PARIS: The World Bank’s Aid-to-Pakistan Consortium, at its concluding session here today [May 16], pledged nearly 500 million dollars in fresh aid to Pakistan during the next financial year. The exact pledges … will depend on final conversion of different currencies in which the pledges have been made by donor countries. … The leader of the Pakistan delegation and Secretary-General of Economic Affairs, Mr A.G.N. Kazi, told Pakistani newsmen … that he was “satisfied” with the pledges. The amount was “as much as we could expect” from the Consortium members.

[Meanwhile, as reported by news agencies from Beirut,] waves of Israeli planes — numbering 40 fighter-bombers — today raided the Beirut area and civilian population in southern Lebanon. Traffic in the capital came to a standstill and the airport closed down shortly after air raid sirens sounded in Beirut. … Egypt tonight warned Israel that the Arab world would not stand idle while terrorist acts were committed against civilians in Lebanon. … A Tel Aviv report claimed the Israeli air force, “one day after the attack on a school in northern Israel by Arab guerrillas had raided targets in Lebanon”.

Published in Dawn, May 17th, 2024