Pakistan cricket chief rules out talks on sports ties after India hardens stance on bilateral games
Pakistan cricket chief rules out talks on sports ties after India hardens stance on bilateral games/node/2612771/pakistan
Pakistan cricket chief rules out talks on sports ties after India hardens stance on bilateral games
Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Mohsin Naqvi addresses a press conference on the Champions Cup at Qaddafi Stadium in Lahore, Pakistan on August 26, 2024. (Photo courtesy: @TheRealPCB/X/File)
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Chairman Mohsin Naqvi said on Saturday any talks with India over sporting ties would only take place on an equal footing, stressing that his country would not seek negotiations with its neighbor.
Political tensions between the two nuclear-armed states, including a four-day military conflict earlier this year, have spilled into sports, with India announcing this week it would no longer allow any bilateral sporting clash with Pakistan. Instead, teams from both countries will only meet in multilateral tournaments.
Initially, New Delhi’s restriction was only limited to cricket.
“We are very clear that whenever talks [on sporting ties] are held with India, they will be on an equal footing,” Naqvi told reporters in Lahore when asked about New Delhi’s latest decision
“There will be no more begging for negotiations,” he continued. “That time has gone. Whatever happens will be on the basis of equality.”
The PCB chief also voiced hope that Pakistan’s players would put up a strong performance in their Asia Cup cricket clash against India, scheduled for the coming month in the United Arab Emirates.
Cricket, the most popular sport in both countries, has long been a casualty of fraught relations.
In recent years, the two boards have followed a “hybrid model” in which tournaments hosted by Pakistan had some of the matches shifted to neutral venues to accommodate India’s refusal to tour.
Pakistan, which urged India not to let politics overshadow cricket, sent its men’s team for the 2023 One-Day International World Cup in India.
However, this time round, as India prepares to host the Women’s World Cup, Pakistan will play all their matches in Colombo.
India has also hardened its stance further since the May military standoff, with New Delhi now issuing a formal ban on any bilateral sporting encounters.
KARACHI: Pakistan has kept the price of petrol unchanged for the next fortnight while slashing the price of high-speed diesel by Rs3 per liter, a notification by the Finance Division said on Sunday, saying the decision had been taken based on the recommendations of the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) and relevant authorities.
This is the second consecutive time the government has slashed the price of high-speed diesel but kept petrol prices unchanged. On Aug. 15, the Finance Division’s notification announced that the government had slashed the price of high-speed diesel by Rs12.84 but kept the petrol price unchanged.
The new price of high-speed diesel has been set at Rs269.99 per liter while the price of light diesel oil has been slashed by Rs2.40 rupees to Rs159.76 per liter. The new price of superior kerosene oil has been kept at Rs178.81 after the government slashed it by Rs1.46 per liter. Meanwhile, the government has kept the price of petrol unchanged for the next fortnight at Rs264.61 per liter.
“The government has revised petroleum product prices for the fortnight starting tomorrow, in line with the recommendations of OGRA and the ministries concerned,” the Finance Division said in its notification on Sunday.
The new prices come into effect from Monday.
Fuel prices in Pakistan are adjusted every two weeks and are influenced by global oil market trends, currency fluctuations and changes in domestic taxation. The mechanism ensures that the net impact of changes in import costs is passed on to consumers, helping sustain the country’s fuel supply chain.
However, the latest revision in prices is unlikely to have a major effect on citizens as petrol is mostly used for private transport, small vehicles, rickshaws and two-wheelers. Diesel, on the other hand, powers heavy vehicles used for transportation of good across the South Asian country.
ISLAMABAD: An earthquake of magnitude 6.0 struck southeastern Afghanistan on Monday, Pakistan’s Met Office said, with jolts felt in several districts of Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
The Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) said tremors were felt in multiple areas and its emergency operations center had established contact with all district administrations to monitor the situation.
“District administrations have been instructed to remain alert to deal with any possible situation,” the PDMA said in a statement.
The authority added that the process of collecting information about potential damage was underway, but “so far no reports of casualties or property loss have been received at the PDMA control room.”
Citizens were advised to report any untoward incident at the emergency helpline 1700.
Pakistan sits atop the boundary of the Indian and Eurasian tectonic plates and is frequently prone to seismic activity.
In October 2005, a 7.6-magnitude earthquake devastated northern Pakistan and parts of Kashmir, killing more than 73,000 people and leaving around 3.5 million homeless, according to official figures.
More recently, a 7.7-magnitude quake struck Balochistan in September 2013, flattening entire villages and killing at least 825 people.
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Sunday met with world leaders, including Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkiye’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan, on the sidelines of a two-day summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization’s (SCO) Council of Heads of State (CHS), Sharif’s office said.
Sharif, who arrived on a six-day visit to China this week, was welcomed by President Xi Jinping at a banquet organized for leaders participating in the 25th SCO Council of Heads of States meeting in Tianjin.
The prime minister also held informal meetings with Malaysian PM Anwar Ibrahim, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, Azerbaijan’s Ilham Aliyev, Tajik President Emomali Rahmon, Turkmenistan’s Serdar Berdimuhamedov, Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov, Maldivian President Mohamed Muizzu and United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres.
“Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif was seen receiving extraordinary warmth from world leaders,” Sharif’s office said. “The closeness observed in these meetings reflects the brotherly and friendly relations between Pakistan and these countries.”
The SCO comprises China, India, Russia, Pakistan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Belarus, with 16 more countries affiliated as observers or “dialogue partners.”
China has long sought to present the regional group as a counterweight to Western-led power blocs and has pushed for greater collaboration between its member states.
On Sunday, Sharif held a meeting with Turkiye’s Erdogan, according to the former’s office. The two leaders condemned Israel’s “genocidal” policies in Gaza and vowed to advocate for Palestinian rights at all international platforms.
“The two sides exchanged views on key regional and international developments,” Sharif’s office said. “They expressed grave concern over the worsening humanitarian situation in Gaza and reaffirmed their shared commitment to using international platforms to advocate for the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people and to condemn the ongoing Israeli aggression and genocidal policies.”
Sharif, who arrived in China on Saturday, will remain in the country till Sept. 4 to hold talks with senior Chinese leadership, including the country’s President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Li Qiang, an earlier statement from the foreign office said.
China has long been Pakistan’s largest investor and its closest strategic ally, anchored by the multibillion-dollar China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). Both sides are working to advance into “CPEC 2.0,” focused on industrialization, agriculture, energy and connectivity.
During the visit, the Pakistani prime minister will also chair the second Pakistan-China B2B Investment Conference in Beijing on Sept. 4 to boost trade and investment ties, the PM Office said in an earlier statement on Saturday.
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and Armenia on Sunday formalized diplomatic relations with an exchange of a joint communique between the two sides in China, the Pakistani foreign office said, with both sides discussing cooperation in economy, tourism and other sectors.
Pakistan and Armenia did not have diplomatic ties mainly due to the rivalry between Azerbaijan and Armenia over the disputed Karabakh region, with Islamabad consistently backing Baku.
This month, Pakistani Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar held a telephonic conversation with his Armenian counterpart Ararat Mirzoyan, during which they agreed to consider establishing Islamabad-Yerevan diplomatic ties.
The phone call followed US President Donald Trump announcement that Armenia and Azerbaijan had committed to lasting peace after decades of conflict as he hosted the leaders of the South Caucasus rivals at a White House signing event.
“The Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Islamic Republic of Pakistan, Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar, today formally exchanged a Joint Communiqué with the Foreign Minister of Armenia, Mr. Ararat Mirzoyan, thereby establishing diplomatic relations between the two countries,” the Pakistani foreign office said on Sunday, following their meeting on the sidelines of a Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in China’s Tianjin.
“Marking a historic step forward, both the leaders affirmed their commitment to the principles and objectives of United Nations Charter and discussed possible avenues of cooperation including economy, education, culture, and tourism.”
The development comes as Pakistan, which is slowly recovering from a macroeconomic crisis under a $7 billion International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan, looks to capitalize on its geostrategic location to boost regional trade and tourism for a sustainable recovery.
The two leaders reaffirmed their desire to work closely with each other at bilateral and multilateral fora, to achieve their shared objectives of peace, progress, and prosperity for the peoples of their two countries, according to the Pakistani foreign office said.
Christian-majority Armenia and Muslim-majority Azerbaijan feuded for decades over their border and the status of ethnic enclaves within each other’s territories. The nations went to war twice over the disputed Karabakh region, which Azerbaijan recaptured from Armenian forces in a lightning 2023 offensive, sparking the exodus of more than 100,000 ethnic Armenians.
Islamabad had welcomed the peace agreement between Azerbaijan and Armenia, hoping that it would open new avenues for trade and regional connectivity.
“This landmark development marks the dawn of a new era of peace, stability, and cooperation in the South Caucasus, a region that has endured decades of conflict and human suffering,” Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said on August 9.
“It is our hope that this spirit of dialogue will serve as an example for other regions facing protracted conflicts.”
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s top disaster management body has warned that the country is facing a climate emergency as major natural hazards have been hitting every two months and now pose a grave “national security threat,” underscoring the urgent need for resilience and preparedness measures.
Pakistan, which ranks among the world’s most climate-vulnerable nations, has experienced increasingly erratic, frequent weather events, including heat waves, untimely rains, storms, cyclones and droughts, in recent years, which scientists have blamed on human-driven climate change.
The South Asian country is currently reeling from one of the deadliest floods in its history that have claimed more than 850 lives, according to the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA). The deluges swept away livestock and swathes of prime farmland in the most populous Punjab province.
Speaking at a press briefing on Sunday, NDMA chief Lt. Gen. Inam Haider Malik said they were planning short-, medium- and long-term measures to deal with these frequently occurring climate disasters, including the monsoon season that bring South Asia up to 80 percent of its annual rainfall.
“After every two months, Pakistan is facing a big disaster, in which the winter hazards are yet to come, after that, the early heatwave will come, and whatever will be triggered by the early heatwave, in which there are forest fires, and the next heatwave, and after that, another monsoon,” Malik said.
Residents inspect the remains of damaged property after water levels receded along the right bank of the Ravi River, following recent floods caused by monsoon rains, in Lahore, Pakistan on August 31, 2025. (REUTERS)
“Unfortunately, this is a part of reality, as we just talked about, in climate change, this is intensifying in the coming years... now climate change is being taken as a national security threat.”
Global warming has worsened monsoon rains this year in Pakistan. While downpours and cloudbursts have triggered flash floods and landslides across the mountainous northern regions, residents in eastern Punjab have experienced abnormal amounts of rain as well as cross-border flooding after India released excess water from its overflowing dams into Pakistan.
In May, severe storms killed at least 32 people in northern parts of the country, while other regions experienced sweltering heatwaves.
Climate Change Minister Musadiq Malik said “the whole country is in chaos” right now, adding that they have been sharing their assessments reports with the prime minister as well as the military leadership.
He said their top priority is to provide relief to the poorest 800,000 of a total of 2 million people displaced by the deluges.
“We are trying very hard, 800,000 of them are those poor people who have no rich relatives, who have been displaced, who need water, who have water-borne diseases, that is, water which is not available, water which is not drinkable, the diseases that spread because of that, so that this epidemic does not spread,” he said.
Residents who fled from a flooded area are seen with their belongings as they take refuge along a road, following monsoon rains and rising water levels of the Chenab River, in Harsa Bhula village, Chiniot district, Punjab province, Pakistan on August 30, 2025. (REUTERS)
“We have to deliver mosquito nets, we have to deliver tents, we have to deliver food, we have to deliver electricity, for all these things, our primary focus is on those displaced poor people on whom work is being done.”
The deluges have revived memories of the 2022 cataclysmic floods when a third of Pakistan was submerged, with more than 1,700 people killed, over 30 million affected and damages totaling $35 billion.
In the southern Sindh province, from where the dangerously high floodwaters are likely to pass in the coming days, local authorities have already started evacuating people to safety with support from army, navy and NDMA.
“It is our duty to protect every citizen,” the climate change minister said. “All the civil institutions are standing with the provinces, our 1122 is standing with the provinces, so God willing, we will minimize the damage.”
