Pakistan

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The Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said on Saturday that 14 terrorists were killed in three separate intelligence-based operations (IBO) in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan.. In a statement, the military’s media wing said nine khawarij belonging to Indian proxy Fitna al Khawarij were killed on Friday. Fitna al Khawarij is a term the state uses for terrorists belonging to the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). It said an IBO was conducted in Tank on the reported presence of terrorists. “During the conduct of [the] operation, own troops effectively engaged the khawarij location, and after an intense fire exchange, seven khawarij were sent to hell,” the statement read. In a separate IBO conducted in Lakki Marwat, “two more khawarij were effectively neutralised by security forces”. “Sanitisation operations are being conducted to eliminate any other Indian-sponsored kharji found in the area,” the statement said. Later in the day, the ISPR said security forces conducted an IBO in Balochistan’s Dera ...

Pakistan and the United States agreed to intensify cooperation on security and immigration during a meeting in Islamabad on Saturday between Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi and Acting US Ambassador Natalie Baker. Naqvi and Baker discussed ways to enhance bilateral cooperation in counter-narcotics, security, and the prevention of illegal immigration. The meeting also focused on strengthening collaboration in intelligence sharing, curbing drug trafficking, and expanding joint measures to stop illegal migration. The US envoy offered full technical assistance to Pakistan in combating narcotics and preventing unauthorised cross-border movement. He said the identification of drug trafficking cases at airports remains a top priority, adding that state-of-the-art scanning machines were being installed at all major airports across the country. Naqvi reaffirmed that Pakistan is strictly implementing a zero-tolerance policy against narcotics. Even today, drugs originating from Afghanistan are reaching dozens of countries...

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif held the groundbreaking ceremony for the Gujranwala Mass Transit System on Saturday. Addressing the project’s groundbreaking ceremony, the prime minister termed it a major initiative to provide public relief and improve residents’ lives. He said the project was a gift from the Punjab government that would transform the entire district, providing relief to commuters, including students, patients, labourers, lawyers and others. The premier appreciated Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz for the successful launch of diverse public-oriented mega projects across the province and said the recent by-election results reflected public trust in the leadership. “In the next three years, the incumbent government of PML-N has the mandate to serve the people,” he said. “The journey of progress and prosperity has just commenced, and we will move on the path of development rapidly,” he added. The prime minister predicted a successful turnout in the PML-N’s favour in the next general elections. In...

A woman and her teenage daughter were stabbed to death over “honour” in the Gizri area of Karachi on Friday night, police said. Police said Kulsoom, 43, and her daughter Maryam, 11, were stabbed and killed by her husband, Samiullah. South Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) Syed Asad Raza said the double murder appeared to be an “honour” killing. The suspect was arrested, and the knife used in the double homicide was also recovered and seized. Police registered a case against the suspect on the complaint of the victim’s brother Faisal Khan. Raza said the suspect stabbed and injured his wife and daughter in their home located near Noorani Masjid. The victims were taken to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, where they were pronounced dead. DIG Raza said the suspect had “confessed” to the crime. He said the initial probe showed that the suspect was arrested around two and a half months ago in another case and was released on bail around three days ago. In Pakistan, ‘honour’ killings continued to claim ...

A judicial magistrate on Saturday ordered the release on bail of the son of Islamabad High Court (IHC) Justice Mohammed Asif, after the victims’ families forgave him in the fatal accident case that claimed the lives of two young women. The tragic incident occurred late at night on Monday near the Pakistan National Council of Arts in Islamabad when a black speeding sports utility vehicle (SUV) allegedly driven by Abuzar struck two girls who worked part-time for an event management company. The victims were travelling on a scooter when the speeding vehicle hit them, killing both on the spot due to severe injuries. The accused, Abuzar, was remanded into police custody on Tuesday in the case. He was produced before Judicial Magistrate Shaista Kundi upon completion of his four-day physical remand today. During the proceedings, the court recorded statements of the victims’ families. The brother of one victim appeared in person, while her mother submitted her statement online. The father of the other girl also confi...

What started as a fact-finding mission for Netflix culminated in one of the biggest media deals in the last decade and one that stands to reshape the global entertainment business landscape, people with direct knowledge of the deal told Reuters. Netflix announced on Friday it had reached a deal to buy Warner Bros Discovery for $72 billion. Although Netflix had publicly downplayed speculation about buying a major Hollywood studio as recently as October, the streaming pioneer threw its hat in the ring when Warner Bros Discovery kicked off an auction on October 21, after rejecting a trio of unsolicited offers from Paramount Skydance. Details of Netflix’s plan and the Warner Bros board’s deliberations, based on interviews with seven advisers and executives, are reported here for the first time. Initially motivated by curiosity about its business, Netflix executives quickly recognised the opportunity presented by Warner Bros, beyond the ability to offer the century-old studio’s deep catalogue of movies and televis...

Ruinous floods and landslides have killed more than 900 people on Indonesia’s island of Sumatra, the country’s disaster management agency said on Saturday, with fears that starvation could send the toll even higher. A chain of tropical storms and monsoonal rains has pummelled Southeast and South Asia, triggering landslides and flash floods from the Sumatran rainforest to the highland plantations of Sri Lanka. More than 1,790 people have been killed in natural disasters unfolding across Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam over the past week. In Indonesia’s provinces of Aceh and North Sumatra, floods have swept away roads, smothered houses in silt, and cut off supplies. Aceh Governor Muzakir Manaf said response teams were still searching for bodies in “waist-deep” mud. However, starvation was one of the gravest threats now hanging over remote and inaccessible villages. “Many people need basic necessities. Many areas remain untouched in the remote areas of Aceh,” he told reporters. “People are n...

Calm returned to the Pakistan-Afghanistan border at Chaman on Saturday after heavy clashes occurred between the two sides a day earlier. At least three civilians were injured in the clashes last night and were shifted to the district hospital in Chaman. On the Afghan side, five people were injured, according to Afghan government spokesman Hamdullah Fitrat. According to officials, Afghan forces fired mortar shells on the Badani area, prompting security forces to retaliate. However, Afghan Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid claimed it was Pakistan that launched an attack on Spin Boldak, alleging that their forces were responding. Prime Minister’s spokesperson for foreign media, Mosharraf Zaidi, however, confirmed the clashes. In a post on X early Saturday morning, he said, “A short while ago, the Afghan Taliban regime resorted to unprovoked firing along the Chaman border. An immediate, befitting & intense response has been given by our armed forces.” “Pakistan remains fully alert & committed to ensuring it...

The nearly two-month-old ceasefire in the Gaza Strip will not be complete until Israeli troops withdraw from the Palestinian territory under a peace plan backed by Washington and the United Nations, mediator Qatar’s prime minister said on Saturday. “Now we are at the critical moment … A ceasefire cannot be completed unless there is a full withdrawal of the Israeli forces, [and] there is stability back in Gaza,” Qatari premier Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani told the Doha Forum, an annual diplomatic conference in the Gulf state’s capital. Qatar, alongside the United States and Egypt, helped secure the long-elusive truce in Gaza, which came into effect on October 10 and has mostly halted two years of fighting between Israel and Hamas. Under a second phase of the deal, which has yet to begin, Israel is to withdraw from its positions in the territory, an interim authority is to take over governance, and an international stabilisation force (ISF) is to be deployed. Arab and Muslim nations have been hesita...

President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Saturday lauded the security forces for their successful operations against the India-backed group “Fitna-al-Khwarij” in Tank and Lakki Marwat districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The Lahore High Court (LHC) has ruled that criminal proceedings cannot be initiated in matters arising from business partnership disputes, emphasizing that such conflicts fall under civil jurisdiction.

India capped airfares on Saturday as hundreds of passengers gathered outside Bengaluru and Mumbai airports after IndiGo cancelled 385 flights on the fifth day of a crisis at the country’s biggest airline that has crippled air travel. IndiGo has cancelled thousands of flights this week due to a shortage of pilots after it failed to plan adequately for new rules limiting pilots’ work hours. The government responded on Friday, announcing special relief for the carrier and the operation of additional trains to help clear the backlog. The Delhi airport posted on X on Saturday that flight operations were steadily resuming, but cancellations remained rife elsewhere. ‘Waiting for my luggage’ With IndiGo’s spate of cancellations, fares rose on flights operated by other airlines on popular routes. The government said it was capping fares to maintain pricing discipline, without disclosing details of the caps. The Civil Aviation Ministry said it would “continue to closely monitor fare levels through real-time data and ac...

Two tragic incidents occurred on Saturday in Kahurod Paka and Lodhran, where two seven-year-old boys lost their lives after falling into open manholes.

The Lahore High Court (LHC) has overturned the death penalty handed to a man accused of killing a girl after she allegedly rejected his marriage proposal.

Defence Minister Khawaja Asif on Saturday slammed the PTI for its reaction to yesterday’s press conference by Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director General Lt Gen Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry, wherein he had launched a scathing attack on party founder Imran Khan. On Friday, Lt Gen Chaudhry — without once naming Imran — called the former premier “a mentally ill person”, “a narcissist” and “a security risk”, while stressing it was for the government to decide how to deal with him. He had accused him and his party of pushing a narrative designed to undermine the armed forces and destabilise the state. In response, PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali had expressed “disappointment” over the comments, stating that “PTI’s narrative has never been, nor will it ever be, anti-state”. Speaking to the media in Sialkot, Asif recalled that Imran had used “harsh language” in the past for members of the opposition, insisting that the party had no right to object to the comments by the military’s spokesman. “When they were in...