Latest news with #Islamabad
Arab News
2 hours ago
- Politics
- Arab News
Pakistani minister, FIFA president discuss football's growing popularity in country
ISLAMABAD: Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi met FIFA President Gianni Infantino on Friday to discuss football's growing popularity in Pakistan and the potential that the sport has in the country, the minister said in a statement. Football in Pakistan has long existed in the shadow of cricket. However, the sport has been growing popular over the years, particularly among the youth, who form a passionate fan base in urban centers. Naqvi, who is also the chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), met Infantino in Washington on Friday. 'Had an excellent meeting with FIFA President Gianni Infantino,' Naqvi said in a post on X following his meeting with him during a trip to the US. 'We discussed the immense potential of sports in Pakistan — especially the growing popularity of football following cricket,' he added. Washington DC : Had an excellent meeting with FIFA President Gianni Infantino. We discussed the immense potential of sports in Pakistan — especially the growing popularity of football following cricket. Extended a warm invitation to visit Pakistan, which he graciously accepted… — Mohsin Naqvi (@MohsinnaqviC42) June 20, 2025 Pakistan and FIFA share a complex yet evolving relationship, shaped by ongoing efforts to develop football infrastructure and promote the sport in the country. Pakistan has faced repeated administrative challenges and international suspensions, largely due to government interference in football affairs. In 2019, FIFA appointed a normalization committee to restore order within the Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) and facilitate the holding of democratic elections. FIFA suspended the PFF earlier in February after its elected congress rejected the constitutional amendments proposed by the global football body but the ban was reversed in March after PFF accepted the proposed constitutional amendments. However, Pakistan remains committed to elevating its football profile despite recurring setbacks such as suspensions. The Pakistan national football team last played a match in March, losing 2–0 to Syria in an AFC Asian Cup qualifier. The next FIFA World Cup is scheduled to take place from June 11 to July 19, 2026, and will be jointly hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico.
Arab News
6 hours ago
- Politics
- Arab News
Pakistan army chief calls for dialogue, diplomacy to resolve regional conflicts
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan's army chief advocated for dialogue and diplomacy to resolve regional conflicts in his interaction with American policy experts, analysts, scholars and representatives of foreign media outlets, the military's media wing said on Friday amid Islamabad's simmering tensions with New Delhi. Munir is on a solo trip to the US, where he met President Donald Trump for lunch on Wednesday in an unprecedented White House meeting. Trump told reporters afterward that the two had discussed the ongoing Iran-Israel crisis, and that the main reason he wanted to meet Munir was to thank him for not pursuing war with India last month. Pakistan and India remained engaged in a military confrontation for four days last month before Washington brokered a ceasefire between the two on May 10. Pakistan has since then sent delegations to various capitals around the world, urging countries to persuade India to resolve bilateral issues with Islamabad via dialogue and diplomacy. 'The Army Chief also provided a detailed exposition of Pakistan's balanced approach to regional and global conflicts, advocating for dialogue, diplomacy, and adherence to international law,' the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the military's media wing, said. 'He reaffirmed that Pakistan continues to play a responsible and proactive role in mitigating regional tensions and promoting cooperative security frameworks.' Munir also spoke about Pakistan's recent conflict with India, elaborating on Pakistan's perspective on 'terrorism.' Without naming anyone in particular, the Pakistan army chief spoke about the influence of regional actors in sponsoring and perpetuating 'terrorism' as a tool of hybrid warfare. 'The COAS emphasized that Pakistan has been on the front lines of the global war against terrorism, having rendered immense sacrifices— both human and economic— in pursuit of a safer and more secure world,' the statement said. Pakistan denies India's allegations it supports militant attacks in the part of disputed Kashmir that New Delhi governs. After the April 22 attack in Pahalgam, a tourist resort in Indian-administered Kashmir, tensions between the two countries surged as New Delhi blamed Islamabad for being involved. Pakistan denied the allegations and called for an impartial, international probe into the incident. The Pakistan army chief spoke about his country's untapped potential in information technology, agriculture and its underexploited reserves in the mining and mineral sectors. Munir invited international partners to explore collaborative opportunities in these sectors to unlock 'shared prosperity,' the ISPR said. The discussion between Munir and the participants also involved an evaluation of the long-standing Pakistan–US partnership, the military's media wing said. 'The COAS [chief of army staff] underlined the historical convergences between the two nations, particularly in areas such as counterterrorism, regional security, and economic development,' the ISPR said. 'He underscored the immense potential for a broader, multidimensional relationship built upon mutual respect, shared strategic interests, and economic interdependence.' The ISPR said the interaction was marked by mutual understanding and was widely regarded as a 'positive step' toward enhancing strategic dialogue between the two countries. Pakistan's military plays a key role in shaping the country's foreign policy, and Munir's high-profile White House invitation is being seen as part of Washington's broader effort to recalibrate ties with Islamabad, a vital but often difficult ally for the US in South Asia. Under Trump, Islamabad and Washington both have appeared eager to rebuild military and economic cooperation after years of strained ties, largely over counter-terrorism disagreements.
Arab News
6 hours ago
- Arab News
Islamabad's first woman to lead men's police station takes on drug lords, land mafia
ISLAMABAD: Tucked amid the dust and bustle of Islamabad's fringes, the suburb of Phulgran has long been a magnet for trouble: drug dens, land-grabbing, and a loose grip on law and order. But now, it has something new: a phenomenon. In her blue uniform and a modest headscarf, Misbah Shahbaz quietly took charge in 2025 as Station House Officer (SHO) of Phulgran, Islamabad's first-ever female SHO at a general, or men's, police station. The post of SHO is one of the most visible and operationally significant leadership roles in Pakistan's police hierarchy, responsible for crime investigation, public safety, and station-level administration. Until now, female SHOs in Islamabad had only led women police stations. 'It's a historic decision, and I feel very proud,' Shahbaz told Arab News as she walked through a briefing with her team. Phulgran sits at the nexus of rural sprawl and urban ambition, where narcotics and land mafias thrive. Shahbaz's three-fold roadmap is simple: Clean up the drug trade, target land-grab networks, and raise the ethical bar in policing. Methodical yet unspoken in her stride, she is already tackling the tough territory: 'Drug trafficking is a major concern. I've already developed strategies … and God willing, you'll soon see the results.' Her academic résumé reads like an MBA case study: she holds a Master's and an MBA. But she insisted: 'I've always been drawn to the uniform … This was never about the degree, it was about a passion to serve.' Back in 2012, Shahbaz took one of the 87 Assistant Sub-Inspector slots based strictly on merit. And that was just the beginning of a journey in which she says her male colleagues largely treated her as an equal. 'I was lucky to have excellent mentors, all-male officers who treated me no differently,' she said. 'They taught me the finer points of investigation, from identifying subtle clues to interviewing techniques.' Today, when Shahbaz rolls through Phulgran in her official vehicle, residents pause. Men nod, women whisper encouragement and in the sidewalks, young girls see her, and absorb a message: you, too, can wear the badge. 'She's not less than any man,' a constable under her command said. 'In fact, she leads better.' TURNING TIDE? Let's zoom out: Pakistan's police force is staggeringly male. According to the National Police Bureau (NPB) and UN Women Pakistan as of 2023, only about 3.2 % of officers are women, just 15,509 women out of 489,645 total. And while Islamabad fares slightly better, with around 5% of women, most provinces hover at 1–4%. A mandatory 10 % quota exists but the officers actually recruited, trained, and retained are far fewer. In some provinces, it's under 1%. So, Shahbaz's promotion is more than symbolic. She's a breakthrough not just for Islamabad but for an entire force held back by gender disparity. With so few female officers, women are often reluctant to report crimes, especially those involving domestic or gender-based issues. Experts also say the absence of women in decision-making and field leadership reduces community trust in law enforcement. Female officers like Shahbaz could change that balance. And her rise isn't just a personal triumph. It's the latest clue in the slow shift in a system where less than 1 in 30 cops is a woman. As the police officer said: 'Islamabad Police already have a reputation for professionalism but I want to raise the bar so that every citizen feels heard and respected.'
Al Jazeera
7 hours ago
- Business
- Al Jazeera
Amid US-Pakistan thaw, two key challenges: Iran and China
Islamabad, Pakistan – Pakistan's army chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, has held an unprecedented one-on-one meeting with United States President Donald Trump at the White House, where the two leaders spoke for more than two hours, according to the Pakistani military. In a statement issued on Thursday by Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the Pakistani military's media wing, the meeting, originally scheduled for one hour, was held in the Cabinet Room over lunch and then continued in the Oval Office. After Wednesday's meeting, the ISPR said, Munir expressed 'deep appreciation' for Trump's efforts in facilitating a ceasefire between India and Pakistan after a four-day conflict in May between the two nuclear-armed neighbours. According to the ISPR, Trump welcomed Pakistan's cooperation against 'terrorism'. While the White House did not release any statement on the meeting, which was held behind closed doors and without news media photo opportunities, Trump spoke to reporters briefly after his talks with Munir. He thanked the army chief and said he was 'honoured to meet him'. Yet amid the bonhomie and the promise of a sharp uptick in relations after years of tension between Washington and Islamabad, Trump also referred to the ongoing military conflict between Israel and Iran, which the US president has said his country might join. The Pakistanis, Trump said, 'know Iran very well, better than most', adding that they are 'not happy'. For Pakistan, analysts said, that comment underscored how the reset in ties with the US that Islamabad desperately seeks will be tested by two key challenges. Iran and the current crisis with Israel will force Pakistan into a diplomatic balancing act, they said. And Islamabad's close relations with China could similarly pull Pakistan in conflicting directions. According to the ISPR, Munir spoke to Trump about a range of areas where the two nations could strengthen cooperation, including 'economic development, mines and minerals, artificial intelligence, energy, cryptocurrency, and emerging technologies'. But the Pakistani military conceded that the two leaders also held 'detailed discussions' on the escalating tensions between Iran and Israel with both Munir and Trump – according to Islamabad – emphasising the need for a peaceful resolution. Munir was accompanied by Pakistan's national security adviser, Lieutenant General Asim Malik, who also heads the country's premier intelligence agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). On the American side, Trump was joined by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the president's top negotiator in the Middle East, Steve Witkoff. Marvin Weinbaum, a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute (MEI), said the lack of a media presence during the lunch could be interpreted as suggesting that 'the nature of the conversation was such that neither party wanted photo opportunities'. Weinbaum told Al Jazeera that neither side likely wanted to reveal much about 'what was discussed, though my read is it was perhaps the US wanting to know about Pakistan's role on what follows in Iran during this ongoing situation'. Later on Wednesday evening, Munir attended a dinner hosted by the Pakistani embassy with nearly three dozen figures from think tanks, policy institutions and diplomatic circles. Al Jazeera spoke to several participants, who all requested anonymity to discuss what Munir said at the dinner. One participant said Munir did not divulge specifics from his meeting with Trump but he remarked that the conversation was 'fantastic and could not have gone any better'. Munir added, according to this person, that Pakistan's relations with the previous administration of President Joe Biden had been 'among the worst' historically. Another attendee told Al Jazeera that Munir said the US 'knows what it needs to do regarding Iran' and reiterated that Pakistan's view is that 'every conflict is resolvable through dialogue and diplomacy'. For the moment, experts said, the meeting represents a major gain for Pakistan in its bid to improve ties with the US. Pakistan has been a close US ally since gaining independence in 1947. They worked closely together in Afghanistan after the Soviet invasion in 1979 and then again after the US invasion of Afghanistan following the 9/11 attacks. While the US has provided more than $30bn in aid in the last two decades to Pakistan, it has repeatedly accused Islamabad of 'duplicity' and of not being a reliable security partner. Pakistan, in turn, has argued that Washington constantly demands it 'do more' without fully acknowledging the losses and instability Pakistan has suffered due to regional violence. Elizabeth Threlkeld, director of the South Asia Program at the Stimson Center in Washington, DC, said Munir's visit marks a 'significant upswing' in US-Pakistan ties under the Trump administration. 'Given President Trump's central role in shaping foreign policy and his preference for personal relationships, this visit has allowed Field Marshal Munir to solidify a rapport built during the recent crisis,' she told Al Jazeera. Sahar Khan, a Washington, DC-based security policy expert, said that while the meeting was significant, it doesn't mean the two countries are 'now friends'. However, it does indicate a 'thaw in the relationship'. She added that although Trump is unpredictable, Pakistan should consider striking a deal with him to prevent unrealistic demands regarding regional issues. 'For now, Munir's message to the Trump administration is, take the time to understand Pakistan and stop viewing it through the lens of India, China or Afghanistan,' she said. Making that message stick, though, won't be easy, analysts said. China remains Pakistan's most critical partner, with whom it enjoys deep economic, strategic and military ties. But simultaneously, over the past three decades, Beijing's rise as a global superpower has made it Washington's principal rival. Muhammad Faisal, a South Asia security researcher and China expert at the University of Technology in Sydney, said managing ties with both powers will test Islamabad's commitment to a policy of 'no-camp politics'. China has invested $62bn in the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a large infrastructure project connecting western China to the Arabian Sea via Pakistan. On the military front, Pakistan procures more than 80 percent of its weaponry from China, and some of those products, particularly Chinese jets and missiles, showcased their worth in the recent conflict with India. 'In the long run, both [China and the US] are crucial for Pakistan in their own right,' Faisal told Al Jazeera. And while the US and China might each want Islamabad on their side, the fact that Pakistan is sought after by both has its own advantage. It 'gives Islamabad considerable diplomatic space to expand cooperation with both Beijing and Washington', he said. Iran, currently under an intense Israeli assault that has targeted key infrastructure and senior military and nuclear figures, presents another sensitive challenge for Pakistan. Analysts argued that Pakistan's proximity and ties to Tehran position it as a potential mediator between the US and Iran. 'It is in Pakistan's interest to play a mediating role. It cannot afford another adversary on its western border, given its internal challenges,' Khan said. Last month, Munir travelled to Iran along with Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. During the visit, he met Major General Mohammad Bagheri, chief of General Staff of the Iranian military. In the first wave of strikes by Israel on Friday, Bagheri was one of the several military officials who were killed. Since the Israeli strikes began, Pakistan has strongly defended Iran's right to self-defence, describing the Israeli strikes as violations of Iran's territorial sovereignty and calling them 'blatant provocations'. Home to nearly 250 million people, Pakistan has a significant Shia minority – between 15 percent and 20 percent of the population – who look to Iran for religious leadership. Faisal noted that these demographic and geographic realities would constrain Pakistan's public support for any US military intervention. 'Islamabad can continue to call for diplomacy and cessation of hostilities to contain the conflict. As a neighbour, instability in Iran isn't in Pakistan's interest,' he said. At the same time, Faisal added, 'a spike in sectarian tensions [in Pakistan] can test internal security. Thus, Islamabad will be wary of pro-American public posturing.'
Arab News
8 hours ago
- Politics
- Arab News
Pakistan's defense minister says hybrid model ‘doing wonders' as army chief on solo US visit
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan's defense minister has described the country's governance as a 'hybrid model' in which military and civilian leaders share power — an open secret in political circles but a rare public admission by a serving official that has taken on added significance amid the army chief's solo visit to the United States and an unprecedented meeting with President Donald Trump. Officials have presented Field Marshal Asim Munir's trip as an effort to bolster security ties with Washington, particularly in light of last month's military standoff with India and escalating hostilities in the Middle East. But the army chief's meeting with Trump — without Pakistan's prime minister or foreign minister present — has also drawn renewed attention to how much Islamabad relies on its army to handle high-stakes foreign relations, economic ties and sensitive regional issues. The chief's visit comes on the heels of the most serious clash in years between nuclear-armed Pakistan and India in which they exchanged drone, missile and artillery fire until a ceasefire brokered by Washington on May 10 brought an end to hostilities. Pakistan has declared victory in the confrontation, saying it downed six Indian fighter jets and struck military facilities. Munir's leadership during the crisis has won him a rare promotion to field marshal and broad public support, reinforcing the military's standing as one of the country's most influential institutions despite past criticism of its outsized role in politics. In an interview this week conducted as the army chief visited the United States for talks with Trump, Defense Minister Khawaja Asif acknowledged that the military's prestige had 'skyrocketed' after the conflict with India, calling it a 'blessing in disguise,' but rejected that this would erode democratic authority or give the army unchecked control. 'No, it doesn't worry me,' he told Arab News when asked if Pakistan's history of direct and indirect military rule made him uneasy about the army's stronger image. 'This is a hybrid model. It's not an ideal democratic government … So, this arrangement, the hybrid arrangement, I think [it] is doing wonders,' Asif said, adding that the system was a practical necessity until Pakistan was 'out of the woods as far as economic and governance problems are concerned.' The long-running political instability and behind-the-scenes military influence in earlier decades had slowed democratic development, the defense chief argued, but the current arrangement had improved coordination. Pakistan's military has played a central role in national affairs since independence in 1947, including periods of direct rule after coups in 1958, 1977 and 1999, when General Pervez Musharraf toppled then-Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is the elder brother of current Prime Minister, Shehbaz Sharif. Musharraf ruled until 2008 when elections restored civilian governance. Even under elected governments, however, the army is widely considered the invisible guiding hand in politics and in shaping foreign policy, security strategy, and often key aspects of governance. 'If this sort of [hybrid] model was adopted way back in the 90s, things would have been much, much better,' Asif said, 'because the confrontation between [military] establishment and the political government, it actually retarded the progress of our democracy.' By contrast, he said, the current 'de facto' hybrid arrangement had brought the army and elected leaders together on joint forums such as the Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC), a civil-military body tasked with setting and managing economic priorities jointly and overseeing big-ticket investments and trade reforms. 'We have common platforms, like SIFC and other platforms, where military leadership and civilian leadership, they sit together and decide about the business,' Asif said. 'So, this is something which is a de facto arrangement and it's working very well.' The military's media wing did not respond to a request for comments. 'TOTAL AGREEMENT' Asif's remarks about power-sharing with the army on an ever-expanding policy portfolio appear particularly relevant after Munir's rare White House meeting with Trump on Wednesday, the first time in years that a Pakistani army chief was received by a sitting US president without civilian leadership present. Munir was accompanied by National Security Adviser Lt Gen Muhammad Asim Malik, Pakistan's serving intelligence chief who now also holds the national security portfolio. This too is a first for the country: that a sitting ISI director general is serving as NSA. According to a statement from ISPR, the military's public relations wing, the Munir-Trump meeting lasted two hours instead of the scheduled one, and covered not only security cooperation and the ongoing Israel-Iran conflict but also wider collaboration in 'trade, economic development, mines and minerals, artificial intelligence, energy, cryptocurrency, and emerging technologies.' These are areas traditionally handled by civilian ministries. While independent analysts say this reflects the military's increasingly visible role in economic and financial initiatives and could permanently weaken civilian supremacy in these domains, Asif insisted PM Sharif remained firmly in charge of key decisions: 'It's something mutual, we have a co-ownership of the power structure … 'There is no superimposed system or superimposed organization on Shehbaz Sharif which dictates him and he acts accordingly … [He] is making his decisions independently and obviously he is in regular consultation with the establishment on all levels.' But were there 'crisis moments' in the relationships when the prime minister had not prevailed over the army chief in decision-making? Asif responded: 'Believe me, very honestly, we haven't had any moment where decisions were not made unanimously with total agreement. Things are moving very smoothly. And god willing, one day we will achieve the sort of democracy which is needed by our country.'
