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WWF, global biopharma giant join hands to protect freshwater resources in Pakistan, India

WWF, global biopharma giant join hands to protect freshwater resources in Pakistan, India
The picture shared by WWF-Pakistan on March 25, 2025, shows picture of River Indus and Taunsa barrage. (WWF-Pakistan)
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Updated 25 March 2025
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WWF, global biopharma giant join hands to protect freshwater resources in Pakistan, India

WWF, global biopharma giant join hands to protect freshwater resources in Pakistan, India
  • Freshwater ecosystems have seen an alarming 85 percent decline in wildlife since 1970, WWF says
  • Pakistan’s Indus Basin, in particular, faces threats from pollution, dams and climate change
Updated 25 March 2025
Arab News Pakistan
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ISLAMABAD: The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and the GSK global biopharma giant have launched a five-year initiative to conserve and restore freshwater resources in water-stressed regions of Pakistan and India, Pakistani state media reported on Tuesday.
The collaboration, running until 2030, will focus on the Indus River Basin in Pakistan and the Sutlej River Basin in India, key areas for medicine production. The initiative aims to replenish over 300,000 cubic meters of water and benefit more than 100,000 people by implementing nature-based solutions.
Key efforts include restoring freshwater habitats, protecting endangered species like river dolphins and otters, and promoting sustainable water management in local communities and farms, the Associated Press of Pakistan (APP) news agency reported.
“Ensuring sustainable water supply is critical to delivering life-saving medicines,” Regis Simard, president of global supply chain of GSK that operates three manufacturing sites in these regions, was quoted as saying by the APP.
“Partnering with WWF allows us to drive meaningful change in these vulnerable ecosystems.”
Freshwater ecosystems have seen an alarming 85 percent decline in wildlife populations since 1970, according to WWF’s Living Planet Report. The Indus Basin, in particular, faces threats from pollution, dams and climate change.
The partnership aligns with global biodiversity goals, including the Freshwater Challenge that seeks to restore 300,000 kilometers of rivers and 350 million hectares of wetlands by 2030.
“Pakistan faces severe water scarcity and pollution,” said Hammad Naqi Khan, director-general of WWF-Pakistan, highlighting the urgency of water conservation.
“Companies like GSK are leading by example not just reducing water use but actively replenishing resources.”

Topics: WWF Pakistan GSK global

Pakistan opposes expansion of permanent Security Council seats, calls for elected representation

Pakistan opposes expansion of permanent Security Council seats, calls for elected representation
Updated 18 sec ago
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Pakistan opposes expansion of permanent Security Council seats, calls for elected representation

Pakistan opposes expansion of permanent Security Council seats, calls for elected representation
  • A Pakistani diplomat says ‘there is no justification for creating new centers of privilege within the UN’
  • He says the UN should accommodate interests of underrepresented blocs like the Arab Group, OIC
Updated 18 sec ago
Fatimah Amjad

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Tuesday opposed any expansion of the permanent membership of the United Nations Security Council, warning against “creating new centers of privilege” within the world body and instead advocating for a more democratic and regionally representative Council.
The statement came during an informal meeting of the Intergovernmental Negotiations (IGN) on Security Council reform, where long-standing divisions between two key camps — the G4 nations and the Uniting for Consensus (UfC) group — were once again laid bare.
While the G4 — India, Brazil, Germany and Japan — seek permanent seats for themselves in a restructured Council, the UfC group, led by Italy and including Pakistan, favors an expansion only in the non-permanent category to ensure greater regional equity and accountability.
“We remain staunchly opposed to proposals for permanent seats, as there is no justification for creating new centers of privilege within the UN,” said Ambassador Usman Iqbal Jadoon, Pakistan’s Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN.
“Our goal is to democratize the Council and support a reform that corresponds to the interests of the large majority of member states and regional and cross-regional groups, not just a few self-appointed states,” he added.
Jadoon stressed that any increase in the Council’s size must reflect the dramatic rise in UN membership since 1945, particularly from small and medium-sized states, and warned that allocating a limited number of additional seats permanently to a handful of countries would diminish chances for broader representation.
He reiterated Pakistan’s support for the UfC proposal to raise the Council’s membership to 27, composed entirely of elected non-permanent members, with seats distributed among the UN’s five regional groups.
The approach, he continued, would better accommodate the interests of underrepresented blocs such as the Arab Group, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and Small Island Developing States (SIDS).
“Each seat allocated permanently to an individual country will be a permanent blow to equitable geographical distribution or regional representation in any sense of the word,” Jadoon argued.
The Pakistani diplomat maintained that permanent seats occupied by individual states, even without veto power, would entrench the status quo and undermine accountability, an outcome he described as antithetical to the spirit of reform.
 

Topics: United Nations Security Council (UNSC) Permanent representative Security Council reform

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Roadside bomb kills three in southwest Pakistan as two polio workers abducted in northwest

Roadside bomb kills three in southwest Pakistan as two polio workers abducted in northwest
Updated 39 min 21 sec ago
AP
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Roadside bomb kills three in southwest Pakistan as two polio workers abducted in northwest

Roadside bomb kills three in southwest Pakistan as two polio workers abducted in northwest
  • The first attack occurred in Mastung, a district in the insurgency-hit province of Balochistan
  • Polio workers’ kidnapping happened ahead of a nationwide anti-polio drive starting April 21
Updated 39 min 21 sec ago
AP

QUETTA: A powerful roadside bomb exploded near a vehicle carrying security personnel in Pakistan’s restive southwest on Tuesday, killing three officers and wounding 18 others, officials said.
Separately, gunmen also abducted two polio workers in the northwest.
The first attack occurred in Mastung, a district in the province of Balochistan, according to government spokesperson Shahid Rind.
No group has immediately claimed responsibility for the bombing, but suspicion is likely to fall on ethnic Baloch separatists, who frequently target security forces and civilians in the province as well as other parts of the country.
Balochistan has been the scene of a long-running insurgency in Pakistan, with an array of separatist groups, including the outlawed Balochistan Liberation Army which was designated as a terrorist organization by the United States in 2019, staging attacks.
The separatists seek independence from the central government in Islamabad.
Although Pakistani authorities say they have quelled the insurgency, violence in Balochistan has persisted.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, in a statement, denounced the attack and vowed to continue the “fight against terrorism” until it's eradicated.
Meanwhile, gunmen attacked a vehicle and abducted two polio workers who were on their way home after visiting a health facility in Dera Ismail Khan, a district in restive Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, according to a local police officer Zahid Khan.
The kidnapping happened ahead of a nationwide anti-polio campaign which will begin April 21 to vaccinate 45 million children.
It wasn’t immediately clear who was behind the abductions but authorities have previously blamed militants for such attacks.
Insurgents falsely claim the vaccination campaigns are a Western conspiracy to sterilize children despite the government and medical experts’ vehement denials.

Pakistan has reported six new cases of polio since January.
According to the World Health Organization, Pakistan and neighboring Afghanistan remain the only two countries where the potentially fatal, paralyzing virus has not been eradicated.

Topics: mastung blast Attack on polio team Balochistan blast

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Pakistan fails to meet target of 50% Shariah-compliant banking by Jan. 2025 — data

Pakistan fails to meet target of 50% Shariah-compliant banking by Jan. 2025 — data
Updated 16 April 2025
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Pakistan fails to meet target of 50% Shariah-compliant banking by Jan. 2025 — data

Pakistan fails to meet target of 50% Shariah-compliant banking by Jan. 2025 — data
  • Pakistan’s central bank set a target to increase Islamic banking deposits’ share to 50% by January 2025
  • Pakistan increased market share of Shariah-compliant banking deposits to only 24.9% by December
Updated 16 April 2025
Ismail Dilawar

KARACHI: Pakistan’s government failed to achieve a target set by the central bank to increase the share of Islamic banking deposits in the country by 50% by January this year, according to official documents seen by Arab News, as Islamabad attempts to rid the country’s banking system of interest. 

Pakistan’s Federal Shariat Court (FSC) directed the government in April 2022 to eliminate interest by 2027, maintaining that Islam prohibited it in all its forms and manifestations. The FSC determines whether Pakistani laws comply with Islamic law or not. 

Following the order, the government and State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) have taken measures ranging from changing laws in October 2024 to issuing Sukuk (Islamic bonds) to replace interest-based treasury bills and investment bonds.

According to a presentation shared by the SBP with bankers in August 2024, a copy of which Arab News has seen, the central bank set an “indicative target” for the government to increase the share of Islamic banking deposits to 50% by January 2025, 65% by January 2026, 80% by January 2027 and 100% by December 2027. 

Pakistan, however, missed this target and was able to increase the market share of its Shariah-compliant banking deposits to only 24.9% by December 2024, the document stated. Noor Ahmed, the chief spokesperson of the SBP, did not respond to Arab News’ request for comments. 

“The SBP and the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan are making a lot of efforts but the government should do more to speed up this process of conversion,” Ahmed Ali Siddiqui, the head of Shariah-compliance at Meezan Bank Ltd., told Arab News.

Meezan Bank is Pakistan’s largest Islamic bank which operates more than 1,000 branches in over 300 cities across the country. Pakistan has six full-fledged Islamic banks and 16 conventional banks that also offer Islamic products. 

INTEREST-FREE BANKING ON THE RISE

The demand for interest-free banking, however, is increasing in the country. 

This increasing demand is reflected in the over 20% growth of annual deposits that Islamic banks have been reporting in recent years, with their total assets swelling beyond Rs10 trillion ($35.6 billion) for the first time, said the SBP’s Quarterly Islamic Banking Bulletin from October to December 2024. 

Total deposits of Islamic banks grew by 17% to Rs 7.91 trillion ($28.2 billion), which accounts for 25% of the total banking industry, the bulletin said. Islamic banks extended Rs 4.04 trillion ($14.4 billion) of financing to borrowers, while their investments totaled Rs 4.99 trillion ($17.8 billion).

“The steady rise in assets, deposits, financing, and investment highlights the sector’s resilience,” the central bank said in the report.

Both conventional and Islamic banks are expanding their branches across Pakistan. This led to a 21% year-on-year growth in the number of branches of Islamic banks to 6,017 and a 17% hike in conventional banks operating Islamic banking windows to 2,253.

“This expansion underpins the increasing accessibility and demand for Islamic banking services across the country,” the SBP said in the bulletin.

Pakistan’s leading banks are converting their branches into Shariah-compliant to align with the legal requirement for all banks to transition to Islamic banking by 2027.

In November, MCB Bank Ltd. converted 39 of its conventional branches into interest-free ones while the United Bank Ltd. has also converted all its branches located in the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and southwest Balochistan provinces into interest-free ones.

“The government’s biggest challenge is to convert all its loans and financing into Islamic financing,” Siddiqui said. 

He urged the government to take all its deposits to Islamic banks and convert its treasury bills and investment bonds into Sukuk as a first step.

“You should at least announce the conversion of National Bank Pakistan [into a Shariah-compliant bank], which is the state-owned bank,” Siddiqui said. 

The banker said the government could speed up the process of conversion if all its institutions could carry out their transactions such as salaries and pension funds through Islamic banking. 

Topics: Shariah-compliant banking Pakistan

Pakistan court refuses to hear Baloch activist case— lawyers

Pakistan court refuses to hear Baloch activist case— lawyers
Updated 15 April 2025
AFP
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Pakistan court refuses to hear Baloch activist case— lawyers

Pakistan court refuses to hear Baloch activist case— lawyers
  • Mahrang Baloch was detained by authorities on Mar. 22 on “terrorism,” sedition and murder charges after leading protest
  • Pakistan’s military and federal government deny allegations by Baloch, others who accuse state of torture, extrajudicial killings
Updated 15 April 2025
AFP

QUETTA: Pakistan court refused on Tuesday to rule on the detention of activist Mahrang Baloch, a decision her lawyers said will delay her case and keep her behind bars.
The 32-year-old was placed under administrative detention by the Balochistan provincial government on March 22, accused of terrorism, sedition, and murder after leading a protest.
The Balochistan High Court refused to hear an appeal against her detention, instead referring her case to the provincial government, according to Baloch’s defense team.
“They closed all doors for us to appeal and directed us to the government instead,” her lawyer Kamran Murtaza told AFP, calling it a “refusal of justice.”
Imaan Mazari, a second lawyer, called it a “complete abdication of responsibility” by the justice system, which has “put her at the mercy of the same administration that detained her.”
Baloch will now remain under administrative detention, a 30-day period renewable three times under Pakistani law.
The UN has expressed “concern” for the trainee surgeon, who was named by Time Magazine as one of the 100 rising leaders of 2024.
Balochistan, the country’s poorest province that borders Iran and Afghanistan, is in the grip of separatist militants who regularly carry out attacks on security forces.
Baloch founded the Baloch Unity Committee which accuses the state of extrajudicial executions, enforced disappearances, and arbitrary arrests in their security operations, but advocates non-violence.
At least 3,000 supporters have taken part in an ongoing sit-in, blocking key roads near the main city of Quetta for the past two weeks and demanding the release of Baloch and other activists.
Authorities restrict access to many areas of Balochistan, where China has poured billions into energy and infrastructure projects, including a major port and an airport.

Topics: Dr. Mahrang Baloch Mahrang Baloch

PM Sharif hopes Tehran punishes culprits who killed 8 Pakistanis in Iran

PM Sharif hopes Tehran punishes culprits who killed 8 Pakistanis in Iran
Updated 15 April 2025
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PM Sharif hopes Tehran punishes culprits who killed 8 Pakistanis in Iran

PM Sharif hopes Tehran punishes culprits who killed 8 Pakistanis in Iran
  • Eight Pakistani nationals were killed in Iran’s Sistan-Baluchestan province on Saturday in attack claimed by separatists
  • Pakistan and Iran have both frequently blamed each other for failing to stamp out militancy in their shared, porous border
Updated 15 April 2025
Shahjahan Khurram

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Tuesday condemned the recent killing of eight Pakistani nationals in Iran, hoping Tehran would arrest the culprits and hand them stern punishments. 

The Pakistani nationals were killed in the Mehrestan County of Iran’s Sistan-Baluchestan province, which borders Pakistan, on Saturday. The attack was claimed by the Balochistan National Army (BNA), one of several separatist outfits operating in Pakistan’s southwestern Balochistan province. 

Militant groups operate in the area that includes Pakistan’s Balochistan and Iran’s southeastern Sistan-Baluchestan province. Both countries trade blame for militancy in the regions that are restive, mineral-rich and largely underdeveloped. 

“The foreign minister [of Pakistan] has spoken to the foreign minister of Iran and I have also issued a statement,” Sharif told members of his cabinet during a meeting. 

“We should hope that the Irani government will immediately arrest and hand stern punishments to the killers,” he added. 

The Pakistani prime minister condemned the attack in strong words. 

As per media reports, the Pakistani nationals who were killed in the attack were auto mechanics. Thousands of Pakistanis, mostly from underprivileged backgrounds, regularly cross into Iran for informal work in industries such as auto repair, agriculture and construction. 

Balochistan has witnessed a low-level insurgency for nearly two decades. Baloch militant groups such as the BNA accuse the central government of exploiting local resources while neglecting the population.

Islamabad denies the allegations and says it is committed to regional development.

Topics: Pakistan Iran Ties Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif cabinet meeting

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