Pakistan

Another missing official of the National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA), Deputy Director Muhammad Usman — who was reportedly abducted from Islamabad earlier this month — has turned out to be in the custody of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) in connection with a case of misusing authority and extortion, it emerged on Thursday. Last week, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) granted the police one more week to trace Usman. The development came during the hearing of a petition filed by Rozina Usman for the recovery of her husband. She alleged that four armed individuals abducted her husband on October 14. However, according to an Oct 29 short order from Lahore Judicial Magistrate Naeem Wattoo, Usman was in the FIA’s custody and remanded to three days in physical custody with directions to produce him before the district court on Saturday. According to the remand request from the FIA’s investigating officer, the NCCIA official was arrested on Wednesday in connection with a case of colluding with other ...

Indian Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal on Thursday said that India remains committed to the sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence of Afghanistan, amid Kabul’s heightened tensions with Pakistan. Pakistan-Afghanistan ties have deteriorated sharply in recent weeks amid border clashes and mutual accusations. Islamabad has long been warning Kabul against allowing the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) to operate from Afghan soil — a claim the Taliban deny. Following a ceasefire, talks in Turkiye began to establish a mechanism to monitor Taliban efforts to curb cross-border attacks, but have so far resulted in an impasse. At a press briefing, the spokesperson received questions asking why Pakistan was blaming Indian proxy Fitna al Khawarij for terrorist attacks on its soil and Defence Minister Khawaja Asif’s remarks about Kabul fighting a proxy war on behalf of Delhi. “In my last briefing, I had elaborated our point of view; our thoughts on this particular matter. Pakist...

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The National Commission on the Status of Women (NCSW) on Thursday welcomed a marriage dissolution judgment authored by Supreme Court Justice Ayesha A. Malik, terming it a “progressive step“ to an “equitable and gender-sensitive” interpretation of family law, the Associated Press of Pakistan (APP) reported. On October 25, in a 17-page ruling, Justice Malik set aside a Peshawar High Court (PHC) ruling over a divorce case, terming psychological abuse as cruelty, based on which a marriage can legally be dissolved, along with highlighting the “deeply patriarchal” approach of the court in such cases. NCSW chairperson, Ume Laila Azhar, in a statement, called the verdict “a progressive step towards a more equitable and gender-sensitive interpretation of family law.“ According to APP, she noted that the “court’s acknowledgement of emotional and psychological cruelty as equally serious as physical abuse marks a significant milestone in safeguarding women’s dignity and well-being within marital relationships.” “This rul...

President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday paid tribute to the security forces for foiling an attempt by terrorists to infiltrate from across the border in Bajaur district.

The Supreme Court on Thursday suspended a Peshawar High Court (PHC) ruling that had granted Pakistani citizenship to an Afghan man on the basis of his marriage to a Pakistani woman.

Pakistan has agreed to resume talks with the Afghan Taliban in Istanbul on Thursday, following renewed mediation efforts by Türkiye, marking a cautious step toward reviving dialogue aimed at easing border tensions and promoting regional stability.

Pakistan’s security forces foiled an infiltration attempt from across the Pakistan–Afghanistan border, killing four terrorists, including a high-value Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) commander, during an intelligence-based operation (IBO) in Bajaur district, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said on Thursday.

The inaugural Esports Olympics scheduled to be held in 2027 will no longer be hosted by Saudi Arabia, the International Olympic Committee announced on Thursday. The IOC and the Saudi National Olympic Committee “mutually agreed that they will end their cooperation on the Olympic Esports Games”, a statement said. The first Esports Games was originally slated to be held this year in Riyadh but were postponed in February. The Saudis were guaranteed the hosting of the Games for 12 years from 2025, when the agreement was first announced by the IOC in July last year. Then-IOC president Thomas Bach had been influential in the creation of the event but has since been replaced at the helm by Kirsty Coventry. Olympic Esports Series competitions, smaller virtual sports events run by the IOC, were held in 2021 and 2023. They were widely panned by gaming critics over the lack of traditional esports titles. “Recently, the two parties and the Esports World Cup Foundation sat down again and reviewed this initiative,” the IOC ...

Defence Minister Khawaja Asif on Thursday said talks between Pakistan and Afghanistan on cross-border terrorism could resume if Kabul signalled a shift in its attitude. Discussions between Pakistani and Afghan Taliban delegations had begun in Istanbul on Saturday, but Islamabad’s long-standing concern of terror attacks emanating from Afghanistan had been a bone of contention, resulting in a stalemate. “While the talks have not begun [again], our delegation is still in Istanbul,” Asif said in an exclusive interview with Geo News. He added that “discussions could still restart” if there was “some development that indicates a material change in Kabul’s attitude on the insistence of these two friendly countries (Turkiye and Qatar)”. “Our stance, that there will not be any attacks on us (Pakistan) from their land and they will not back such attacks, is a sticking point. If an understanding can be reached on that, [well and good], it will be a good thing,” Asif said. The minister noted, “There has been no breakthro...

An Islamabad district and sessions court on Thursday indicted human rights activist and lawyer Imaan Zainab Mazari-Hazir and her husband, Advocate Hadi Ali Chattha, in a case related to controversial social media posts. The National Cybercrime Investigation Agency (NCCIA) had registered a case against Mazari and Chattha, accusing the two of attempting to incite divisions on linguistic grounds through social media posts and of creating the impression that the armed forces were engaged in terrorism within the country. Additional District and Sessions Judge Muhammad Afzal Majoka heard the case, in which Mazari and Chattha both denied guilt. The court summoned all prosecution witnesses for the next hearing and ordered Chattha to once again submit bail bonds, to which Mazari responded, “If you want to arrest us, reject my bail as well.” The judge replied, “My principle is that if I respect you, I will get respect.” Mazari’s advocate, Qaiser Imam, pointed out that the accused also had to appear in other cases, “som...

Zafar Ali, a highly experienced Marine Chief Engineer with over 15 years of experience at Anglo-Eastern Ship Management, is making waves in the maritime industry with his unwavering commitment to safety, efficiency, and environmental responsibility.

A five-member Constitutional Bench (CB) of the Supreme Court on Thursday referred a plea against the detention of Baloch Yakjehti Committee chief Mahrang Baloch to the Practice and Procedure Committee, which forms benches and fixes cases under the Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure) Act, 2023. The plea, filed by Mahrang’s sister Nadia Baloch through senior counsel Faisal Siddiqi in June, urges the SC to set aside an April 15 order of the Balo­ch­istan High Court (BHC) that rej­ected a petition against Mahrang’s detention under the Main­tenance of Public Order— a law that empowers authorities to arrest and detain individuals suspected of posing a threat to public order initially for a period of 30 days. Mahrang is currently detained at the Hudda District Prison in Quetta on charges of attacking Quetta Civil Hospital and inciting people to violence. The plea filed by her sister was taken up by the CB today. The CB was headed by Justice Aminuddin Khan and comprised Justices Jamal Khan Mandokhail, Muhammad Ali...

A promising 17-year-old Australian cricketer died on Thursday after being struck by a ball, with his family saying they were “utterly devastated”. Ben Austin was in the nets with a helmet on before a Twenty20 game in Melbourne on Tuesday when he was hit in the neck while facing a ball-throwing device. He was rushed to hospital in critical condition. “We are utterly devastated by the passing of our beautiful Ben, who died earlier on Thursday morning,” his father Jace Austin said in a statement. “This tragedy has taken Ben from us, but we find some comfort that he was doing something he did for so many summers — going down to the nets with mates to play cricket. “We would also like to support his teammate who was bowling in the nets. This accident has impacted two young men and our thoughts are with he and his family as well.” Austin was an emerging bowler and batter, considered by his Ferntree Gully Cricket Club as a “star cricketer, great leader and an awesome young man”. Deaths in cricket are rare. The most ...

Defence Minister Khawaja Asif has stated that India is waging a “low-intensity” war against Pakistan from Afghanistan, adding that New Delhi is trying to “settle the score” after facing defeat in the four-day conflict with Islamabad in May. Asif expressed these views during an interview with Al Arabiya English that was released late on Wednesday. His remarks are a continuation of the censure he has been directing toward Kabul in connection with terror incidents in Pakistan, recent border hostilities and the subsequent failure of talks with its Taliban rulers. He was asked during his interview with Al Arabiya about the evidence he had to back his assertions that New Delhi was “pulling the strings” during talks with Taliban representatives in Doha and Turkiye. “When it comes to showing the evidence, or tabling the evidence, we will do that. We have the evidence,” Asif replied, highlighting that the Afghan foreign minister was visiting the Indian capital when border clashes began between Pakistan and Afghanistan...

The provincial capital once again earned the dubious distinction of being the world’s most polluted city on Thursday, as a dense blanket of toxic smog engulfed large parts of Punjab, severely affecting air quality and visibility.

Security forces have killed eighteen terrorists belonging to the Indian proxy outfit Fitna al Hindustan in two separate intelligence-based operations (IBOs) conducted on October 28 and 29 in Balochistan, according to the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR).

US President Donald Trump said he had struck a deal to reduce tariffs on China on Thursday in exchange for Beijing resuming US soybean purchases, keeping rare earths exports flowing and cracking down on the illicit trade of fentanyl. His remarks after the face-to-face talks with China’s leader Xi Jinping in the South Korean city of Busan, their first since 2019, marked the finale of Trump’s whirlwind Asia trip on which he also touted trade breakthroughs with South Korea, Japan and Southeast Asian nations. The meeting, which took place on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit, lasted nearly two hours. Trump shook hands and escorted Xi to his car before the US president was given a red carpet send off at the airport. Speaking to reporters on Air Force One, Trump said the meeting with Xi yielded an extendable one-year deal on the supply of crucial rare earths. “All the rare earths has been settled, and that’s for the world,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One, adding that th...

In a major stride toward agricultural innovation and export diversification, Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have agreed to establish three state-of-the-art date processing plants in Pakistan, marking a new chapter in Pak-UAE agri-trade cooperation.

ISLAMABAD - Pakistan on Wednesday strongly condemned the renewed attacks by the Israeli occupying forces in Gaza, which have reportedly resulted in civilian casualties.