Pakistan

Security forces killed 22 terrorists in an intelligence-based operation (IBO) in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Dera Ismail Khan district, the military’s media affairs wing said on Thursday. The Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said that the operation was conducted based on the reported presence of terrorists belonging to Indian Proxy Fitna al Khwarij. Fitna al Khawarij is a term the state uses for terrorists belonging to the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). “During the conduct of [the] operation, own troops effectively engaged the khawarij location and after an intense fire exchange, 22 khawarij were sent to hell,” the ISPR stated. “Sanitisation operation is being conducted to eliminate any other Indian-sponsored kharji found in the area, as the relentless counter-terrorism campaign under vision ‘Azm-i-Istehkam’ (as approved by the Federal Apex Committee on National Action Plan) by security forces and law enforcement agencies of Pakistan will continue at full pace to wipe out the menace of foreign-sponso...

Dushmantha Chameera held his nerve with a barrage of pinpoint yorkers in the final over as Sri Lanka defended 184 to beat Pakistan by six runs in a nerve-jangling Twenty20 International tri-series encounter at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium on Thursday night. Needing 10 off the last six balls with three wickets in hand, Pakistan captain Salman Ali Agha (unbeaten 63 off 44) could only manage a single and watch helplessly as Faheem Ashraf (seven) holed out to long-on and Mohammad Wasim blocked the final perfect yorker. A packed house fell silent as Sri Lanka clinched victory and stormed into the Saturday final. Pakistan were reeling at 43 for 4 in the sixth over after Chameera removed Sahibzada Farhan (nine) and Babar Azam (zero) in the space of three deliveries and young pacer Eshan Malinga rattled Saim Ayub’s (27 off 18) stumps. From that precarious position, Salman and Usman Khan (33 off 23) launched a spirited counter-attack, adding 56 for the fifth wicket and keeping the asking rate in sight. Usman fell tr...

Additional Interior Secretary Salman Chaudhry said on Thursday that the United Arab Emirates had not been issuing visas to Pakistanis. Pakistan and the UAE share close diplomatic, economic, and cultural ties. The UAE is one of Pakistan’s largest trading partners in the Middle East and a major source of remittances, with a large Pakistani expatriate population living and working there. The secretary made this revelation during a meeting of the Senate Functional Committee on Human Rights, further stating that Saudi Arabia and the UAE had “stopped short of imposing a ban on the Pakistani passport”. “If a ban is imposed, getting it removed would be difficult,” he warned. The official said that currently, the UAE was only issuing visas to blue and diplomatic passport holders. Separately, Senator Samina Mumtaz Zehri, who heads the Senate committee on human rights, also confirmed that the interior ministry official’s remarks to Dawn. She said the bar was attributed to concerns about people travelling to the UAE and ...

Shangla police on Thursday sent a woman to a Darul Aman shelter home after expressing fear for her following a video of her that went viral on social media. Aloch Police Station House Officer (SHO) Khurshid Ali told Dawn that the woman contacted the station, stating that her life is at risk and that her family is plotting to kill her. “We sent a team to the area and brought the woman to the police station, where we recorded her statement,” SHO said. He further said that the woman said a man filmed a video with her and uploaded it to social media, which drew the ire of her family. “She said in the statement that her family might kill her and requested police protection,” SHO Ali said. The officer added that the woman was produced before the magistrate on duty in the Chakesar courts, where, on his order, she was moved to the shelter home in Swat. “We have started work on the case and submitted it to the National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency,” SHO Ali added. Replying to a question, he elaborated that the sus...

Pakistan’s squash renaissance is guaranteed a homegrown champion as young compatriots and relatives Hamza Khan and Noor Zaman Khan stormed into the final of the Chief of Air Staff (CAS) Serena Hotel International Squash Championship on Thursday, setting up an all-Pakistan title decider. The final, to be played on Friday, pits the world number 101, Hamza, against the second seed and world number 43, Noor, with both players expressing their ambition to restore Pakistan to its former glory on the global squash scene. Hamza continued his sensational run in the tournament, adding Switzerland’s David Bernet to his list of scalps just a day after stunning top-seeded Egyptian Karim El Hamamy. He secured a gripping 11-9, 11-13, 12-10, 11-5 victory in a 55-minute semi-final thriller. After an evenly matched first game, Bernet mounted a comeback, edging a nail-biting second set. Hamza reclaimed control, winning a tight third set before dominating the fourth with powerful cross-court shots to seal the match. “I am super ...

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At least three Chinese workers in Tajikistan were killed in an attack launched from Afghanistan near the border, Tajik authorities said on Thursday. Tajikistan has strained relations with the Taliban regime in Afghanistan and several border clashes have broken out in recent months. The foreign ministry said a drone and firearm attack hit workers of a Chinese company in the country’s south.’ “The attack, carried out with firearms and a drone loaded with grenades, claimed the lives of three employees of Chinese nationality,” it said in a statement. Dushanbe rarely comments officially on such incidents, and it did not say who it suspects carried out the attack. Militants are active in the mountainous border region, which spans around 1,350 kilometres between the two countries. Muslim-majority Tajikistan, one of the poorest countries in the former Soviet Union, has been concerned about possible flare-ups in extremism since the Taliban returned to power in 2021. Tajik President Emomali Rakhmon, in power since 1992...

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US FBI Director Kash Patel said on Thursday that the suspected shooter of two National Guard members had worked in Afghanistan with partner forces. “We are fully investigating that aspect of his background as well to include any known associates that are either overseas or here in the United States of America, that is what a broad-based international terrorism investigation looks like,” Patel said at a news conference. The suspect worked with “the US government, including CIA, as a member of a partner force in Kandahar,” during the US war in Afghanistan, CIA Director John Ratcliffe told the New York Times and Fox News. The two soldiers, part of a militarised law enforcement mission ordered by President Donald Trump months ago and challenged in court by Washington DC officials, were hospitalised and had come through surgery, Attorney General Pam Bondi said. The suspect, who was wounded in an exchange of gunfire before he was arrested, was identified by the Department of Homeland Security as Rahmanullah Lakanwa...