The deal would provide much needed relief to Pakistan, which has been on the verge of default. The IMF board has yet to confirm the agreement.

Pakistani citizens accounted for the largest number of victims in the recent migrant boat disaster. DW spoke with victims' families about why so many are choosing to risk their lives for an uncertain future in Europe.

Hundreds of Pakistanis are believed to have been on the vessel that sank off the coast of Greece earlier this week, but just 12 have been accounted for.

Transgender people, who call themselves Khawaja Siras, have always enjoyed a special status on the Indian subcontinent. For five years, Pakistan enjoyed one of the most progressive laws in the world, recognising the existence of a "third gender". But this law has just been amended. The issue of transgender rights also made headlines late last year when the Pakistani film "Joyland", the story of a love story with a transgender erotic theatre dancer, was shortlisted for the Oscars.

Parts of western India and southern Pakistan are bracing for winds and flash flooding as fast-approaching Cyclone Biparjoy moves toward landfall.

Pakistan's former prime minister and PTI party leader Imran Khan was released on bail on May 12 after being arrested on graft charges. Since then, he says he has been "isolated" at his home, cut off from the senior leadership of his party, while thousands of his supporters have been arrested. "Anyone who supports PTI is either arrested or has gone underground," he told FRANCE 24 from his home in Lahore.

Many educated Pakistanis are looking to move abroad as living costs continue to climb and political unrest deepens in their home country.

With Pakistan's economic turmoil worsening, those in poverty are suffering most. The country is in the midst of a serious financial crisis caused by a long delay in the $1.1 billion bailout from the IMF.

The prominent journalist and supporter of ex-PM Imran Khan was detained by the Pakistani police, but the authorities then failed to present him in court.

An unprecedented crackdown against Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party has prompted concerns that it could be outlawed. DW looks at whether a possible ban would likely hurt or help the former PM.

The census has been met with allegations of miscounts and exclusion, particularly among insurgent-hit areas and of women in conservative regions. Resource allocation and seats in parliament are dependent on population.

India needs political stability in Pakistan for any kind of dialogue with its regional archrival. With Pakistan deeply divided, India has no strong political partner for talks in Islamabad.