Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif was recently in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, to attend the SCO Council of Heads of State summit. Pakistan has assumed the SCO chair and the next summit will be held in Islamabad. At the event, Mr Sharif met with leaders from within the Eurasian bloc, including those of Russia and China. Just before the summit, the first formal meeting of the Makkah Defence Alliance was held in Istanbul.

At this forum too, Pakistan’s relevance on the global stage was highlighted — this country has been chosen to head the pact’s secretariat. The pact itself is the extension of last year’s defence agreement signed with the Saudis; that development, too, had attracted global attention. But perhaps the biggest diplomatic coup Pakistan has pulled off in the recent past was to bring Iran and the US to the negotiating table in Islamabad in April. While violence has again flared between these two states, the global consensus remains that the Islamabad MoU offers the best path to peace.

All of these laurels are well-earned, as Pakistan’s leadership has gone the extra mile to promote peace in the region. However, the true value of these diplomatic successes can only be realised when there is peace and prosperity within. Internally, the challenges remain formidable. Pakistan faces two major terrorist insurgencies in KP and Balochistan. Meanwhile, though the economic situation is now comparatively stable to what it had been not too long ago, the country is still far from the path of sustainable growth.

Political instability is another major concern. Unless space is granted to all political forces in Pakistan, stability will elude us. The PM also spoke of the importance of regional connectivity in Bishkek. Regional integration is key, but when Pakistan faces two hostile neighbours — India to the east and Taliban-ruled Afghanistan to the west — as well as a war in Iran and the Gulf, achieving this integration becomes challenging.

While Pakistan can again extend the hand of friendship to New Delhi and Kabul, much depends on how these states respond, while the situation in the Gulf is beyond Pakistan’s control. What can be done is to address internal matters such as security, economic policy and political reconciliation.

Published in Dawn, September 3rd, 2026

In a statement, it said: “The transaction attracted nearly $6bn in orders — almost twice the amount issued — from a broad and diversified base of institutional investors across global markets and continents.”

“The successful transaction marks a major milestone in Pakistan’s renewed and increasingly diversified access to international capital markets, demonstrating strong investor confidence and Pakistan’s ability to access global funding markets at significant scale,” the ministry added.

The transaction includes $1.75bn through a 5.5-year bond at a coupon rate of 7.5 per cent and $1.25bn through a 10-year bond at 7.9pc, the ministry said.

Pakistan’s last most expensive Eurobond was raised more than a decade ago at an 8.25pc interest rate during the tenure of the PML-N government. It reached maturity a couple of years ago and has already been repaid.

The finance ministry said on Thursday that the total global demand for Pakistani paper amounted to $6bn.

“The competitive pricing across both maturities, together with strong demand extending to the 10-year tenor, demonstrates Pakistan’s ability to mobilise sizeable longer-term financing as international investors reassess the country’s improving macroeconomic and credit fundamentals,” it said. However, the significance of this transaction goes well beyond the amount raised, it added.

“The transaction also represents an important milestone in Pakistan’s broader road to market strategy,” the ministry said.

It said that after the successful inaugural Panda Bond and improvements in Pakistan’s sovereign credit profile, this was the first issuance under the country’s renewed strategic Global Medium-Term Note (GMTN) Programme — creating a platform for diversified access to international capital markets.

“The objective is not simply to raise additional debt. Pakistan is pursuing a broader strategy of active sovereign liability management — diversifying financing sources, extending maturities, reducing refinancing and rollover risks, and creating opportunities to replace shorter-term and more expensive obligations with longer-duration, competitively priced financing, where economically beneficial,” the ministry said.

“Pakistan has already pursued substantial early retirement of domestic debt ahead of maturity. Extending that discipline to external financing is part of the same objective: Borrow better. Extend maturities. Diversify funding. Reduce refinancing risk. Improve the sovereign debt profile. This is the difference between simply borrowing and actively managing the sovereign balance sheet,” it added.

It said that over the past three years, Pakistan’s improving economic trajectory had increasingly been recognised through successive sovereign credit-rating upgrades and renewed access to international capital markets.

“Now, global investors have reinforced that assessment with billions of dollars of actual capital,” it said.

“The depth of the order book, its geographically diversified institutional investor base, and substantial demand for a 10-year Pakistan sovereign instrument together provide a powerful market-based signal of renewed confidence in Pakistan’s medium and long-term trajectory,” the ministry said.

“Three years of rebuilding credibility; nearly $6bn of global investor demand, and a record $3bn issued in a single transaction — it is a landmark moment in Pakistan’s journey from economic stabilisation towards sustainable growth — and a stronger platform for the road ahead,” it concluded.

In April, the government initially raised $500 million through a three-year Eurobond under its GMTN Programme at a coupon of 6.975pc. The issue was subsequently increased to $750m through a $250m green-shoe option after stronger-than-expected investor demand. The bond matures in April 2029.

Pakistan has also repaid a $1.4 billion Eurobond that matured in April, allowing the government to re-establish a pricing benchmark in international debt markets after several years of relying heavily on multilateral, bilateral and commercial financing.

The latest offering extends the maturity profile beyond the three-year tenor used in April, with the proposed five and 10-year tranches providing a test of investors’ willingness to hold Pakistani sovereign debt for longer periods.

ISLAMABAD: Despite recent diplomatic developments suggesting a renewed push to ease tensions between Pakistan and Afghanistan, the Foreign Office on Wednesday remained firm that meaningful progress in relations would depend on the Taliban taking concrete and verifiable action against the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and other terrorist groups operating from Afghan territory.

At his final weekly media briefing before he is succeeded by Sajjad Haider Khan, FO spokesperson Tahir Andrabi said Islamabad welcomed China’s continuing engagement, but that external facilitation could not substitute for action by Kabul against terrorist infrastructure.

“Pakistan appreciates China’s constructive and sustained engagement on the issues of Afghanistan,” he said, adding that Islamabad had “always remained positively engaged for constructive dialogue on the subject of Afghanistan”.

Progress, however, would depend on “the Afghan Taliban regime taking concrete and verifiable action against TTP, BLA, and other terrorist organisations operating from their soil into Pakistan.”

His remarks came amid renewed diplomatic activity, including Chinese Special Envoy Yue Xiaoyong’s visit to Islamabad to revive the Urumqi process aimed at preventing further escalation, and an invitation to Afghan ambassador Sardar Shakeb to speak at the National Defence University.

Islamabad, however, sees little proof that the Taliban have moved beyond containing TTP activities. The latest UN Analytical Support and Sanctions Monitoring Team report noted that the Taliban had relocated around 2,000 TTP fighters and their families away from areas bordering Pakistan, and that Taliban leader Hibatullah Akhundzada had warned the group against attacks on Pakistan — but also that Taliban support for the TTP continued as the group escalated attacks and expanded its organisational structure.

For Islamabad, relocating terrorists does not amount to dismantling the command, training and logistical networks that remain at the centre of its concerns.

Mr Andrabi also downplayed readings of the Afghan envoy’s NDU speech as a sign of improving ties. “Envoys visit academic institutions. This is not unusual,” he said. “Such interaction is no yardstick for measuring bilateral relations between the two sides. As such, we should not read too much into this interaction.”

There had consequently been “no change” in Pakistan’s position. “Fact remains that progress in Pak-Afghan relations hinges on verifiable, written assurances from the Afghan side that their territory will not be used for terrorism against Pakistan,” he said.

Iran-US hostilities

The FO said the resumption of hostilities between the US and Iran should not be seen as a failure of mediation, insisting Islamabad remained engaged and hopeful the parties would return to talks once the “logic of escalation” had run its course. Attacks by the two sides have escalated after weeks of relative military restraint, alongside a growing US economic pressure campaign against Iran. “Whilst we remain concerned, and obviously these escalations are not desirable, however, we are not discouraged, and we remain engaged,” Andrabi said. “This escalation should not be termed as a failure of the mediatory process.”

Pakistan has consistently maintained that the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding, brokered in June through Pakistani facilitation, remained the framework for reviving diplomacy between Washington and Tehran after its implementation collapsed within weeks. His latest remarks, however, left room for an alternative.

“Our efforts will continue,” he said. “We hope that, when the logic of escalation will exhaust, and it should eventually exhaust, the parties would return to the negotiating table.”

“Whether the parties agree to resume dialogue, this template of peace (Islamabad MoU), or any similar framework copying this template, will be adopted. We remain positive that the parties will eventually return to the dialogue table,” he added.

That marked a subtle broadening of Pakistan’s position, which until now had projected the June MoU as the template for restarting the political process rather than requiring the parties to begin afresh.

On the latest US measures against Iran, the spokesperson said Islamabad had taken note of the sanctions and was assessing their possible impact on bilateral trade. “As regards the potential impact of these US measures on Pakistan-Iran trade, the matter is being carefully evaluated and monitored in coordination with the Ministry of Commerce,” he added — a shift in emphasis from last week’s briefing, when he stressed international law and existing bilateral agreements.

PCA ruling

The FO also urged India to return to full compliance with the Indus Waters Treaty, cautioning that New Delhi’s rejection of the Aug 31 award by the Court of Arbitration — which reaffirmed that the 1960 treaty remained in force and that India could not unilaterally place it in abeyance — did not absolve it of its obligations.

Mr Andrabi said India’s position raised concerns beyond the immediate dispute. “India cannot treat International Law as a matter of convenience, invoking it when useful and discarding it when inconvenient,” he maintained, adding that New Delhi could not disregard “binding treaty obligations and the legal processes to which it freely subscribed, simply because their outcomes are not to its liking.”

Such an approach, he warned, undermined the sanctity of treaties and confidence in established dispute-settlement mechanisms. “India’s rejection of the award cannot extinguish or otherwise alter India’s obligations under the Indus Water Treaty, or its obligations to fulfil the award of the Court of Arbitration,” he said, cautioning that unilateralism over transboundary waters was “particularly concerning and inimical to sustainable peace and stability” in South Asia.

“India should therefore return to full compliance with the treaty, respect the institutional and dispute settlement mechanisms of the treaty, and engage Pakistan constructively within the framework that both countries solemnly accepted,” Mr Andrabi said.

Published in Dawn, September 3rd, 2026

The resolution, titled ‘Access to Assistive Technology’, is the first-ever General Assembly resolution specifically devoted to the issue.

Introducing the resolution, Pakistan’s permanent representative to the UN, Ambassador Asim Iftikhar Ahmad, said around 2.5 billion people worldwide needed one or more assistive products, devices or related services, but millions continued to face barriers to accessing them.

“These barriers included high costs, limited availability, inadequate infrastructure and services, restricted access to technology and shortages of trained personnel,” he added.

Assistive technology includes a wide range of products and services, from wheelchairs, prosthetic limbs and hearing aids to screen readers, communication devices and other digital solutions. Such technologies can help children attend school, enable adults to work, allow older people to maintain independence and facilitate the fuller participation of persons with disabilities and certain health conditions in society.

“These are not simply products or devices,” Mr Ahmad said, describing assistive technology as “the bridge between dependence and independence; between exclusion and participation; between potential and opportunity”.

The resolution links access to assistive technology with wider development and inclusion objectives, including education, employment, healthcare, social protection and participation in society.

The resolution places particular emphasis on developing countries, calling for greater international cooperation, financing and technical assistance for countries facing resource and capacity constraints.

It also recognises that the need for assistive technology does not disappear during emergencies. Countries are encouraged to incorporate such technology into humanitarian preparedness and response, including during armed conflicts and natural disasters.

The resolution was drafted and negotiated by Counsellor Saima Saleem, Pakistan’s first visually impaired career diplomat and a user of assistive technology.

Her involvement, the Pakistani mission said, brought a direct personal perspective to an initiative focused on how technology could enhance independence, opportunity and equal participation.

Pakistan has previously played a leading role in advancing the issue at the international level. In 2018, it initiated World Health Assembly Resolution 71.8 on improving access to assistive technology, which was also adopted by consensus.

Published in Dawn, September 3rd, 2026

The request was made during a meeting between Unesco Representative in Pakistan Fuad Pashayev and Federal Minister for National Heritage and Culture Aurangzeb Khan Khichi. The Unesco World Heritage Centre currently catalogues Pakistan’s Tentative List at 37 properties, including the archaeological site of Rani Ghat and the Port of Banbhore.

The meeting was told that a visit by the World Heritage Committee to Banbhore was expected from September 6 to 11.

The minister also requ­ested the UN body for assistance in the inclusion of four selected Pakistani foods and culinary traditions in the Intangible Cultural Heritage framework. These foods incl­ude Makai Roti and Saag (Punjab), Balochi Sajji, Sin­dhi Biryani, and Chapli Ke­bab (Khyber Pakht­unk­hwa).

Culinary traditions of Makai Roti & Saag, Sajji, Biryani and Chapli Kebab proposed for listing as ‘Intangible Cultural Heritage’

Gandhara corners

Separately, Imran Shau­kat, coordinator of the PM’s Task Force on Gandhara, said they planned to expand Gandhara exhibitions overseas and establish dedicated ‘Gandhara Corners’ to showcase Pakistan’s Buddhist heritage.

Mr Shaukat said the task force was considering allocating five to 10 acres around selected Gandhara sites where Buddhist schools and institutions could establish research and meditation centres to facilitate extended visits to individual archaeological sites.

An international Gand­hara conference is scheduled for November, while delegations from Bangladesh and Sri Lanka are also expected to visit Pakistan in October and November.

Published in Dawn, September 3rd, 2026

Speaking at his first meeting with government secretaries at the Prime Minister’s Secretariat, Mr Gillani said his government had come to serve the people and its performance would be visible “on the ground”.

“Our foremost priority is to bring reforms to the system, create ease for the common man and generate new opportunities,” he said, adding that the government would address the challenges facing the state with the cooperation of the bureaucracy.

He said the administrative mach­inery had important responsibilities in translating government policies into tangible results and stres­sed the need for collective efforts.

“The success of any government largely depends on the efficiency, commitment and sense of responsibility of its administrative machinery. I expect the AJK bureaucracy to work with dedication and a sense of urgency to implement the reform agenda in letter and spirit,” he said.

Mr Gillani said the government would provide all necessary support to officials to deliver meaningful reforms and improve public service delivery.

He said unemployment was a major challenge in the state and announced plans to introduce a youth engagement programme and demand-based skills development programmes in the social sector.

He also promised relief to people in transport and healthcare services, saying measures would be taken on a priority basis to reduce their difficulties.

‘Practical measures’

The prime minister said the government was committed to translating its reform programme into practical measures and making its impact visible to the people. He said the 100-day agenda also demonstrated the seriousness of the party’s central leadership towards AJK.

Separately, the prime minister attended briefings by Chief Secretary Khushal Khan and Inspector Gen­eral of Police (IGP) retired Capt Lia­qat Ali Malik on the organisational structures of the Services and General Administration Depart­ment and the police department, respectively.

The IGP also briefed the prime minister on the department’s performance and future needs, as well as the overall law and order situation in the territory.

Earlier, upon his arrival at the Prime Minister’s Secretariat, Mr Gillani was received by his principal secretary and officers and staff of the secretariat.

Published in Dawn, September 3rd, 2026