Pakistan

United States President Donald Trump has said Washington will not intervene in the ongoing hostilities between Pakistan and Afghanistan, even as tensions along the border escalate following days of cross-border strikes and retaliatory action.

Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Attaullah Tarar on Saturday said Pakistani security forces had killed 331 fighters of the Afghan Taliban and injured more than 500 others during the ongoing “Operation Ghazab lil-Haq”, launched in response to cross-border attacks.

A SCREENSHOT from the Greens’ Urdu language campaign video. LONDON: The Green Party of England and Wales secured a landmark victory in the Gorton and Denton by-election, overturning Labour’s 13,000-vote majority in a result that comes as a significant setback to Keir Starmer. Hannah Spencer, a local plumber and Green councillor, was elected as the party’s first MP in northern England after winning 14,980 votes in a tightly contested race. Reform UK came second with 10,578 votes, while Labour slumped to third place, finishing 5,616 votes behind the Greens, a dramatic 25.3 per cent drop in its vote share compared with 2024. Starmer, facing mounting questions over Labour’s campaign strategy, vowed to “keep on fighting” after what party insiders described as a humiliating defeat in a constituency long considered a Labour stronghold. Multilingual campaign Central to Spencer’s campaign was an unprecedented multilingual outreach effort aimed at engaging Gorton and Denton’s diverse electorate. The Greens released cam...

GENEVA: The UN rights chief has decried mounting threats to women’s rights worldwide, highlighting rampant femicide and horrific abuse exposed in cases like that of US sex offender Jefferey Epstein. Addressing the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, Volker Turk slammed “social systems that silence women and girls” and allow powerful men to abuse them with impunity. “Violence against women, including femicide, is a global emergency,” the High Commissioner for Human Rights told the UN’s top rights body. He highlighted the extreme situation in Afghanistan, warning that the “system of segregation imposed on women is reminiscent of apartheid, based on gender rather than race”. He also pointed to two cases that have recently caused shock waves around the world: those of convicted Epstein and of French rape survivor Gisele Pelicot. Both cases “show the extent of the exploitation and abuse of women and girls”, Turk said, asking: “does anyone think there are not many more men like Dominique Pelicot or Jeffr...

human rights lawyer Imaan Mazari (right) with her husband Hadi Ali Chattha during a court hearing.—AFP/file ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court on Friday adjourned the hearing of applications seeking suspension of sentence filed by lawyer and rights activists Imaan Mazari and Hadi Ali Chat­tha in the controversial tweets case, as the defence pressed for an early date before Eid. Justice Muhammad Asif took up the matter amid a request from the state to transfer the appeal to another bench. During the proceedings, the assistant attorney general submitted that a case of similar nature had earlier been heard by Justice Azam Khan and reques­ted that the present appeal also be placed before his court. He argued that it would be appropriate for the same bench to hear related matters. Rights activists granted bail by anti-terrorism court in two other cases However, the counsel for the appellants, Advocate Riasat Ali Azad, opposed the request, maintaining that no such case was pending before any other court of the cou...

• Israel’s Supreme Court freezes ban on foreign aid organisations in enclave • US public sympathy shifts to Palestinians over Israel, new Gallup poll reveals CAIRO: Relentless Israeli attacks killed at least seven Palestinians in Gaza on Friday, medics said, adding to a death toll of at least 600 people killed by Israeli fire since a US-brokered ceasefire agreement came into effect last October. Gaza’s health officials reported that in southern Gaza, five people were killed and several others were injured, some critically, in Israeli drone strikes. The strikes targeted two police checkpoints in Khan Yunis and in the Abu Hujair area northwest of the Bureij refugee camp later in the day, medics said. Separately, an Israeli airstrike against a group of Palestinians in Gaza City’s Tuffah neighbourhood in northern Gaza killed two people and wounded several others. Ban on NGOs frozen Meanwhile, Israel’s Supreme Court decided in a ruling published on Friday to freeze a government ban on 37 foreign NGOs working in Ga...

UNMARKED boxes can be used to violate rules on safe charity.—Dawn • Experts warn unregulated funds being channelled through anonymous collection boxes undermine NAP objectives • Official says ‘owners’ will be identified once seminaries registered with home department LAHORE: Despite the Punjab home department’s crackdown on illicit charities and the listing of 89 banned organisations, so-called “nameless donation boxes” continue to proliferate on street corners and electric poles, with their anonymous collectors leaving donors wondering who is really behind the appeals. These “nameless donation boxes”, physically secured with heavy chains and locks, can be spotted at road intersections, markets, shopping malls and banks across Punjab. Experts say billions of rupees in unregulated funds are being siphoned off under the guise of piety. They warn that this system has bypassed the core objectives of the National Action Plan, which was intended to dismantle the financial networks that fuel instability. When contac...

ISLAMABAD: Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) Chairman Rashid Mah­mood Langrial has constituted a committee to add­ress taxpayers’ issues following a meeting at the FBR Headquarters with representatives of the Pakis­tan, Lahore, Karachi, and Rawalpindi-Islam­abad tax bar associations. An official statement said members of the Tax Bar Associations apprised the chairman of the challenges being faced by taxpayers, particularly in relation to the super tax and SRO 350(I)/2024. Mr Langrial assured participants that the FBR remains fully committed to facilitating taxpayers and addressing all genuine concerns on a priority basis. To ensure timely resolution, he announced the formation of a committee to examine the issues raised by the tax bar associations and propose practical solutions for their early redress. Operations, policy and legal members of FBR’s Inland Revenue wing also attended the meeting and took part in detailed deliberations. Appreciating the consultative role of the tax bar associations, the chair­man s...

• LHC says absence of record undermines transparency • Law officer hints at review mechanism for offloading LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) has ruled that immigration authorities must record and communicate written reasons in every case where a passenger is offloaded from an international flight, holding that such action, though preventive, must comply with constitutional safeguards of due process. Justice Raheel Kamran announced the judgment while deciding two identical petitions filed by Muhammad Soban and Ali Raza against the federal government. The petitioners were off­loaded on Dec 24, 2025, from the Allama Iqbal Inter­national Airport, Lahore, while attempting to travel to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on valid visit visas. They contended that they possessed valid passports, return tickets, confirmed hotel bookings, and that no criminal case, blacklist order or placement on the Exit Control List (ECL) existed against them. Through their counsel, they argued that the offloading was arbitrary, unlawful and ...

• Qatar, Saudi Arabia lead diplomatic scramble; Iran offers to facilitate talks • Trump ‘refuses’ to intervene because of ‘fondness’ for Pakistan • UN, China, Russia, UK call for immediate ceasefire ISLAMABAD: Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers said on Friday they were willing to negotiate after Pakistan unleashed air strikes on major Afghan cities, killing dozens in the most serious clashes between the allies-turned-foes, which Defence Minister Khawaja Asif described as an “open war”. The Afghan Taliban, who claimed to have launched “retaliatory attacks” over strikes against terrorists’ hideouts last weekend, said on Friday that they were “ready for dialogue”. “Afghanistan… has always preferred to reso­lve issues based on mutual understanding and respect,” the Afghan foreign ministry quoted Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi as telling Qatar’s junior Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulaziz Al-Khalifi by telephone. Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid echoed that sentiment, saying “now also we want to resolve th...

DG ISPR says enemy conducted incursions at 53 locations across 15 sectors; 297 Taliban operatives killed

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Nationwide ban on drone flying imposed

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Inflation at 5.8%, remittances up but FDI drops 41% and exports decline

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Express divergent views to defuse crisis, ranging from forceful retaliation to restraint and dialogue

CJP urges PTI to approach IHC, says SC has no jurisdiction