On September 13, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif announced a “relief scheme” for users of motorcycles, autos and vehicles of up to 800cc to “alleviate the burden” of rising global oil prices.

Under the scheme, a relief of Rs100 per litre on a monthly quota of 20 litres will be provided to bike and auto owners, while those owning small vehicles of up to 800cc will get a relief of Rs100 per litre for a monthly quota of 30 litres.

“We welcome the government’s move for the benefit of the public, but our businesses should not suffer,” Pakistan Petroleum Dealers Association (PPDA) Chairman Malik Khuda Bakhsh said.

He was addressing an emergency press conference on Wednesday along with other office-bearers of the association.

“The fuel subsidy scheme started in Islamabad at midnight on Tuesday and will be launched across the country from tonight,” Malik said.

He added: “But our issue is that petroleum dealers are asking us: who will pay the subsidy amount and when?”

He explained that no fuel station could afford to bear a loss of Rs100 per litre or wait for delayed payments for a long period.

“We have approached the Petroleum Division, the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) and even the Finance Ministry to get an answer to one simple question,” Khuda Bakhsh said.

He added that the confusion was compounded by the fact that it appeared none of the authorities themselves were aware of the issue.

“The officials of Ogra and oil marketing companies say that the Petroleum Division will possibly pay the subsidy amount, whereas Petroleum Division officials maintain that the payments will be made by the Finance Ministry. A Finance Ministry official has assured us that the State Bank will release the funds within a day or two,” he added.

He also maintained that the federal government had assured the dealers that they would be taken into confidence before the launch of the fuel relief package.

“The government has to understand that if payments are not reimbursed on time, many dealers will stop participating in the scheme, as many previous promises made by the government were not fulfilled,” he added.

PPDA Vice Chairman Tariq Hassan said that around 14,000 dealers across the country had been trying to contact the government for the past three days, but whenever the government wanted to enforce something, it stopped communication.

Another vice chairman, Anwar Kamal, said that if the scheme was to be successful, the government must negotiate with dealers. He also rejected the government’s proposed “smart lockdown”.

He added that billions of rupees belonging to dealers should not remain tied up for a long period under the scheme.

Meanwhile, Minister Shaza Fatima announced on Wednesday night that the issue related to the forwarding of SMS messages from preloaded packages and low balances had been resolved.

“The prime minister has made the SMS for the fuel subsidy available free of charge, and Jazz has completed the system shift. Other telecom companies will also do so by Thursday,” she added.

According to the FO, the incident occurred while the Pakistan Navy was conducting its biennial exercise, SEASPARK-26.

The FO said that the Indian vessel carried out “aggressive manoeuvres” in dangerously close proximity to a Pakistani naval ship, resulting in contact between the two vessels.

The ministry termed the incident a “serious violation of international law” as well as the 1991 bilateral agreement on Advance Notice on Military Exercises, Manoeuvres and Troop Movements.

It said the incident also risked escalating tensions in the region.

The Indian diplomat was asked to convey to New Delhi that Pakistan “strongly rejects” the “belligerent Indian action” and urged India to strictly adhere to international law and bilateral agreements, particularly those intended to prevent incidents at sea.

The FO added that Pakistan’s Charge d’Affaires in New Delhi would lodge a similar demarche with India’s Ministry of External Affairs.

Pakistan also called on the international community to urge India to refrain from what it described as “irresponsible actions” that could further destabilise South Asia.

“The region can ill-afford to remain perpetually hostage to India’s reckless pursuit of conflict and instability,” the ministry said.

India’s Ministry of External Affairs also summoned Pakistan’s envoy in New Delhi earlier today and issued a demarche over the incident.

In May 2025, a four-day conflict between Pakistan and India was sparked by an attack on tourists in occupied Kashmir’s Pahalgam, which New Delhi, without evidence, linked to Pakistan. Islamabad strongly denied responsibility while calling for a neutral investigation.

After New Delhi launched deadly air strikes in Punjab and Azad Kashmir on May 7, Pakistan said it downed six Indian planes in air-to-air combat, later raising the tally to eight. After tit-for-tat strikes on each other’s airbases, it took American intervention on May 10 for both sides to finally reach a ceasefire.

In April, on the first anniversary of the Pahalgam attack, Pakistan had rejected a renewed Indian propaganda campaign linking it to the attack, deploring that the neighbouring country was focusing on “weaponising its false narrative” in the midst of a regional crisis sparked by the US-Israel war on Iran.

Earlier in the day, the Saudi-led coalition battling Yemen’s Houthis accused the rebels of targeting the holy city of Makkah, sparking outrage across the Muslim world and deepening the conflict roiling the region.

However, the Houthis swiftly rejected Riyadh’s report as a “lie” that it shot down a drone from the rebels heading towards Makkah.

“If the situation escalates, we will stand with Saudi Arabia, both practically and diplomatically,” he said while speaking on Geo News programme ‘Aaj Shehzaib Khanzada Ke Saath’.

Commenting on the Pakistan-Turkiye-Saudi Arabia trilateral agreement — the Makkah Defence Alliance — he affirmed that an agreement was in place.

However, he said that even if there had been no such agreement, Pakistan was bound by an “eternal agreement to respond if the holy sites come under attack”.

“There are some worldly agreements, too, and they have their own sanctity and obligations, but protecting the holy sites is our religious duty,” he said.

Asif maintained that Muslims around the world did not need an agreement to act if the holy sites in Makkah or Medina came under attack. “There is no need to activate any agreement,” he said.

The defence minister maintained that Pakistan would fulfil all its obligations under the Makkah Defence Alliance in accordance with the terms of the agreement between the three countries.

“There is absolutely no ambiguity,” he asserted.

Asked about any military or political engagement with the Houthis, Asif said he could not disclose details, adding that strategies at this level were not meant to be made public.

However, he reiterated that Pakistan was bound by the agreement.

“Under the trilateral agreement, if the territorial integrity of a country comes under threat, the agreement will be activated and the other two countries will proceed to protect it in fulfilment of their obligations,” he said. “The situation has arrived.”

On the US-Israeli war on Iran, Asif said it had become clear, a month into the conflict, that Israel’s calculations had not produced the expected results.

“Israel sucked America into this war as a combatant party, but under the present circumstances, the world and the region need to realise that Israel is the real culprit,” he said.

“Until Israel is confronted by a joint alliance, it will remain a threat to the region. The Zionist lobby also forces the US to join Israel’s wars.”

Sharing his personal view on possible Iranian support for the Houthis, he said Iran, as a state, might not be backing the group as it was already embroiled in another conflict in the Middle East.

“This would be a diplomatic error if Iran were to take the side of the Houthis, but the chances are minimal. Escalating the conflict into another theatre is not a wise decision and could turn it into a wider conflict,” Asif said.

Fresh fighting between the Houthis and the Yemeni government has dragged in Riyadh, with the Houthis declaring a maritime blockade on the kingdom and targeting its ships in the Red Sea.

Last week’s lightning offensive saw the group seize control of the entirety of Yemen’s Red Sea coast and the Bab al-Mandab Strait, a vital artery for Saudi oil exports as the wider Middle East war chokes off the Strait of Hormuz strategic shipping route.

Pakistan’s stance

Earlier today, Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director General Lieutenant General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry said that the defence alliance has no “regional aspirations”, adding that it is intended for collective deterrence.

The military spokesperson made the remarks during an interview on Al Arabiya English’s programme ‘Global News Today’, during a conversation with the host, Tom Burges Watson.

“It formalises Pakistan’s decades-old relationship with the kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the brotherly country of Turkiye in the domains of collective deterrence and defence,” he said.

Watson asked whether the pact was primarily a defensive cooperation or the beginning of a broader strategic alliance. To that, Lt Gen Chaudhry asserted that the pact was defensive, as its name implied.

“It is defensive. There’s nothing aggressive. There are no regional aspirations. It is collective deterrence,” he said, adding that the agreement was also “complementary”.

During the interview, Lt Gen Chaudhry was also asked whether he saw the defence agreement becoming a part of the wider, Muslim-world security architecture.

He replied that there was nothing in the pact that stated that it was a Muslim alliance, adding that it was an alliance for regional stability.

“It is not a club that is being made for only Muslim countries,” he said, adding that decisions on its expansion were to be taken by the leadership of Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkiye.

“This agreement, this alliance can always encompass new, willing partners who also believe in regional peace, stability and security, [and] who have a shared vision of non-aggression, non-interference and collective deterrence.

“But that’s for the leadership of these three countries to decide; the how and when part,” he elaborated.

The joint defence pact was signed on Aug 7 and provides that an attack on one member state would be treated as an attack on all. Its inaugural meeting was held in Istanbul on Aug 31, where it was decided that Pakistan would initially head the alliance’s secretariat for three years.

Since its signing, there has been conversation about the possibility of its expansion, with Turkiye initially suggesting the possibility of Egypt’s inclusion. Though there has been no confirmation from Cairo.

From Pakistan, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar clarified soon after the signing that the pact was defensive in nature, with the latter saying that it was also “open to any country in the region” willing to uphold its fundamental principles.

However, when Foreign Office spokesperson Sajjah Haider Khan was asked about possibility of the pact’s expansion during a weekly media briefing last week, he said an expansion was not on the cards at that point.

The three countries first needed to solidify the new organisation before considering opening it to other states with similar threat perceptions and requirements, he explained.

The government on Wednesday increased the price of petrol by Rs6.88 per litre and that of high-speed diesel (HSD) by Rs5.62 per litre.

Following the revision, petrol will retail at Rs391.22 per litre while HSD will cost Rs421.45 per litre. The government continues to levy Rs114 per litre in taxes and duties on petrol and Rs100 per litre on diesel.

According to the Petroleum Division’s notification, the new prices will be applicable on Sept 17 (Thursday).

According to Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA), the increase is primarily linked to higher petrol and diesel prices in the international market.

The regulator said the prices were revised based on international market rates, premiums and other relevant factors.

The price of HSD has come down from a peak of Rs520.35 recorded on April 3. Its price had started rising from Rs281 per litre after the US-Iran war broke out on February 28.

The petrol price had peaked at Rs458.41 on April 3 after beginning its upward trajectory from Rs266 in the first week of March.

On September 13, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif announced a “relief scheme” for users of motorcycles, autos and vehicles of up to 800cc to “alleviate the burden” of rising global oil prices.

A statement from the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) said owners of two- and three-wheelers would receive relief of Rs100 per litre on a monthly quota of 20 litres, while owners of vehicles up to 800cc would receive the same relief on a monthly quota of 30 litres.

On July 17, Petroleum Minister Ali Pervaiz Malik announced that fuel prices would now be fixed on a daily basis due to fluctuations in international market prices following renewed hostilities between Iran and the US.

Prior to this, the government had been announcing weekly revisions to fuel prices since early March, alongside measures for the conservation of fuel amid possible oil supply disruptions due to the ongoing conflict in the Middle East. The federal government in April also announced targeted relief measures to provide subsidised fuel.

The petroleum minister stated that the cabinet and the prime minister had decided to give the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) the responsibility of deciding fuel prices on a daily basis based on international market trends.

Petrol is mainly used in private transport, small vehicles, rickshaws and two-wheelers, and changes in its price affect the middle and lower-middle classes.

Similarly, changes in diesel prices also impact the public at large, as it is mainly used in the heavy transport sector, power plants and large generators.

Petrol and high-speed diesel (HSD) are the major revenue earners, with monthly sales of about 700,000 to 800,000 tonnes, compared to just 10,000 tonnes of monthly demand for kerosene.