Month: July 2026

Islamabad: The Minister of State for Railways and Finance, Bilal Azhar Kayani, Monday, chaired a high-level meeting to review the first-year progress of its cashless economy initiative, highlighting strong growth in digital transactions, merchants and banking users.

The review highlighted significant progress across the digital payments’ ecosystem, with Annual digital transactions rose from 6.9 billion to 11.3 billion, said press release issued by finance ministry, adding the active digital payment merchants increasing from 0.5 million to over 2 million, supported by the government’s Raast QR Code initiative, while digital banking users expanded to more than 135 million.

Launched in June 2025 under the direct supervision of the Prime Minister, the initiative is built on three core pillars: enhancing public convenience, promoting transparency, and accelerating the formal documentation of the economy through digital payments.

Three sub-committees operate under the main Cashless Pakistan Committee, to execute the Prime Minister directives under the program: Digital Payments – Innovation and Adoption led by Governor State Bank, Digital Public Infrastructure led Minister of IT and T, and Digitizing Government Payments led by Finance Secretary.

Kayani also noted encouraging progress in financial inclusion, which increased to 69 percent, while the gender gap continued to narrow through targeted interventions.

He further reviewed progress on public sector digitization, with 25 high-impact federal and provincial entities identified for complete digitization through Raast by December 2026. The minister noted the progress made on digitizing government to people (G2P) payments with approximately 75% digital payments acceptance at both centralized and self accounting entities.

The Minister of State emphasized the importance of sustaining the momentum to further accelerate Pakistan’s digital transformation.

He reiterated the government’s commitment to working closely with regulators, financial institutions, fintech companies, and the private sector to expand digital payments, strengthen financial inclusion, and support a transparent and documented economy.

To ensure absolute transparency and the prudent use of public funds, Kayani emphasized on validating the progress, streamlining reporting gaps, and eliminating data duplication. A third-party has been hired by the government of Pakistan which has started the assessments to ensure transparency.

Islamabad: A delegation of the URAAN Overseas Pakistanis Summer Scholars Programme 2026, a flagship initiative of the Government of Pakistan under the Youth Ki URAAN Court of Pakistan Monday as part of its official study tour.

The Programme seeks to reconnect outstanding young members of the Pakistani diaspora with their homeland by providing firsthand exposure to Pakistan’s constitutional institutions, governance framework, development priorities, and national policymaking.

The delegation called on the Chief Justice of Pakistan, who highlighted the structure of Pakistan’s judiciary and emphasized the pivotal role of the District Judiciary in ensuring effective and accessible justice. He also outlined the role of the National Judicial (Policy Making) Committee (NJPMC) in leading nationwide judicial reforms and strengthening institutional coordination across the justice sector.

The Chief Justice briefed the participants on the judiciary’s reform agenda aimed at building a citizen-centric, technology-enabled, transparent, and efficient justice system.

He highlighted major initiatives, including digital court services, the National Judicial Analytics Dashboard, the Public Facilitation Centre, the Overseas Litigants Facilitation Cell, Helpline 1818, and other measures designed to improve accessibility, service delivery, and public trust.

The Chief Justice also shared the judiciary’s efforts to promote inclusive justice through the Gender-Responsive Justice Initiative (2026-27) and ongoing investments in judicial infrastructure, digital connectivity, renewable energy, and capacity building, supported through the Access to Justice Development Fund.

The visit concluded with an interactive question-and-answer session, during which the Chief Justice engaged with the scholars on constitutional governance, judicial reforms, and the future of Pakistan’s justice system.

Islamabad: Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Attaullah Tarar said on Monday that Pakistan’s right to water under the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) is its “inalienable right” and a lifeline that the country will protect.

In a post on X, Tarar said India’s unilateral attempt to hold the IWT in abeyance had “no legal or moral standing” describing the move as a failed attempt that had caused India “nothing but embarrassment.”

He also said the action was a clear violation of the “One Water-One Vision” principle endorsed by the United Nations.

Islamabad: Federal Minister for Information Technology and Telecommunication, Shaza Fatima Khawaja, on Monday held a bilateral meeting with Eng. Mahmoud Badawi, Deputy Minister for Digital Transformation of the Arab Republic of Egypt.

During the meeting, held on the sidelines of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) in Geneva, the Pakistani and Egyptian delegations agreed to enhance cooperation in the fields of information technology, telecommunications, and digital governance, said a news release received here.

Shaza Fatima and Deputy Minister Mahmoud Badawi also held discussions on the sidelines of the United Nations Global Dialogue on AI Governance.

Islamabad: Federal Minister for Information Technology and Telecommunication Shaza Fatima Khawaja on Monday held bilateral meetings with officials from Sri Lanka and Egypt on the sidelines of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) in Geneva.

During her meeting with Dr. Hans Wijayasuriya, Chief Adviser to the President of Sri Lanka on the Digital Economy, the two sides discussed promoting the digital economy and e-governance.

The meeting also featured detailed discussions on artificial intelligence (AI) sovereignty.

Pakistan’s IT exports to Sri Lanka stood at US$424,000 in fiscal year 2025.

Both sides agreed to strengthen cooperation in the IT sector and share best practices.

Meanwhile, Shaza Fatima also held a bilateral meeting with Eng. Mahmoud Badawi, Deputy Minister for Digital Transformation of the Arab Republic of Egypt.

During the meeting, the Pakistani and Egyptian delegations agreed to enhance cooperation in the fields of information technology, telecommunications, and digital governance, according to a news release.

Shaza Fatima and Mahmoud Badawi also held discussions on the sidelines of the United Nations Global Dialogue on AI Governance.