Pakistan

Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz on Saturday said the riverine (katcha) areas of Rahim Yar Khan and Rajanpur districts had been “100 per cent cleared” of dacoits during security operations carried out over the past few weeks. “It was a no-go area for the state, police, Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD), and other agencies. The writ of the state and its authority have been restored in the area,” she said while addressing a high-level meeting following the successful operation in the riverine areas. Briefing on the operation, she said it was launched in three phases. “The first phase was launched at the end of December, in which ground operations were integrated with aerial surveillance. It targeted multi-pronged criminal activity.” “In the second phase, we cordoned off major criminal strongholds, including Mach, Katcha Rajwani, and Katcha Karachi, and brought them under control,” she said. She further said: “The third phase was the surrender phase, which continued from January 7 to February 13, during which...

Former prime minister Imran Khan has filed a petition in the Islamabad High Court seeking suspension of his sentence and release on bail in the Toshakhana-II case.

Maryam Nawaz Sharif on Friday announced that the Rajanpur and Kacha regions have been completely cleared of criminals following a large-scale operation carried out with the support of law enforcement agencies and the Pakistan Army.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is discussing proposed electricity tariff revisions with Pakistan authorities, the fund said in a statement to Reuters on Saturday, adding that the burden of the revisions should not fall on middle- or lower-income households. “The ongoing discussions with the authorities will assess whether the proposed tariff revisions are consistent with these commitments and evaluate their potential impact on macroeconomic stability, including inflation,” it said in its statement. Pakistan announced a proposed tariff overhaul, which analysts said would lift inflation while easing pressure on industry, as it seeks to meet conditions under its $7 billion Extended Fund Facility (EFF) as another review of the program approaches. The EFF is a longer-term IMF loan programme designed to help countries address deep-seated economic weaknesses and medium-term balance-of-payments problems. Electricity carries significant weight in Pakistan’s consumer price index, making tariff adjustments highly...

LAHORE: The Punjab Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) claimed on Saturday to have arrested 26 suspected terrorists belonging to various proscribed organisations during intelligence-based operations (IBOs) conducted across the province over the past month. According to a CTD spokesperson, the department carried out 286 IBOs in different districts in view of potential terrorism threats. These operations were conducted in Lahore, Gujranwala, Sahiwal, Khushab, Mianwali, Bhakkar, Faisalabad, Jhang, Chakwal, Rajanpur, Narowal, Pakpattan and Sargodha. During the operations, 286 suspects were interrogated, and 26 terrorists were taken into custody along with arms, explosives and other prohibited material. One alleged militant affiliated with Al-Qaeda was arrested in Lahore, while four members of Fitna al-Khawarij were apprehended in Sargodha. Officials said the arrested suspects had links with the tribal areas. Fitna-al-Khawarij is a term the state uses for terrorists belonging to the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakista...

US President Donald Trump on Friday embraced potential regime change in Iran and declared that “tremendous power” will soon be in the Middle East, as the Pentagon sent a second aircraft carrier to the region. Trump’s military moves and tough talk come even as Washington and Tehran seek to revive diplomacy over Tehran’s long-running nuclear dispute with the West. Asked if he wanted regime change in Iran, Trump responded that it “seems like that would be the best thing that could happen.” He declined to share who he wanted to take over Iran, but said, “there are people.” “For 47 years, they’ve been talking and talking and talking,” Trump said after a military event at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. “In the meantime, we’ve lost a lot of lives while they talk. Legs blown off, arms blown off, faces blown off. We’ve been going on for a long time.” Washington wants nuclear talks with Iran to also cover the country’s ballistic missiles, support for armed groups around the region and the treatment of the Iranian people. ...

BAHAWALPUR: A jeep in 21st Cholistan Desert Jeep Rally ran over and killed a police officer performing security, dampening the festivities of the event on Friday. According to police, the accident took place on the track near Jamgarh mid-point. ASI Muhammad Bashir Ahmed Joyia, who was performing security duty, was killed when he was hit by the jeep of racer Faisal Shadikhel. The reports alleged that Shadikhel lost control of his vehicle that skidded off the track and ran over ASI Joiya while other officials saved their lives by reacting promptly and getting away from the path of the coming vehicle. ASI Bashir, who died on the spot, was posted at Shahr Farid Police Station. After the accident, the police booked Shadikhel for the killing of ASI Joiya. Shadikhel was the unofficial winner of the first round of prepared category participants’ race on Friday. His win is considered a major upset as he was third in Thursday’s qualifying round of the prepared category. Marrot Police Station near Jamgarh Fort in whose ...

WASHINGTON: An Indian national has pleaded guilty in a US federal court to plotting the assassination of Sikh activist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun in New York, the US Justice Department said on Friday. Prosecutors said Nikhil Gupta, 54, admitted to charges of murder-for-hire, conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire, and conspiracy to commit money laundering in connection with the failed plot. He entered the plea on February 13 in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York and is scheduled to be sentenced on May 29. According to the Justice Department, Gupta acted at the direction of an Indian government employee identified as Vikash Yadav, who was employed by India’s Cabinet Secretariat, which oversees the country’s foreign intelligence service, the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW). Yadav remains at large. Former Indian intelligence officer Vikash Yadav who has been charged by the US for allegedly directing a foiled plot to murder a Sikh separatist and Indian critic in New York City, at an unknown l...

WASHINGTON: A small apartment fire in the US capital earlier this week led firefighters to a grim discovery inside a Northwest residence, where a Pakistani American man was found dead with blunt-force and thermal injuries. Washington Fire and Emergency Medical Services responded at approximately 3:33am on Wednesday to a report of smoke in a hallway in the 1400 block of Rhode Island Avenue NW. Firefighters entered an apartment, extinguished a small fire, and found an adult male unconscious and not breathing. The victim was later identified by the Metropolitan Police Department as 40-year-old Syed Hammad Hussain. Officials said he showed signs of blunt-force trauma as well as thermal injuries and was pronounced dead at the scene after responders found no signs consistent with life. The apartment is located near Logan Circle, a busy residential area about 1.1 miles northwest of the White House. In an official statement issued on Friday, police said that following an initial assessment, the matter was referred to...

• Finance ministry report says aggregate profits decline 13pc to Rs709.9bn • Power sector’s Rs9.2tr debt crisis deepens despite Rs800bn capital injection ISLAMABAD: Sitting on mammoth liabilities of Rs9.2 trillion — equivalent to half of Pakistan’s annual budget — and facing ever-rising losses and negative equity, the power sector leadership remains clueless about its business operations as a going concern and the consequential challenge to the state. This damning charge sheet has been issued by the Central Monitoring Unit (CMU) of the Ministry of Finance in its FY25 aggregate report on the performance of State-Owned Entities, as required by the IMF, posing a serious question mark on the credibility of power sector planning. This is despite the fact that the power sector remains the top recipient of equity injections, while continuously bleeding the economy and consumers at large. National Highway Authority (NHA) comes as the second biggest financial black hole after the power sector. Worst still, the busines...

Kathryn Ruemmler • DP World CEO Bin Sulayem ousted as investors stop funding over ties to disgraced financier • Goldman Sachs lawyer Ruemmler resigns due to her extensive ties to Epstein in documents • PM urges probe into top Norwegians’ links to dead felon DUBAI: The chairman and chief executive of DP World Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem’s resigned on Friday following pressure over his alleged ties to the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, making him one of the highest-profile figures to step down after the recent release of documents. The fallout also prompted the resignation of a top lawyer at Goldman Sachs and has sparked official inquiries into political and royal figures in Norway. Bin Sulayem’s departure from the Dubai-based logistics giant was announced the same day the emirate’s ruler appointed a new chairman for the Ports, Customs and Free Zone Corporation, another role Bin Sulayem held. Pressure mounted on the state-owned firm after two major investors, the UK development finance agency British Inte...

GUJRAT: An elderly man reportedly died of a heart attack on Friday after the traffic police imposed a fine of Rs2,000, which he was unable to pay. As per details, the incident occurred near the traffic police office on the Old GT Road where one Tahir Beig (60) of Chak Buzarag was going home on his motorcycle when was stopped at a picket by the traffic police. The police officials reportedly imposed a fine of Rs2,000 on the motorcyclist for not wearing a helmet. He requested the duty officials to spare him as he did not have the amount on him to pay the fine. However, the officials declined to accept his request. The man then started walking towards the GTS Chowk without his motorbike to arrange the amount and pay the fine, but he fell just a few meters away and died on the spot. Some eyewitnesses called Rescue 1122 and they pronounced him dead after a checkup. The rescue and police officials later shifted the body to the Aziz Bhatti Shaheed Teaching Hospital (ABSTH). A spokesperson for the Gujrat Police confi...

A day after revelations emerged about the vision loss of PTI founder Imran Khan, the opposition alliance Tehreek Tahafuz-i-Ayeen Pakistan (TTAP) staged a sit-in at the Parliament House on Friday and vowed to continue until their demands were fulfilled. The sit-in started after Friday prayers and was ongoing till midnight. On Thursday, the Supreme Court (SC) was informed that PTI founder Imran Khan’s right eye had only 15 per cent vision remaining, prompting a strong response from the party. Subsequently, the TTAP announced the sit-in outside the Parliament House on Friday (today). The protesters were still present at the Parliament House late at night on Friday, having shifted from outside to the main hallway of the premises. In a video shared by the opposition alliance on X, TTAP chief Mehmood Khan Achakzai said they planned to spend the night at the Parliament House. On a lighter note, he added, “In the morning, we will sit [here] again after changing clothes and shaving. And if the [protest] is prolonged, ...

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