President urges efforts to strengthen economy
The president, in a meeting with Pakistan Peoples Party leaders and workers at the Aiwan-e-Sadr on the occasion of Eid ul-Azha, extended Eid greetings to them.
He praised the workers as the strength of the party, acknowledging their steadfast support during challenging times. He urged them to remain dedicated to the nation and contribute to its progress.
He also called for working together for the country's development and prosperity.
He highlighted agriculture as the cornerstone of the national economy, stressing the need to prioritize its growth and support farmers to strengthen economic foundations. The president expressing concerns over rising extremism in India, said that the Indian minorities, especially Muslims and Christians, faced discrimination and oppression. India's extremist Hindutva ideology poses threats to the entire region, he added.
He also underscored the deep historical, religious, and cultural roots of Muslims in the subcontinent.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Express Tribune
4 hours ago
- Express Tribune
Karachi is sinking and we let it happen!
Massive downpours along with flooding have so far killed over 500 people in the country since June 14. PHOTO: EXPRESS We lulled ourselves into believing that the floods and landslides devastating Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Gilgit-Baltistan would never reach us. We comforted ourselves with the lie that Karachi was somehow immune, that climate change would punish the north but spare our city. We were wrong—dangerously wrong. Today, Karachi, a megacity of more than 20 million people and the economic engine of Pakistan, is sinking. Not just because of climate change, but because of decades of looting, mismanagement, and our own complicity. The local betrayal Our political parties—Jamaat-e-Islami, MQM, PPP, and PTI—perform the same theatre every election cycle. They sell us hate, pit us against each other, and promise miracles. But once the votes are counted, they shake hands, split the contracts, and carve Karachi into fiefdoms. The Boss distributes the share. Local bodies have never been about service delivery. They became nothing more than a profit-sharing pact. Garbage, water, housing, public transport—every crisis was turned into a contract. Every institution was hollowed out. But the betrayal is not only local. The donor illusion For two decades, international donors and lenders have poured billions into Karachi through the Sindh government. They promised clean water, modern transport, stronger governance, and climate resilience. What we got were ribbon-cutting ceremonies, glossy reports, and projects that stalled, were restructured, or quietly disappeared. The World Bank committed 382 million dollars for the Yellow Line BRT and 230 million dollars under the Competitive and Livable City of Karachi project. Years later, commuters still cling to rickety buses, and garbage piles remain untouched. The Asian Development Bank, AIIB, AFD, and the Green Climate Fund pooled over 500 million dollars for the Red Line BRT. Construction delays have left citizens stranded again. Other loans targeted water, sanitation, and flood resilience: 40 million dollars for KWSB reforms, 105 million dollars for solid waste, 500 million dollars plus another 450 million after the 2022 floods, and nearly 300 million dollars for water and agriculture transformation across Sindh. The record is clear: money was never the problem. Accountability was. And donors who keep writing cheques without demanding proof are not saviours. They are enablers. Citizens as silent partners Here is the truth we do not like to admit: we are not innocent bystanders. We kept voting for the same faces, the same parties, the same hate instead of capability, capacity, and integrity. We endorsed the cartel. We tolerated opacity. Every ballot we cast based on political biases became permission for plunder. Our silence bought their share. Our votes became their loot. The proof of what works And yet, Karachi has shown us another path. The Orangi Pilot Project proved that citizen-led solutions can succeed where expensive, donor-driven paralysis failed. With little funding and complete transparency, communities built sanitation systems, housing, and microfinance. That spirit can rescue Karachi—but only if scaled up with enforceable rules, open audits, and citizen oversight. What must change 1. Political accountability: No more blank cheques at the ballot. Any party that wants Karachi must agree to public audits, spending dashboards, and performance contracts. Karachiites must say no to the Boss who selects the shareholders without the consent of stakeholders. 2. Donor accountability: No more cheque first, governance later. Every rupee must be trackable in real time, tied to independent audits and citizen oversight. If donors will not enforce accountability, their money is nothing but fuel for corruption. 3. Civic accountability: Karachiites must organise beyond party lines. Demand service-level guarantees for water, waste, transit, and drainage—and refuse to endorse anyone who will not provide them. The hard truth Karachi has not suffered from a shortage of capital. It has suffered from a shortage of accountability: political, donor, and civic. Shame on the donors and lenders who refuse to witness the outcome of their unacceptable funding. Shame on us Karachiites for staying silent while corrupt people are imposed on us again and again. And as for the political parties—there is no need to shame them. They are only doing what they were hired to do: to loot, to divide, and to cash in. Karachi is not sinking only because of climate change. It is sinking because we let it. And if Karachi drowns, it will drown in our silence first.
Business Recorder
6 hours ago
- Business Recorder
US Treasury chief Bessent accuses India of profiteering on Russian oil purchases
WASHINGTON: U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Tuesday accused India of profiteering from its sharply increased purchases of Russian oil during the war in Ukraine, saying Washington viewed the situation as unacceptable. Bessent told CNBC in an interview that Russian oil now accounted for 42% of India's total oil purchases, up from under 1% before the war, and contrasted that with longtime buyer China, whose Russian oil purchases had increased to 16% from 13%. 'India is just profiteering. They are reselling,' Bessent said. 'What I would call Indian arbitrage - buying cheap Russian oil, reselling it as product has just sprung up during the war - which is unacceptable,' he said. U.S. President Donald Trump this month announced an additional 25% tariff on Indian goods as a punishment for New Delhi's purchases of Russian oil, bringing the total additional tariffs announced since he took office to 50%. Trump has credited the Indian tariffs as piling pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin to agree to work toward ending the war in Ukraine, but has stopped short of imposing similar tariffs on China over its purchases of Russian oil. US adviser Navarro says India's Russian crude buying has to stop Bessent, asked about the Trump administration's failure to move ahead with similar tariffs on China, said the situation was 'completely different' given that Beijing was a longtime buyer and had not engaged in the kind of 'arbitrage' done by India. U.S.-India relations have been strained by Trump's tariffs after months of forecasts by the U.S. president and other officials that they were close to reaching an agreement with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government on a trade deal that would have lowered the tariff rate. India on Tuesday temporarily suspended an 11% import duty on cotton until September 30, a move seen as a signal to Washington that New Delhi is willing to address U.S. concerns on agricultural tariffs. It came after the abrupt cancellation of a planned visit by U.S. trade negotiators to New Delhi from August 25-29.
Business Recorder
12 hours ago
- Business Recorder
India PM to visit China: security chief
NEW DELHI: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit China later in August, his security chief said Tuesday during talks with Beijing's foreign minister in New Delhi. Modi will attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit opening on August 31 in Tianjin, his first visit to China since 2018, Ajit Doval said, in public comments at the start of a meeting with Beijing's Foreign Minister Wang Yi. 'Our prime minister will be visiting for the SCO summit,' Doval said, speaking of 'new energy' in diplomatic ties. China 'attaches great importance' to Modi's visit to the SCO summit, Wang said, according to an official translator. 'History and reality proves once again that a healthy and stable China-India relationship serves the fundamental and long term interests of both of our countries,' Wang added. Wang is due to meet Modi later on Tuesday. The world's two most populous nations are intense rivals competing for influence across South Asia, and fought a deadly border clash in 2020. India is also part of the Quad security alliance with the United States, Australia and Japan, which is seen as a counter to China. But caught in global trade and geopolitical turbulence triggered by US President Donald Trump's tariff war, the countries have moved to mend ties. Indian foreign minister meets China's Xi During talks on Monday with Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, India's foreign minister, Wang said the two countries should 'view each other as partners and opportunities, rather than adversaries or threats'.
