notable deal between the neighboring countries — a 2010 gas pipeline agreement from Iran’s South Fars field to Pakistan’s Balochistan and Sindh — also remains stalled.

During meetings on Monday, the two countries discussed the spectrum of bilateral ties. 

“We discussed expanding bilateral relations in different sectors including politics, economy, culture as well as international cooperation between the two countries,” Pezeshkian said at the joint press conference. 

In May, Iranian Foreign Minister Seyyed Abbas Araghchi visited Pakistan to help ease tensions between Pakistan and India during the worst military confrontation in decades between the nuclear-armed neighbors. 


Pakistani PM makes peace offer to India during visit to Iran 

Pakistani PM makes peace offer to India during visit to Iran 
Updated 26 May 2025
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Pakistani PM makes peace offer to India during visit to Iran 

Pakistani PM makes peace offer to India during visit to Iran 
  • PM Sharif says ready to discuss water sharing, terrorism and Kashmir dispute if India was “serious”
  • PM arrived in Iran after visit to Turkiye as part of regional diplomacy tour following India standoff

ISLAMABAD: Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif made a peace offer to India during a visit to Tehran today, Monday, saying Islamabad was ready to hold talks on water sharing, countering terrorism and the Kashmir dispute if New Delhi was “serious.”

The two nuclear-armed nations have just emerged from their worst military conflict in decades earlier this month, when they launched missiles and drones deep into each other’s territories and exchanged gunfire on their de facto border, the Line of Control, until a ceasefire was announced on May 10. Nearly 70 people combined were killed on both sides of the border. 

India had hit Pakistan first, saying it targeted “terrorist infrastructure” in response to an April 22 militant attack in Indian-administered Kashmir that New Delhi accused Islamabad of being behind — a charge it denies. After the attack, India also unilaterally suspended the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty that governs the sharing of river waters between the two neighbors. 

The Muslim-majority Himalayan region of Kashmir is claimed by both India and Pakistan and has been the focus of several wars and diplomatic stand-offs.

“We wanted peace, we want peace and we will work for peace in the region through talks, on the table, and resolve our outstanding issues,” Sharif said in a joint press conference with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian.

Among the issues Pakistan wanted to discuss, the PM said, was the Kashmir conflict, which he said needed to be resolved according to several resolutions passed by the UN Security Council, including one which says a plebiscite should be held to determine the future of the mostly Muslim region of Kashmir.

“We are ready to talk for the sake of peace on water issues with our neighbor, we are ready to talk to promote trade and also counter terrorism if they are serious, but if they choose to remain the aggressor then we shall defend our country and territory,” Sharif said. 

“But if they accept my offer of peace, then we will show that we really want peace, seriously and sincerely.”

The Iranian president also welcomed the ceasefire established between Pakistan and India. 

“Undoubtedly, settling differences through dialogue and through a peaceful manner is the precondition for sustainable peace and development at the national, regional and international levels,” Pezeshkian said. 

“We believe that in the region, sustaining the sustainable security and trying to create friendly relations with our neighboring countries is among the common policies of Iran and Pakistan.”

REGIONAL DIPLOMACY TOUR

Sharif arrived in Iran today, Monday, after a visit to Turkiye as part of a regional diplomacy tour following the latest military standoff with India. 

Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araqchi had called for restraint and visited both nations following India’s first strikes on Pakistan on May 7, setting off nearly four days of fighting.

On Sunday, Sharif reached Turkiye as the first stop in the diplomacy tour to nations that were either supportive of Islamabad during the latest crisis with India, or that helped mediate the conflict. After Iran, he will go onwards to Tajikistan and Azerbaijan.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan spoke by phone with Sharif on May 7 to convey his solidarity after India first hit Pakistan and Azad Kashmir with missiles. Leaders from the two nations had several contacts subsequently and it is widely believed that Turkiye played an important role, besides the US, UAE and Saudi Arabia, in convincing India and Pakistan to back off and agree to a ceasefire. The two nations have strong ties, both being largely Muslim countries and sharing historical links.

Iran’s leadership also offered to mediate the conflict and there were several contacts between its foreign minister and the Pakistani PM and other leaders. 


Pakistan says border control ‘sovereign right’ as UNHCR flags at-risk Afghans amid expulsions

Pakistan says border control ‘sovereign right’ as UNHCR flags at-risk Afghans amid expulsions
Updated 26 May 2025
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Pakistan says border control ‘sovereign right’ as UNHCR flags at-risk Afghans amid expulsions

Pakistan says border control ‘sovereign right’ as UNHCR flags at-risk Afghans amid expulsions
  • Afghan journalists, activists, minorities, artists, ex-government workers among 110,000 declared at “high-risk”
  • Foreign office says over 44,000 Afghans approved for relocation to Western nations remain in Pakistan 

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s foreign office said on Monday the country had a “sovereign right” to secure and regulate its borders, as the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) identified around 110,000 Afghans who faced the risk of persecution at home if deported. 

Facing economic and security crises, Pakistan launched a repatriation drive targeting “illegal” foreigners in November 2023, with approximately 1.3 million Afghan refugees, both undocumented and those with Afghan Citizen Card holders, deported since. 

Pakistan has vowed to continue with the deportations until all “illegal” foreigners have been expelled. As of October 2023, there were over 4 million Afghans, registered and illegals, residing in Pakistan.

According to the latest UNHCR Resettlement Factsheet, some 110,000 refugees and asylum-seekers have high-risk profiles with increased international protection needs and vulnerabilities that could qualify them for resettlement in a third country. The agency has said all returns should be voluntary, dignified, and sustainable.

Speaking to Arab News on Monday, foreign office spokesperson Shafqat Ali Khan said the illegal foreign repatriation plan (IFRP) was consistent with both Pakistan’s obligations under international law and its domestic legal framework. 

“The right to secure and regulate our borders is a sovereign right and an internationally recognized practice, which is by no means unique to Pakistan,” he said, adding that IFRP was neither an “indiscriminate nor an arbitrary measure,” and that Afghans would always be welcome to visit Pakistan through a proper visa regime, whether for business, tourism, or education.

Khan said Pakistan had urged all concerned nations to expedite the repatriation process for Afghans awaiting resettlement in third countries.

“On Afghan nationals awaiting evacuation to a third country, we are in touch with those countries and urged them to expedite the process of evacuation,” the FO spokesman said. 

“We are engaged with relevant UN bodies for the protection of people in vulnerable situations, and our legal safeguards and remedies remain functional and effective to address any complaints.”

UNHCR Pakistan spokesperson Qaiser Khan Afridi said approximately 600,000 Afghans had entered Pakistan following the Taliban’s takeover of Kabul and the withdrawal of US and allied forces in August 2021, with about 490,000 seeking asylum through UNHCR due to the absence of a national refugee law.

“We conducted a verification exercise a year ago and ... around 110,000 have high-risk profiles and qualify for resettlement in a third country,” Afridi told Arab News.

He said these were people who could not return to Afghanistan due to “vulnerabilities and safety concerns.”

“There are journalists, human rights activists, religious minorities, ethnic minorities, musicians, singers, or some people who have worked in previous governments, or they are female only families,” the UNHCR official added.

“We spoke with the Pakistani government, urging them not to send these people back to Afghanistan as their lives are at risk,” Afridi said, adding that the UN agency had also requested that the Pakistan government establish a mechanism to allow these individuals to live in the country temporarily.

According to the foreign office, over 44,000 Afghans approved for relocation to Western countries were still in Pakistan, awaiting resettlement.

The resettlement program has been active since the 1980s, with over 20,000 vulnerable refugees sent to third countries since.