During the Cold War, Pakistan and Russia experienced icy relations. Pakistan was apprehensive of Russia’s closeness with India, while Moscow was apprehensive of Islamabad’s alliance with the West since the establishment of Pakistan and the simultaneous start of the Cold War.

However, since the beginning of its Ukraine invasion, Russia has sought to portray itself to the Global South as a great power bravely defying the Western order led by the United States. Moscow seeks to build its networks in Asia, Africa, and South America through trade, particularly exporting its abundant natural resources. 

Amid this trend, Pakistan’s relations with Russia improved in the recent past due to the growing trade linkages between the two, as remarked by Russian President Vladimir Putin during his meeting with Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif during the Summit of Shanghai Cooperation Organization Council of Heads of State in Astana, Kazakhstan, in July. There has also been an increased engagement between the two countries since that meeting. 

The new closeness in Pakistan-Russia ties came against the backdrop of Pakistan’s soured relations with the United States since 2011. Pakistan-Russia relations since then have been moving on an upward trajectory, however slowly.

During the last few years, in particular, Islamabad and Moscow have taken initiatives to augment their relations. Pakistan is a resource-trapped country with depleting natural gas resources and a growing population. Russia, meanwhile, is faced with sanctions due to its aggressive Ukraine invasion and needs more export partners, especially in Asia. These mutual needs have brought both countries closer. 

Putin expressed his satisfaction with the positive development of bilateral relations. He further said that he saw Pakistan as a priority partner particularly in South Asia and generally in Asia. This signals the significance of Pakistan in Russia’s pivot to the Global South.

Owing to this growing closeness, Alexei Overchuk, Russia’s deputy prime minister, led a high-level delegation to Pakistan on September 18 and 19. Overchuk held meetings with Sharif as well as Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, who is also the deputy prime minister of Pakistan. During this visit, both sides discussed bilateral cooperation and agreed to pursue cooperation and dialogue in the areas of education, energy, industry, technology, connectivity, and trade.

Pakistan and Russia further reaffirmed their determination to strengthen their defense and security cooperation in various domains. Islamabad’s commitment to advancing defense ties with Moscow was also reiterated. 

Additionally, during his meeting with the Russian delegation, Pakistan’s President Asif Ali Zardari highlighted the need for improved connectivity through direct flights and railway networks, along with the need for facilitated business interactions and increased people-to-people connections between the two countries. 

Besides this, they also agreed to develop their cooperation on multilateral forums including the SCO and the United Nations. Russia’s Overchuk also expressed support for Pakistan’s entry into the BRICS, an intergovernmental group of countries from the Global South. However, there was no mention of Pakistan’s participation in next month’s BRICS summit in Russia. At the same time, Overchuk said that Russia’s Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin will attend the Heads of Government meeting of the SCO next month in Pakistan.

Despite the growing ties between Islamabad and Moscow, there is still a certain level of existing mistrust between the two countries owing to Pakistan’s neutral stance on the Russia-Ukraine war and its alleged supply of weapons to Ukraine. Since the Ukraine war, Pakistan has been facing tough choices. On one hand, it has been accused of selling arms to Ukraine under a deal with the United States that supposedly helped to facilitate an International Monetary Fund bailout package in 2023. Pakistan’s then interim prime minister, Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar denied the allegations. Furthermore, Ukraine’s then-Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba visited Pakistan and was reported to have met senior Pakistani intelligence officials during his visit in July 2023. 

On the other hand, Pakistan has thrice abstained from U.N. General Assembly resolutions condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and maintained a neutral position on the Russia-Ukraine war. Without condemning Russia’s actions, Pakistan has called for respecting the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine. Pakistan’s stance is believed to originate from its prevailing energy shortage, which it hopes to overcome with subsidized energy from Russia. 

Pakistan, however, has not been able to benefit much from Russia’s energy resources, though it received its first discounted Russian crude oil in June 2023. Moreover, Pakistan has not been able to implement the Pakistan Stream gas pipeline, despite a 2015 agreement for Russia to build and operate the pipeline. From Pakistan’s side, the delay in its implementation is due to the sanctions imposed on Russia. This concern was also shared by Pakistan’s foreign minister during his press conference with his Russian counterpart during this official visit. 

Despite tough choices and sanctions, there is noticeably increased engagement between Islamabad and Moscow. Russia needs allies in its pivot to the Global South while Pakistan’s economic woes compel it to keep engaging with the former – despite the possible impact on its relations with the United States. With its huge population and the depleting natural resources, Pakistan is a potential market for Russia’s resources. Simultaneously, Russia’s natural gas and oil can play a crucial role in helping Pakistan overcome its energy crisis and boost its industry, which has long suffered due to prevailing energy shortages. 

At first glance, it seems a win-win situation, but the geopolitical reality and Islamabad’s dependence on Washington make it an imbalanced situation for Pakistan. Therefore, Pakistan’s stand in Russia’s pivot to the Global South depends on its pragmatism. 

ISLAMABAD: Jailed former Pakistan PM Imran Khan’s party Sunday demanded a judicial probe into allegations of vote rigging even as two major political parties failed to reach a power-sharing formula to form a coalition govt.
Though independent candidates backed by Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) won the maximum number of seats in Parliament, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PMLN) and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) have announced they will form a coalition govt after the Feb 8 elections resulted in a hung Parliament.Their post-poll alliance could mean that PTI will not be able to form the next federal govt, prompting Khan’s party to allege that the two rival parties were trying to steal the people’s mandate with the help of the powerful establishment.
Khan’s beleaguered party received a major boost Saturday when a senior govt official in charge of the election process in the garrison city of Rawalpindi alleged that rigging took place and dragged the chief election commissioner and chief justice into it. PTI Sunday demanded a judicial probe into the allegations.
Rawalpindi division commissioner Liaquat Ali Chattha Saturday alleged he oversaw the rigging to deprive PTI of 13 seats which were given to losing candidates after fake votes were added to their name. Chattha claimed Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) and Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa were involved in the alleged rigging.
PTI leader Gohar Ali Khan at a press conference said efforts were made to keep the party out of the electoral arena when people, responding to the call Imran made, went to polling stations in huge numbers. “We had won 180 seats in the National Assembly, 42 seats in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa assembly, 115 in Punjab, 16 in Sindh, and four in Balochistan assembly,” he said.
Gohar said the allegations by Chattha corroborated what the party had been saying all along. “That is why PTI demands a judicial commission is formed and an inquiry is conducted. And not just an inquiry, but those (involved) should be made to join the inquiry,” he said, adding that the report of the inquiry should be shared with the people.
He also said that a judicial inquiry should be conducted involving independent judges. “And those named by the Rawalpindi commissioner should not be a part of this inquiry,” he said. Gohar also said PTI was not calling for the resignation of chief justice.
ECP strongly rejected the allegations made against chief election commissioner. It formed a high-level committee to probe the allegations.
Meanwhile, the third meeting between PML-N and PPP Saturday remained inconclusive and both decided to meet again Monday to finalise the power-sharing formula.
In the meantime, PPP chairman Bilawal revealed the power-sharing formula that he was offered by PML-N, under which the PM’s post would be shared between two parties. “I was told that let us be PM for three years and then you can take the premiership for the remaining two years,” he said. “I said no to this… If I become PM, it would be after people of Pakistan elect me.”

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan caretaker government slashed the rates of petrol and high-speed diesel (HSD) by Pakistan rupees (PKR) 14 and PKR 13.5 per litre respectively for the next fortnight, Dawn News reported.
It reported citing a notification from the Pakistan Ministry of finance, the new prices of petrol are PKR 267.34 and PKR 276.21 for HSD.
Meanwhile, the prices of kerosene oil and light-diesel oil were reduced by PKR 10.14 and PKR 11.29 per litre, respectively, to PKR 191.02 and PKR 164.64.
Informed officials had previously said the prices of major petroleum products were set to fall by over PKR 10 per litre each on December 15 for the next fortnight, mainly because of a decline in the international market.
The Pakistan-based news daily reported that the international prices of both oils had declined over the past fortnight by almost five per cent while the rupee had also gained marginally against the US dollar, resulting in a drop in domestic prices for consumers.
The State Bank reported the dollar had settled at PKR 283.51 on Thursday after losing against the local currency. Dealers said the market stayed calm even though importers were facing a tough time getting their letters of credit opened.
Dawn News reported, quoting a press release from the State Bank in Pakistan, that the foreign exchange reserves increased by $21 million to $7.04 billion during the week ended on December 8.
The central bank has been buying dollars from the interbank market to maintain its reserves above the $7 billion level. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has been insisting on increasing its reserves but massive debt servicing slashes its reserves.
Additionally, the government has already achieved the PKR 60 per litre petroleum levy–the maximum permissible limit under the law, Dawn News reported.
Dawn news reported that the pakistan government has set a budget target to collect PKR 869 billion as petroleum levy (PL) during FY24 made with the IMF but is now hoping the collection to go beyond PKR 950 billion by the end of June.
The total PL collection crossed PKR 222bn in the first quarter ending September, even though its per litre rates had increased slowly over the period on petrol and kept almost unchanged.

DUBAI: Two years after the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan, the United States has begun easing rules that could allow commercial airlines to fly over the country in routes that cut time and fuel consumption for East-West travel.
But those shortened flight routes for India and Southeast Asia raise questions never answered during the Taliban’s previous rule from the 1990s to the months after the Sept.11, 2001, attacks.
How, if at all, do you deal with the Taliban as they block women from schools and jobs, and engage in behavior described by United Nations experts as potentially akin to “gender apartheid?” Can airlines manage the risk of flying in uncontrolled airspace over a country where an estimated 4,500 shoulder-launched anti-aircraft weapons still lurk? And what happens if you have an emergency and need to land suddenly?
Who wants to fly over such a country? The OPSGroup, an organization for the aviation industry, recently offered a simple answer: “No one!”
“There’s no ATC service across the entire country, there’s a seemingly endless list of surface-to-air weaponry they might start shooting at you if you fly too low, and if you have to divert then good luck with the Taliban,” the group wrote in an advisory, using an acronym for air traffic control.
Still, the possibility of overflights resuming would have a major impact on carriers.
Though landlocked, Afghanistan’s position in Central Asia means it sits along the most direct routes for those traveling from India to Europe and America. After the Taliban takeover of Kabul on Aug. 15, 2021, civil aviation simply stopped, as ground controllers no longer managed the airspace. Fears about anti-aircraft fire, particularly after the 2014 shootdown of Malaysian Airlines Flight 17 over Ukraine, saw authorities around the world order their commercial airliners out.
In the time since, airlines largely curve around Afghanistan’s borders. Some travel south over Iran and Pakistan. Other flights rush through Afghan airspace for only a few minutes while over the sparsely populated Wakhan Corridor, a narrow panhandle that juts out of the east of the country between Tajikistan and Pakistan, before continuing on their way.
But those diversions add more time to flights – which mean the aircraft burns more jet fuel, a major expense for any carrier. That’s why a decision in late July by the US Federal Aviation Administration caught the industry’s eye when it announced flights above 32,000 feet (9,750 meters) “may resume due to diminished risks to US civil aviation operations at those altitudes.”
The FAA, which oversees rules for America-based airlines, referred questions about what fueled the decision to the State Department. The State Department did not respond to requests for comment. However, a State Department envoy has met multiple times with Taliban officials since the US and Nato withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Taliban officials likewise did not respond to repeated requests for comment from The Associated Press over the lifting of the restrictions.
For now, outside of Afghan and Iranian carriers, it does not appear that any airline is taking chances over the country. Part of that comes from the risk of militant fire, as Afghanistan has been awash in aircraft-targeting missiles since the CIA armed mujahedeen fighters to fight the Soviet Union in the 1980s. Afghanistan also may still have Soviet-era KS-19 anti-aircraft guns, said Dylan Lee Lehrke, an analyst at the open-source intelligence firm Janes.
The FAA says it believes flights at or above 32,000 feet remain out of reach of those weapons, even if fired from a mountain top.
United Airlines runs a direct flight to New Delhi from Newark, New Jersey, that uses the Wakhan Corridor and could be shortened by an overflight.
“In accordance with current FAA rules, United operates Newark to New Delhi flights over a small section of Afghanistan where air traffic control is provided by other countries,” United spokesman Josh Freed told the AP.” We do not plan to expand our use of Afghan airspace at this time.”
Virgin Atlantic flies over the corridor for its New Delhi flights as well. The United Kingdom has yet to change its guidance telling carriers to stay out of nearly all of Afghan airspace. Virgin Atlantic said it makes “ongoing dynamic assessments of flight routings based on the latest situation reports and always following the strict advice set out by the U.K.”
American Airlines and Air India also use the Wakhan Corridor route. Those carriers did not respond to requests for comment.
Despite the lack of interest now, airlines in the past used the route heavily. A November 2014 report from the International Civil Aviation Organization noted that from near-zero flights in 2002, overflights grew to over 100,000 annually some 12 years later. Before the Taliban takeover, the government charged each flight $700 in fees for flying over the country – which could be a significant sum of cash as Afghanistan remains mired in an economic crisis.
And there is precedence for collecting overflight fees and holding them. After the 2001 US-led invasion, authorities ended up releasing some $20 million in frozen overflight fees to Afghanistan’s fledging government.
In the Taliban’s telling, however, they already are profiting from the limited overflights they see. Private Afghan television broadcaster Tolo quoted Imamuddin Ahmadi, a spokesman for the Transportation and Aviation Authority Ministry, as saying that Afghanistan had earned more than $8.4 million from overflight fees in the last four months.
“Any flight which is crossing Afghan airspace should pay $700,” Ahmadi said. “As the flights increase, it benefits Afghanistan.”
The ministry also said it received the money from the International Air Transport Association, a trade association of the world’s airlines. However, IATA told the AP in a statement that its contract with Afghanistan to collect overflight fees “has been suspended since September 2021” to comply with international sanctions on the Taliban.
“No payments have been made since that date,” it said.