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ISLAMABAD: The government on Friday reduced the prices of all petroleum products by up to Rs5.31 per litre with immediate effect for the next fortnight ending March 15.
On the other hand, the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) notified a decrease in the price of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) by Rs6.15 per kg for March.
In a late-night announcement, the Ministry of Finance said Ogra had reviewed and adjusted prices for petroleum products in view of the fluctuations in the international market. The ex-depot price of high-speed diesel (HSD) was decreased by Rs5.31 (2 per cent) to Rs258.64 per litre for the next fortnight from Rs263.95.
Most of the transport sector runs on HSD. Its price is considered inflationary as it is mostly used in heavy transport vehicles like trains, trucks, buses, tractors, tube wells and threshers and particularly adds to the prices of vegetables and other eatables.
Transport fares seldom come down despite lower diesel rates.
The ex-depot petrol price was set at Rs255.63 per litre against Rs256.13, down by 50 paise (around 0.2pc). Petrol is mostly used in private transport, small vehicles, rickshaws, and two-wheelers, and it directly impacts the budget of the middle and lower middle classes.
The kerosene rate was also cut by Rs3.53 (2pc) to Rs168.12 per litre while light diesel oil price was set at Rs153.35 per litre compared to Rs155.81 previously, down by Rs2.47.
The government currently charges about Rs76 per litre tax on both petrol and HSD.
Although the GST is zero on all petroleum products, the government charges Rs60 per litre petroleum development levy on both products that normally impact the masses.-
Four people, including a 10-year-old, were killed, while one was injured in three separate accidents across Karachi, police said on Friday.
Rules restricting the movement of heavy vehicles were recently implemented in the metropolis amid rising traffic accidents involving dumpers and tankers and protests over the deaths of citizens.
Earlier this month, the provincial government banned the entry of heavy vehicles into the city during the daytime, only allowing them to operate from 11pm to 6am.
Exemptions, however, were granted to trucks carrying water, petroleum products, medicines, meat and other essential goods.
The Sindh government has also made it mandatory for all heavy vehicles in Karachi to have a physical fitness certificate amid the rising number of traffic accidents involving dumper trucks.
According to Aziz Bhatti police Station House Officer (SHO) Saeed Ahmed Dharejo, a man was killed, and his friend was injured when a water tanker hit them on main University Road near Sunday Bazaar today.
SHO Dharejo told Dawn.com: “The victims were on their way towards Safoora while riding the bike when the tanker hit them from behind at around 3:30pm, killing Haris Saleem, 28, on the spot while Ahmed, 18, was injured.”
The dead and injured were shifted to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC), SHO Dharejo said, adding that the errant driver managed to escape.
According to Rescue 1122 official Hassaan Khan, the mob subsequently set the tanker on fire, which was destroyed before the firemen arrived.
Ittehad Town police SHO Javed Akhtar said that a recklessly driven passenger mini-bus route of W-25 hit and killed 10-year-old passerby Khadim Husain in Qaimkhani Colony near Ayesha Masjid.
The driver escaped, leaving behind the vehicle that was impounded by the police, SHO Akhtar told Dawn.com.
The officer said the mob gathered there and tried to damage the mini-bus, but the police prevented them.
In the third incident, a journalist — who also worked as a bykea rider — and his purported passenger were killed in a hit-and-run incident on main Sharea Faisal early in the morning.
Tipu Sultan police SHO Tariq Mehmood said that the victims were on their way towards Saddar when a car hit them from behind.
They suffered critical injuries and were taken to the JPMC, where both of them were pronounced dead on arrival, the SHO said.
The victims were identified as Tashkeel Haider Sandelo, who had worked in different media organisations, and Saqib Imtiaz, the passenger.
SHO Mehmood said they had obtained CCTV footage from the spot to ascertain the possible identity of the car rider.
US President Donald Trump and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky openly argued in the White House on Friday as they clashed on the need for compromising with what the Ukrainian president called Russia’s “killer” leader.
Trump berated Zelensky as they sat in the Oval Office, telling him to be more “thankful” and saying, “You’re in no position to dictate what we’re going to feel.” He told the Ukrainian president that he either “make a deal” with Russia “or we’re out”.
US Vice President JD Vance, sitting nearby, also attacked Zelensky, calling him “disrespectful”. Zelensky appeared to try to speak but was cut off.
The extraordinary outburst came after Trump said Ukraine would have to make “compromises” in a truce with Russia, which launched a full-scale invasion of its neighbour three years ago.
“You can’t do any deals without compromises. So certainly he’s going to have to make some compromises, but hopefully they won’t be as big as some people think,” Trump said.
But showing Trump pictures of war atrocities and referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin, Zelensky said there should be “no compromises with a killer on our territory”.
“Crazy Russians”, he said, deported Ukrainian children and committed war crimes during their three-year invasion of his country.
Trump lashed out at Zelensky, who he said was “not acting at all thankful” and not “nice”.
“You’re gambling with the lives of millions of people,” Trump said. “You’re gambling with World War Three, and what you’re doing is very disrespectful to the country — this country.”
The dramatic public breakdown in the long-tense relationship between Zelensky and Trump came after their meeting — in front of a large group of journalists — appeared to get off to a friendlier start.
Zelensky had said, “I think President Trump is on our side.” He said that he would be speaking to the US president about the “crucial” need for a so-called US security “backstop” to any European deployments of peacekeepers monitoring an eventual truce.
“This is crucial, this is what we want to speak about, this is very important,” he said.
Trump has alarmed Kyiv and European allies with his abrupt U-turn in US policy, ending what had been full-throated support for Ukraine’s attempt to defeat the Russian invasion and casting himself as a mediator between Putin and Zelensky.
Trump said in the Oval Office that he had “spoken on numerous occasions” to Putin — more than has been publicly reported beyond the lengthy call between the two leaders earlier this February.
Trump had told Zelensky that a truce is “fairly close”. He also said that a deal he was set to sign with Zelensky allowing US exploitation of Ukraine’s natural resources would be “very fair”.
The resources deal is intended to give the United States access to rare earth and other critical minerals as part of an overall plan to help Ukraine recover after a truce.
Zelensky told Trump that he should visit his embattled nation. “You have to come and to look.”
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Friday said that Pakistan, in collaboration with China, will send its first space manned mission to China’s space station.
Addressing a ceremony in Islamabad after witnessing the exchange of a cooperation agreement between Pakistan’s Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (Suparco) and China Manned Space Agency (CMSA), the prime minister said that this was yet another wonderful gesture from the Chinese government to further deepen bilateral cooperation in this field.
He emphasised that under the “dynamic leadership” of Chinese President Xi Jinping, “Not only is this programme underway speedily … but also CPEC, which has really transformed Pakistan’s economic conditions.”
PM Shehbaz highlighted that Pakistan’s participation in the China Space Station (CSS) programme reflected the deep-rooted ties between the two countries and would contribute to mutual knowledge-sharing and the broader vision of peaceful space exploration.
Under the agreement, two Pakistani astronauts will undergo training at the Astronaut Centre of China. One selected astronaut shall be trained as a scientific payload specialist, preparing for specialised research aboard the CSS. The selection process will be completed by 2026 to fly in an upcoming mission as per CSS planning.
The first Pakistani astronaut’s mission at CSS will involve conducting cutting-edge scientific experiments in various fields, including biological and medical sciences, aerospace, applied physics, fluid mechanics, space radiation, ecology and material sciences, among others.
Minister for Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal termed the agreement a historic milestone, underscoring its role in accelerating technological innovation, capacity building, and research.
“Collaboration with China extends beyond astronaut training, laying the groundwork for Pakistan’s long-term growth in human spaceflight and exploration,” he said.
CMSA Director General Dr Lin Xinqiang expressed his enthusiasm for this partnership, reaffirming China’s dedication to strengthening international cooperation in space exploration.
He highlighted that Pakistan’s participation in the CSS programme “reflects the deep-rooted ties between the two countries” and will contribute to mutual knowledge-sharing.
Suparco Chairman Mohammad Yousaf Khan regarded the agreement as a landmark in Pakistan’s space journey, emphasising “perseverance, adaptability, and technological progress”.
He invited youth, professionals, and academia to actively participate in Pakistan’s astronaut programme, encouraging them to contribute to space exploration efforts through research, innovation, and skill development.
LONDON: Alarm is rising over Washington’s potential withdrawal from global institutions, including the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank (WB), with the no-show of US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent at G20 meetings adding to anxiety.
So what would happen if Washington pulls out from these two institutions? To understand this, one has to go back in time, as both institutions were formed in the ashes of the Second World War to encourage global integration and forestall future wars.
The IMF is often called a lender of last resort for countries in trouble. A swathe of emerging market countries rely heavily on the IMF: Argentina could not pay government workers without it, and others from Senegal to Sri Lanka also currently count on its cash.
Pakistan, of course, has participated in more than 20 IMF programmes since 1958, including the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) and Extended Credit Facility (ECF), Standby Arrangements (SBA) and one Structural Adjustment Facility Commitment that was availed in 1988.
Experts say Washington’s withdrawal would be a ‘disaster’ for its global influence, but it may prove to be ‘a gift to China’
Lending ranges from emergency cash to tackle balance of payment crises to precautionary lines to prevent a crunch. The institution attaches conditions to the loans — dispatched in tranches — to ensure countries enact reforms, usually requiring cuts to wasteful spending, more transparent budgets, rooting out corruption or raising tax revenues.
Investors use IMF data on GDP and growth as the trigger to determine whether certain debt instruments that link payments to economic performance give them more - or sometimes less — money.
The World Bank lends at low rates to help countries build everything from railroads to flood barriers, creates frameworks needed for innovative financial tools, such as green bonds, and provides risk insurance.
Having an IMF programme also assuages investors — both private and bilateral.
Developed countries funding the institutions, including the US, have used them to ensure global financial stability and to encourage countries to adhere to fiscally responsible, open economic models.
Both institutions, at the behest of their biggest shareholder, the US, had backed countries such as Egypt, Pakistan and Jordan, where the US has strategic interests, said Mark Sobel, the US chairman of the Official Monetary and Financial Institutions Forum (OMFIF), a veteran Treasury Department official and former IMF board member.
“If there’s economic instability abroad, it can hurt the US economy,” Sobel said.
But the IMF often earns the ire of protesters for advocating painful unpopular reforms to balance budgets such as cutting fuel subsidies or raising tax revenues. Some Kenyans denounced the IMF during deadly protests last summer, while the Fund’s response to the 1997 Asian financial crisis was roundly panned.
So what would happen in case of a US exit? “It would be a disaster,” said Kaan Nazli, emerging market debt portfolio manager at Neuberger Berman.
A founder member, the United States holds the largest single share of each institution — just over 16pc for the IMF and just under that for the World Bank.
This has given US policymakers strong influence over decision-making that global economic leaders have come to rely on.
US withdrawal would also surprise experts and investors, as the institutions give Washington that influence at a relatively low cost.
Stepping back, they say, would be a gift to China and others seeking to dislodge it as the global leader. Other countries could fill the financial gap; China has been keen for a larger role in global groups.
It has pushed for a realignment of IMF shareholdings and to strengthen emerging market voices. China’s current share is just over 5pc.
Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Inspector General of Police (IGP) Rana Abdul Jabbar on Thursday ordered the arrest of a policeman booked for the alleged sexual harassment of a British-Kashmiri woman and constituted a team of senior officers to conduct a transparent investigation into the allegations.
According to a statement by the police department spokesperson, the IGP directed Poonch Deputy Inspector General of Police Chaudhry Sajjad to ensure a fair inquiry and personally oversee the case to its logical conclusion.
However, Thothal Station House Officer Chaudhry Imran Ahmed, who was suspended on Tuesday, had already obtained pre-arrest bail from the district court earlier today and subsequently went into hiding
The IGP ordered the police to locate and detain him without delay, the spokesperson said.
Demand of judicial inquiry
The woman rejected the police inquiry committee, insisting on a judicial investigation by a high court judge.
At a press conference in Mirpur, accompanied by Jammu Kashmir Joint Awami Action Committee (JKJAAC) leaders, she accused the police of pressuring her to withdraw the case to shield their colleague.
The woman claimed that Inspector Mehboob, posted at the Anti-Corruption Department, had also pressured her through various means, both in Pakistan and the UK, to forgive the suspect, citing his family responsibilities.
She demanded that a harassment case be filed against him as well, adding that she had already contacted the British High Commission due to concerns for her safety.
Detailing her ordeal, she said she had been struggling to reclaim possession of her property in Mirpur for the past four months. When she reached out to the police for assistance, SHO Ahmed responded by picking her up in his car instead of summoning her to the station, the woman said.
She alleged that instead of helping her, the SHO drove to a petrol station, where he began harassing her, and later took her to his residence at gunpoint, where he consumed alcohol and attempted to assault her.
In tears, she described the SHO as a “predator”, adding that she had never met him before. She claimed that she managed to escape, but not before he attempted to remove her veil and boasted about previous similar acts.
She said she had tried to contact a relative from the toilet but found there was no signal.
The woman expressed outrage that, despite providing recordings and other evidence, police deliberately weakened the first information report (FIR), excluding serious charges such as kidnapping, harassment, illegal weapon possession, alcohol consumption and religious desecration.
She also criticised Mirpur Senior Superintendent of Police Khawar Ali for what she called “disappointing conduct”, claiming that he deliberately weakened the case and even gave SHO Ahmed an opportunity to escape.
“Since I am not fluent in Urdu, my statement was not recorded in English, and I was misrepresented in the FIR,” she said.
“I never refused to cooperate with the police. I waited for eight days before going public due to their inaction.”
Rejecting efforts to discredit her by linking her to a drug mafia, she warned those defending the suspect to fear divine justice.
The JKJAAC leaders also strongly condemned the alleged incident, describing it as an unforgivable crime.
Endorsing the demand for a judicial inquiry by a high court judge, the SHO’s immediate arrest, the inclusion of all omitted charges in the FIR, legal action against Inspector Mehboob for alleged harassment and attempting to influence the victim, they warned that they would launch mass protests if justice was not served,
Meanwhile, the police spokesperson’s statement claimed that some local and overseas Kashmiris might be exploiting the case to settle personal rivalries and urged the public to allow police to conduct their investigation without interference.
“Rest assured, the serious charges against the inspector, along with the departmental inquiry, will be concluded promptly and fairly. The public will be kept fully informed about the case’s progress,” the statement said.
Pakistan has witnessed a dramatic decline in its wolf populations over the past few decades, prompting experts to warn that the already endangered species may face local extinction in the near future without immediate conservation measures.
The populations of both the Indian wolf and the Tibetan wolf are dwindling at an alarming rate, with only a few hundred individuals remaining in the country.
Human-induced factors such as habitat destruction, retaliatory killings, and diminishing prey populations are the primary causes of this decline, according to Rab Nawaz, a senior official at World Wide Fund for Nature Pakistan (WWF-Pakistan).
“Pakistan has a rich diversity of wildlife, but many of its species, including wolves, are endangered and face the threat of local extinction,” Nawaz told Anadolu.
In recent years, he added, human-induced pressures have intensified the decline of the wolf population in Pakistan, while significant gaps in ecological knowledge and population distribution further hinder conservation efforts.
“The Indian wolf, in particular, is recognised as endangered in Pakistan, but key knowledge gaps regarding its population status and distribution make conservation efforts difficult,” he said.
Recent genetic studies have revealed that Indian wolves are among the most evolutionarily distinct wolf populations, found only in India and Pakistan.
Saeedul Islam, a wildlife expert, agrees with Nawaz and emphasises that the Indian wolf population is declining at a much faster rate than the Tibetan wolf, putting its survival at serious risk.
The Tibetan wolf — also known as the Chinese wolf, Mongolian wolf, Korean wolf, Steppes wolf or Woolly wolf — has a relatively stable population due to the nature of its habitat and less human encroachment, he explained.
Believed to be a subspecies of the grey wolf, the Tibetan wolf is found in parts of central China, southwestern Russia, Manchuria, Tibet, and the Himalayan regions of India, Nepal, and Bhutan.
The species is already classified as “vulnerable” due to its low population and is included in the Red List of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), a global body focused on nature conservation.
Urgent need for conservation measures
Experts cite retaliatory killings, habitat loss and the growing human population as the primary factors behind the decline of the Indian wolf, which is found in southern Sindh, southwestern Balochistan and northeastern Punjab.
“Human-wildlife conflict is the biggest factor, followed by population growth and habitat destruction, which threaten the Indian wolf with local extinction,” Islam said.
Additionally, he pointed out that the prey base for the Indian wolf has drastically declined due to rapid deforestation and an increasing human footprint in recent decades.
In contrast, the Tibetan wolf is found in the mountains of Gilgit-Baltistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Azad Jammu and Kashmir, where it has relatively stable habitats, better prey availability and lower human interaction.
“But still, their population is vulnerable,” he cautioned.
According to Islam, the Indian wolf population in Pakistan is likely no more than a few hundred, although no official population assessment has been conducted.
“If serious conservation efforts are not undertaken immediately, we may lose the Indian wolf forever in the coming years,” he warned.
He emphasised the urgent need for population assessments, identification of population clusters, establishment of sanctuaries and habitat restoration to conserve the remaining Indian wolf population.
“All of this cannot happen without a proper population assessment and identifying key habitat areas,” he said, acknowledging that the issue has not been given the necessary attention by either the government or wildlife organisations.
Mohammad Kabir, who heads the Wildlife Ecology Lab at the University of Haripur, stressed that wolves kill a large number of livestock, which is a major factor in human-wildlife conflict.
“To mitigate conflict, conservation management programmes should include livestock insurance, vaccination and awareness campaigns,” Kabir told Anadolu.
Such measures, he explained, would help reduce livestock mortality due to disease and prevent retaliatory killings of wolves by farmers who suffer economic losses.
Role of wolves in ecosystem balance
Pakistan holds over 23,000 square kilometres of suitable wolf habitat, spread across remote and inaccessible areas that are connected by natural corridors, according to Kabir.
Sharifuddin Baloch, the chief conservator of Balochistan’s Wildlife Department, said the government has declared several national parks and game reserves as protected areas for the Indian wolf in an effort to conserve its population.
“The Indian wolf has already been designated as a protected species in Balochistan and the rest of Pakistan. However, conservation efforts have not yielded the desired results due to continued retaliatory killings, climate change, and the wolves’ own predatory behavior,” Baloch explained.
“Conservation efforts have produced satisfactory results in protected areas, but they have been largely ineffective in other regions due to ongoing human-wildlife conflict,” he added. One of the primary reasons behind this conflict, he noted, is the way wolves hunt livestock.
“They attack in packs and kill multiple animals at a time, unlike other carnivores that target only a single or a couple of animals for food. This makes them the number one enemy of farmers and shepherds,” Baloch said.
Livestock is a primary source of livelihood in rural Pakistan, particularly in Balochistan, where retaliatory killings of wolves are common.
“The vast patrolling areas of wolves also make it difficult to protect them from human encounters and other dangers,” he added.
Kabir emphasised the critical role of wolves in regulating prey populations and maintaining ecosystem balance.
“Wolves are among the least studied carnivores in Pakistan and have been largely ignored in research and conservation programmes. As top predators in their habitats, they regulate the population of other prey species,” he said.
“Their absence would lead to an unchecked increase in prey populations, causing overgrazing, habitat degradation, resource competition and ultimately the collapse of prey populations,” he warned.
A decline in wolf populations, he added, could also lead to an increase in smaller predators, further disrupting the ecological balance.
“As predators, wolves help control the spread of disease by targeting sick, old and weak prey animals. Without them, disease could spread more rapidly among prey populations,” he noted.
THE gap is huge, to say the least. And those who own Pakistani banks, and the bankers who work for them, do not seem to be cognisant of — let alone prepared for — the challenges being unleashed by rapid tech disruptions led by the emergence of AI. Not that they do not see what is coming — it is just that the banking model that makes them colossal profits through risk-free lending to the sovereign or a few scores of large corporations has made them complacent. But for how long can they survive by sticking to this model, and refusing to adjust to new socioeconomic realities?
While industry leaders focused on the massive tax burden of 54pc on the banks and the billions of rupees taken from them by the FBR in the name of windfall levy at the recent Pakistan Banking Summit in Karachi, others kept reminding them how destructive it could be for the banking industry to delay the adoption of digital technology and AI, as well as investments in human resource, infrastructure, and product development to meet future demands. The way we do banking today will not exist in the next 10 years, and only those will survive who are capable of adopting new technologies.
There is no doubt that the banking industry has transitioned massively from being a heavily state-controlled sector to a privately owned business in the last three-and-a-half decades. Since then, this sector has grown phenomenally, helped governments finance their deficits, invested in digital space in line with the increase in the use of smartphones and mobile apps, and so on.
However, at the same time, the profit-oriented bankers have ignored various sectors of the economy, including smallholder farmers, housing, small businesses, women, and others who do not have collateral to pledge for a loan. Thus, a very large portion of rural and even lower-income urban populations remain outside the financial system and are dependent on expensive informal channels for funding needs. The way the banking sector has been restructured in the last few decades has come under scrutiny in recent years because of the failure to support the growth of those sectors of the economy that needed their help.
Indeed, the summit touched upon all these issues along with the challenges of future tech disruptions. But a conference or two is not enough to deal with all these problems. It is crucial for the central bank to engage with industry on a regular and proactive basis to help it navigate new and old obstacles to ensure that banks play an invigorating role in the growth and development of hitherto ignored sectors of the economy. Conferences can only underline the issues; they cannot tackle them.
A Lahore sessions court sentenced a man to death on Wednesday for committing blasphemy against the Holy Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him), other Islamic figures and religious rituals.
The first information report (FIR) — a copy of which is available with Dawn.com — of the case was filed at the Shahdara Town police station on September 29, 2020, by a member of the Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan party under Sections 295A (deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs) and 295C (use of derogatory remarks, etc, in respect of the Holy Prophet [PBUH]) of the Pakistan Penal Code.
“I was informed that for the past several months [the convict] … has been mocking the Holy Prophet [PBUH] and burning religious symbols and images of religious sites,” the FIR said. “When I met the man, he used blasphemous words in my presence.”
The FIR said the man also disrespected Islamic rituals and obligations.
According to the court order announced and issued today by Additional Sessions Judge Syed Shahzad Muzaffar Hamdani, the man was formally indicted on January 27, 2021.
The judge sentenced the man to death by hanging and subject to a Rs500,000 fine for violating section 295C.
“In case of non-payment of fine, the accused … will undergo imprisonment for six months and will not be released until the payment of fine,” the order said, adding that the convict was able to appeal the verdict.
The judge ordered that the convict’s sentence warrant be issued in the name of the superintendent of Lahore’s Camp Jail for serving the punishment to the man while a reference be sent to the Lahore High Court to confirm the death sentence.
Blasphemy is an incendiary charge in Pakistan, where even unsubstantiated accusations can incite public outrage and lead to lynchings.
On January 20, two men were sentenced to death by an Islamabad district and sessions court for “proliferating blasphemous content” online.
Two warrants of the commitment of conviction to the Adiala Jail superintendent were issued for the two convicts by Sessions Judge Afzal Majoka. They said the two were sentenced to death by hanging for violating Section 295C of the PPC.
“[The] convict shall be hanged by his neck till he is dead subject to confirmation of death punishment by honourable Islamabad High Court,” both warrants read. The judge noted that both convicts had the right to file an appeal in the Islamabad High Court within 30 days.
They were also sentenced to life in prison under 295B (defiling, etc, of the Holy Quran) with a fine of Rs100,000; three years imprisonment under 298A (use of derogatory remarks, etc, in respect of holy personages) with a fine of Rs500,000 and seven years of “rigorous imprisonment” for violating Section 11 (hate speech) of the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (Peca) with a fine of Rs100,000.
The country has witnessed a sharp increase in the prosecution of “online blasphemy” cases, with private vigilante groups bringing charges against hundreds of young individuals for allegedly committing blasphemy.
Passengers traveling to and from Gilgit-Baltistan and Islamabad were stuck on the Karakoram Highway (KKH) on Wednesday as heavy rains caused landslides that blocked the main road at several points in Kohistan.
Snowfall and rain continue across the northern region of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Gilgit-Baltistan and have paralysed life in the area. Various parts of Swat, Dir Upper, Chitral, Shangla, Mansehra, Battagram, Kohistan, Abbottabad received heavy snowfall while Hunza, Skardu, Ghizar, Diamer and almost all GB districts were covered with a snow blanket as it continued to fall for the third consecutive day which also dropped mercury in the region.
Raja Ashfaq Tahir, spokesperson to Diamer police, told Dawn.com that the KKH was blocked at two different points between Dasu and Diamer with passengers stranded on both sides as work to reopen the road continued.
“Bhasha to Raikot section has been opened which was also blocked last night due to landsliding as rain continues in the area. The road now is blocked in the Lotar area of Upper Kohistan,” the Diamer police spokesperson said.
In Dasu, Upper Kohistan Additional Deputy Commissioner Khuram Rehman Jadoon told Dawn.com he booked a hotel owner for fleecing stranded passengers on the KKH who complained to the administration.
ADC Khuram Rehman informed the stranded passengers about the road blockade and assured that the Kohistan administration would be on call if they needed any help.
He warned hotel owners that overcharging stranded passengers would not be tolerated and prompt legal action would be taken in such instances.
Rehman said work to clear the road continued but consecutive showers hampered the debris removal, however, it was expected the road would open by night. He said over 200 families were accomdated in Dasu Rural health Centre.
Tahir told Dawn.com that a landslide occurred in Diamer’s Hodar area, blocking the KKH again in the district.
He said machinery had been moved to the area for debris removal to open the affected portion of the KKH.
Shangla Deputy Commissioner Mohammad Fawad Khan also issued an advisory to passengers that heavy snowfall caused a portion of the Bisham-Swat Road to cave in where a vegetable supplier vehicle also fell down and the vehicle driver was injured.
He urged the people to avoid traveling on the road.
WASHINGTON: Pakistan and New York City officials are set to begin negotiations regarding the future of the Roosevelt Hotel in Manhattan, after the city’s mayor announced the early termination of an agreement that repurposed the prime property into a shelter for refugees.
The hotel, which opened in 1924, is named after former US President Theodore Roosevelt. It is located next to the Grand Central Terminal, the main train station in the Big Apple.
In 2023, Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) — which owns the iconic property —signed a three-year lease with the city, worth around $220 million.
Under the lease, the city was to have control of the hotel until June 2026, after which it would be returned to PIA. The arrangement was initially made to accommodate the increasing number of migrants arriving in New York due to the humanitarian crisis at the US-Mexico border.
Mayor Eric Adams says facility housing migrants to close in June this year; authorities set to hold talks with Pakistani officials on property’s future
During a news briefing on Monday, NYC Mayor Eric Adams confirmed that the city would be ending its lease with PIA and closing down the Asylum Arrival and the Humanitarian Emergency Response and Relief centres at the Roosevelt Hotel.
“Today, we announced we will begin the process of closing down the Roosevelt Hotel’s Asylum Arrival Centre,” Mayor Adams said, adding that the closure would take place by June this year, a full year ahead of the end date for the original lease.
Despite the decision to terminate the lease, city officials clarified that the hotel would continue to provide shelter to migrants until June. The move comes after a significant decline was witnessed in the number of new migrant arrivals, dropping from 4,000 per week at the peak of the crisis in 2023 to approximately 350 per week in recent days.
The use of the Roosevelt Hotel as a refugee shelter drew sharp criticism from various quarters. Critics, especially from the conservative ‘Make America Great Again’ (MAGA) movement, raised concerns about the substantial taxpayer spending on housing asylum seekers.
The hotel’s conversion into a shelter also prompted a backlash from businesses in Manhattan and conservative political figures. Former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy was one of the most vocal critics, calling the arrangement an example of wasteful government spending.
Earlier this month, Mayor Adams launched legal action against the Trump White House after the latter reversed the transfer of $80.5 million in Congress-sanctioned funds — earmarked for immigrant services — that had already made their way into a City Hall bank account.
“Without a doubt, our immigration system is broken, but the cost of managing an international humanitarian crisis should not overwhelmingly fall onto one city alone,” Politico quoted him as saying.
The NYC mayor also faces the prospect of a lonely mayoral race — another topic he addressed in the presser on Monday — as most of his close aides have bowed out in the wake of his legal troubles over corruption charges.
From Pakistan’s perspective, the premature termination of the agreement is concerning, as it could potentially affect PIA’s revenue expectations. The $220 million lease was seen as a valuable income stream for the national airline, which has faced financial challenges in recent years. Given that the Roosevelt Hotel is a historic property in prime Manhattan real estate, it is unlikely that a replacement for this lucrative lease can be found anytime soon.
Further complicating matters is the issue of damage to the hotel during its use as a shelter. Reports indicate that the property has sustained some deterioration due to the strain of housing migrants for over a year, including wear and tear to the rooms and facilities.
While city officials have maintained that repairs will be considered, the cost of refurbishing the building before it is returned to PIA could place an additional financial burden on New York taxpayers or the city government.
Several parts of Karachi on Tuesday witnessed serious traffic, law and order issues mainly due to protests against ongoing work on water and power infrastructure with authorities fearing an escalation in public anger, according to officials.
Citizens are likely to suffer a water crisis till Friday mainly due to the disruption of the water line on University Road near old Sabzi Mandi during ongoing construction activity for the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system.
Residents of the metropolis faced difficulty in reaching their homes as both tracks of several roads in various areas were blocked by protesters, forcing traffic authorities to divert traffic on alternative routes where slow movement of vehicles was reported, as per updates from the Karachi Traffic Police (KTP).
According to a statement from the KTP spokesperson, there were several protests and sit-ins on main roads across the city. Barring main MA Jinnah Road where retired employees of Karachi Metropolitan Corporation held demonstrations for their pension issue, all other protests were related to water and power issues, according to the KTP statement.
In the South Zone, the old city area, particularly Arambagh, Eidgah Chowk, Tibet Centre and Fresco Chowk, were the most affected because of protests against water and power shortage, according to South Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) Syed Asad Raza.
He said the police expected more protests and sit-ins with an aggravation of the law and order situation as there were reports that several areas of the metropolis may not get water supply till Friday owing to the disruption of the water line near old Sabzi Mandi.
He said these civic issues needed to be addressed by the authorities as the police could engage the protestors in talks or help divert and regulate traffic but they could not provide water.
DIG Raza said that realising the gravity of the problem, the Sindh chief secretary was taking concerted efforts for overhauling the traffic situation by taking several initiatives such as the removal of encroachments and more. “It is a long haul but it should be religiously followed,” DIG Raza said.
Newly appointed Traffic DIG Pir Mohammed Shah told Dawn.com that during the last two months, at least 190 protests and sit-ins had taken place in the city, mainly due to water and power issues and other problems.
The most affected areas were Teen Hatti, Guru Mandir, Lyari, Gharifabad, Liaquatabad, Askari Park, Subzi Mandi, Quaidabad, Dawood Chowrangi, Link Road and Sohrab Goth.
He said two to three protests took place daily against water and power issues on average. “This is a genuine and serious issue, which needs to be addressed urgently for smooth flow of traffic and preventing traffic chaos,” the traffic police chief said.
A KTP statement said both tracks of Jehangir Road near Shah Najaf remained closed for traffic as the residents were protesting against a lack of water and power.
Traffic was diverted on alternative routes and the road remained closed to traffic till the filing of this report. The citizens suffered due to traffic chaos on several adjoining roads such Numaish Chowrangi towards Guru Mandi, Bahadur Yar Jang Road and Business Recorder Road.
Both tracks of Jamshed Road near a Pakistan State Oil petrol pump remained closed for traffic for identical issues of water and power. The residents of Landhi-89 blocked both tracks of the main road because of lack of water while Murtaza Chowrangi also remained closed for the same issue. Both tracks of the main road in Garden were also closed for traffic because of the residents’ protest against water and power shortage.
Similar protests were also reported from the Korangi Industrial Area.
The Trump administration has released $397 million for a US-backed programme in Pakistan that a congressional aide said monitored the latter’s use of US-made F-16 fighter jets to ensure they were employed for counterterrorism operations and not against rival India.
The move was part of a release of $5.3 billion in previously frozen foreign aid, mostly for security and counternarcotics programmes, according to a list of exemptions reviewed by Reuters that included only limited humanitarian relief.
According to Pakistan specific defence and analysis group Quwa, the funds will support the Technical Security Team (TST), a contingent of contractors present in the country to oversee the use of F-16s under “strict end-use monitoring rules, which seem to require the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) to only use the F-16s, especially the newer F-16C/D Block-52 fighters, for counterinsurgency and counter-terrorism operations”.
It noted that the oversight was “not new”, adding that the TST was present in Pakistan since 2019 when the US approved its current deployment with a $125m support package for the PAF F-16 fleet.
However, according to a 2019 report of Foreign Policy magazine, using an F-16 in a dogfight with India did not violate the end-use agreement that Pakistan signed while receiving the aircraft from the US.
The prominent American magazine had also contradicted India’s claim of shooting down an F-16 fighter jet of Pakistan during a dogfight amid heightened tension following the Pulwama attack in 2019.
FP had interviewed two US defence officials with “knowledge of the count” and both confirmed that all the F-16s were “present and accounted for”.
“It would be incredibly naive for us to believe that we could sell some type of equipment to Pakistan that they would not intend to use in a fight,” one of them added.
The officials also said that Pakistan had invited the US to do the count after India claimed that its air force had shot down an F-16 fighter jet during a dogfight on Feb 27, 2019.
An end-user agreement, signed when the foreign military sale was finalised, allows the US to do such counts.
The United States also understood Pakistan’s need to use F-16 fighter jets to defend itself during the Indian intrusion in February 2019, according to a document published by US News and World Report.
The document, obtained by the magazine, however, also showed that Washington was not happy with Islamabad’s decision to deploy these US-supplied aircraft and missiles to forward positions during the skirmish.
Despite the above, in 2022, the US government notified Congress of a proposed foreign military sale of $450m to Pakistan to sustain the PAF’s F-16 programme as well.
US exempts security funds from aid freeze but little for social programmes
President Donald Trump ordered a 90-day pause on foreign aid shortly after taking office on January 20, halting funding for everything from programmes that fight starvation and deadly diseases to providing shelters for millions of displaced people across the globe.
The freeze sparked a scramble by US officials and humanitarian organisations for exemptions to keep programmes going. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who has said all foreign assistance must align with Trump’s “America First” priorities, issued waivers in late January on military aid to Israel and Egypt, the top US allies in the Middle East, and for life-saving humanitarian aid, including food.
The waivers meant those funds should have been allowed to be spent. Current and former US officials and aid organisations, however, say few humanitarian aid waivers have been approved.
Reuters obtained a list of 243 further exceptions approved as of February 13 totalling $5.3bn. The list provides the most comprehensive accounting of exempted funds since Trump ordered the aid freeze and reflects the White House’s desire to cut aid for programmes it doesn’t consider vital to US national security.
The list identifies programmes that will be funded and the US government office managing them.
The vast majority of released funds — more than $4.1bn — were for programmes administered by the US State Department’s Bureau of Political-Military Affairs, which oversees arms sales and military assistance to other countries and groups. Other exemptions were in line with Trump’s immigration crackdown and efforts to halt the flow of illicit narcotics into the US, including the deadly opioid fentanyl.
More than half of the programmes that will be allowed to go forward are run by the State Department’s Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, or INL, and are aimed at helping fight drug trafficking and illicit migration to the US, according to the list.
Those exemptions were worth $293m and included funds for databases to track migrants, identify possible terrorists and share biometric information.
A State Department spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment. Reuters could not determine if some exemptions had been granted but were not on the list.
Trump has long railed against foreign aid, which has averaged less than two per cent of total federal spending for the past 20 years, according to the nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. Trump has described the US “foreign aid industry” as “in many cases antithetical to American values”.
Billionaire Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency has led an effort to gut the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the main delivery mechanism for American foreign assistance and a critical tool of US “soft power” for winning influence abroad.
In contrast to security-related programmes, USAID programmes received less than $100m in exemptions, according to the list. That compares to roughly $40bn in USAID programmes administered annually before the freeze.
Exempted USAID programmes included $78m for non-food humanitarian assistance in Gaza, which has been devastated by Israel’s invasion. A separate $56m was released for the International Committee of the Red Cross related to the ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas, the list showed.
The list did not include specific exemptions for some of the world’s worst humanitarian crises, including Sudan, Syria, Ukraine, Myanmar and Afghanistan, which means funds for those places appeared to remain stopped.
Security exemptions included $870m for programmes in Taiwan, $336m for modernising Philippine security forces and more than $21.5m for body armour and armoured vehicles for Ukraine’s national police and border guards, the list showed.
The biggest non-security exemption was $500m in funding for PEPFAR, the flagship US programme fighting HIV/AIDS, which mainly funds healthcare services in Africa and is credited with saving millions of lives. That compares with PEPFAR’s annual budget in 2024 of $6.5bn. PEPFAR is administered by the State Department’s global health bureau.
A current USAID employee, speaking on condition of anonymity, described the process for requesting exemptions as “very dysfunctional” and said the agency’s remaining staff have sought clarity on what criteria are being used.
Rubio has said the Trump administration reached out to USAID missions overseas to identify and designate programmes that will be exempted.
J. Brian Atwood, USAID’s administrator from 1993 to 1999, said reducing foreign aid to a narrow set of exemptions was shortsighted. “When people are starving or feeling desperate, they are going to become a security problem eventually,” he said. “They’ll migrate or become an immigration problem or they will be more inclined to move to terrorism.”
The foreign aid that was paused by Trump had previously been approved by Congress, which controls the federal budget under the US Constitution. As a candidate and as president, Trump has said he opposes foreign aid for “countries that hate us” and would prefer to instead spend the money at home.
The exemptions in the list were granted before a federal judge last week ordered the Trump administration to restore funding for foreign aid contracts and awards that were in place before January 20. Reuters was unable to establish what exemptions, if any, had been granted since February 13.
Many of the unfrozen programmes reflect Trump’s focus on drug trafficking, including funds supporting fentanyl interdiction operations by Mexican security units and efforts to combat transnational criminal organizations.
Trump’s aid freeze has thrown a wrench into those efforts, however.
Reuters reported last week that the pause halted anti-narcotics programmes funded by the INL Bureau in Mexico which for years had been working to curb the flow of the synthetic opioid into the US.
More than $64m was released to support Haitian police and a UN-approved international security force that is helping Haiti’s government fight escalating gang violence that has displaced more than one million people.
The money covers supplies of small arms, ammunition, drones, night vision goggles, vehicles and other support for the force, according to the list. The force is led by Kenya and includes personnel from Jamaica, Belize, the Bahamas, Guatemala and El Salvador.
The Bureau of International Security and Nonproliferation, focused on preventing the spread of nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction, received 17 exemptions worth more than $30.4m, the list showed.
Some of the released funds were for small expenditures — including $604 for Musk’s Starlink satellite internet system to run biometrics registration programmes in the Darien Gap, a treacherous 60-mile route linking South and Central America used by US-bound illegal migrants.
QUETTA: Eight people, including six security personnel, were injured in a bomb attack on a truck convoy guarding the copper project in the Mangochar area of Kalat district on Monday.
According to officials, a convoy of 29 trucks, transporting blaster copper from the Saindak project to Karachi, was targeted on the Quetta-Karachi National Highway in Mangochar.
Unknown armed men planted an improvised explosive device in front of the Nadra office on the main highway, and when the convoy, guarded by personnel from the FC, reached the site, a powerful explosion occurred, hitting a security vehicle.
A heavy exchange of gunfire ensued and continued for some time. As a result of the blast, eight security personnel and a truck driver were injured.
“A total of six security personnel and a civilian driver have been injured in the blast,” a senior official of the Kalat administration told Dawn, adding that security personnel transferred the injured to the district hospital in Kalat.
The officials said no Chinese nationals were traveling in the convoy. Following the blast, traffic between Quetta and Kalat on the highway was suspended; however, it was later restored after security clearance.
A senior official of MRDL, the company running the Saindak copper-cum-gold project for over 20 years, confirmed the attack on the project’s convoy, saying two people were injured in the gunfire, including a truck driver who was shifted to Civil Hospital in Quetta.
Quetta-Sibi Highway attack
Another victim of overnight’s exchange of fire between security forces and armed militants, who had blocked the Quetta-Sibi Highway, died on Monday, taking the death toll from the incident to two. Three others were injured.
Farooq Kurd, a resident of Quetta, was among those injured and succumbed to his injuries
on Monday. SSP Kachhi, Muhammad Dilawar Rana, said security has been tightened and traffic, which was restored last night, is continuing as usual.
Information Minister Attaullah Tarar on Monday said that the country was “peacefully and very ably” hosting the Champions Trophy as he rubbished Indian media reports of an alleged terror threat to foreigners travelling to Pakistan.
Earlier today, a report by Indian media outlet News18 said: “Pakistan’s Intelligence Bureau issued a high alert on Monday, warning the country’s security forces about an alleged plot by ‘active covert groups’ to abduct foreign guests attending the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 for ransom.”
It reported that sources told the outlet about an alert issued against several terror outfits, including the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan, Islamic State and other Balochistan-based groups. “In response to the intelligence warning, Pakistan’s security forces have deployed high-level protection teams, including rangers and local police, to ensure the safety of players and their accompanying staff,” it added.
Another report by India Today singled out the Islamic State Khorasan Province as “specifically targeting Chinese and Arab nationals” for the alleged ransom attempts.
Questioned about the matter during an interview on Geo News today, the information minister said: “I would like to state on record that Pakistan is peacefully and very ably hosting the ICC Champions Trophy. Our grounds are full, we have fans from all over the world, the crowds are jubilant, our streets are filled with people who are celebrating the victory of cricket but the Indian media, which is a subservient media, is trying to do politics and spreading false propaganda against Pakistan which is unacceptable and totally untrue.
“Pakistan is one of the safest venues and we have been able to conduct the ICC matches very very peacefully and very efficiently.”
He alleged the reports were another attempt by India to “sabotage” sports in Pakistan.
“They don’t desist from it. They can’t swallow that a major sports and ICC tournament has been held in Pakistan and they are extremely worried about this.
“Before as well they tried to spread a lot of propaganda about this and tried to sabotage the ICC tournament through various excuses so we think they are extremely pained by this.”
Tarar said he was present at Lahore’s Gaddafi Stadium for the match between England and Australia, adding that he could not find the words to describe the atmosphere and sentiment on that day with the stadium packed with no place to stand.
“Not just Pakistan, there were a lot of fans from England and Australia and I met a lot of Britishers there. This was a victory for Pakistan that such a great match between England and Australia was held in a Pakistani sports ground.
“Their false propaganda of a low turnout died its own death. Now these false threat alerts that are being run are completely baseless, fake and concocted propaganda. The BCCI cannot stay without mixing sports with politics. They are extremists, fundamentalists and hardliners who attempt to mix sports with politics even in the sports grounds with their venomous propaganda.”
He brought up another example of reports about a New Zealand cricketer’s phone being stolen. Tarar added that resorting to such propaganda in an attempt to gain success could not be sustained.
Tarar said Pakistan rejected such propaganda and reiterated that the country was doing a “great job” about holding the tournament and would continue to do so.
“This is a very important moment for Pakistan and you will see the way cricket is being played in these grounds will be a victory for the citizens of the world and sports. India’s propaganda will fall flat on its face and it will not only be exposed but we will tell the people that India cannot digest that such a great tournament is taking place in Pakistan and we have been able to do it very successfully.”
India refused to tour Pakistan due to political reasons and instead are playing all their matches in Dubai, which will host the final if the Asian giants go the distance.
KURRAM: Police and law-enforcement agencies arrested 20 more people, including suspected terrorists and their facilitators, during an ongoing operation in Kurram district on Sunday.
On Monday (Feb 17), over 30 trucks carrying food supplies to Kurram were looted while 19 trucks were set on fire after a convoy came under an attack at the Bagan, Charkhel, Ochat and Mandori areas. Several people, including security personnel and drivers, lost their lives in the incident.
According to the Regional Police Officer (RPO) Kohat, Abbas Majid Marwat, the operation against terrorists continued at Charkhel, Ochat, Bagan, Mandori, Dad Kamar and adjacent areas and 20 more suspected insurgents and their facilitators were arrested, raising the number of detained militants to 85.
A statement issued from the RPO office stated that heavy weapons and looted items were also recovered from the arrested terrorists.
The recovered weapons included 81 SMGs (submachine guns), 2 HMGs (heavy machine guns), 2 LMGs (light machine guns), Kalashnikov rifles, 12-bore shotguns and hundreds of rounds of ammunition.
Many of the arrested insurgents are listed in the FIRs of 57 individuals held by the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD), the Kohat RPO added.
Additionally, four trucks containing looted goods, including medicines and other daily use items, had been recovered from the convoy. The looted items were found in houses and other locations, according to the RPO.
The statement said that the operation also involved shelling suspected hideouts of terrorists in the mountainous areas using gunship helicopters and artillery.
The police and security forces have been conducting operations against the militants involved in attacking convoys, looting of food supplies, and engaging in arson and destruction in the areas of Ochat, Baggan, Mandori, and other areas in Lower Kurram.
The provincial government is also carrying out operations in the mountainous regions to arrest terrorists with bounty rewards on their heads, the RPO confirmed.
On Saturday, unknown terrorists had targeted the convoy of the Commandant of Kurram Militia, resulting in casualties among security personnel.
Door-to-door searches were also being conducted in various areas of Lower Kurram.
The police and security forces were making full efforts to secure the Kohat-Parachinar road, Abbas Majid Marwat concluded.
Informed sources said that several individuals had also been arrested from Peshawar and other regions, including Haji Karim, Nabi Gul and Maulana Shah Nawaz.
According to sources, Maulana Shah Nawaz was arrested after a press conference at the Peshawar Press Club on Sunday.
He was arrested for delivering provocative speeches. The sources said that Nabi Gul was taken into custody from the Peshawar airport.
Traders’ leader Haji Imdad said that the government should arrange a relief package for the trapped population of 500,000 and compensate affected traders for their losses.
Locals said that the people were facing severe difficulties due to the lack of food supplies and medicines. They said that a litre of petrol was being sold for Rs 1,200 to Rs 1,500, and the residents were being forced to travel long distances on foot.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Sunday he was willing to give up his position if it meant peace in Ukraine, adding that he could exchange his departure for his country’s entry into the Nato military alliance.
“If [it means] peace for Ukraine, if you really need me to leave my post, I am ready,” an irritated-looking Zelensky said when asked during a press conference whether he was ready to leave his post if it meant securing peace.
“I can exchange this for Nato (membership), if that condition is there, immediately,” the president added.
US President Donald Trump has pushed for elections to take place in Ukraine, having branded Zelensky a “dictator”, an apparent reference to the Ukrainian leader’s official five-year term running out in 2024. Russia has cited this in the past to assert that he is an illegitimate leader.
Ukrainian legislation prohibits holding elections during a state of martial law, which Ukraine declared the day Russia invaded in February 2022. Trump also falsely claimed that Zelensky has an approval rating of four per cent.
“I am not going to be in power for decades, but we will not allow Putin to be in power over the territories of Ukraine either,” Zelensky said on Sunday, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
A poll released this week put Zelensky’s approval ratings at 63pc, and he referred to this when talking about Trump’s claims on Sunday, calling his false statements “dangerous”.
“I believe it’s not a mistake, it’s misinformation that has an impact,” Zelensky said.
Zelensky said earlier this week Trump was in a “disinformation bubble”, angering the US President and his team. On Sunday, he sought to justify the earlier comments.
“[The information] about 4pc of Ukrainians supporting me is one of the signals spread by the Russians, that’s why I said it was a disinformation attack, I didn’t say it was President Trump,” Zelensky said on Sunday.
Trump’s criticism of Zelensky came as relations between the two leaders deteriorated sharply in recent weeks. Zelensky opposes the idea of elections in a full-scale war, a position backed by his major domestic political opponents.
The Ukrainian president also said he wanted to see Trump as a partner for Ukraine and more than simply a mediator between Kyiv and Moscow. “I really want it to be more than just mediation … that’s not enough,” he told a press conference in Kyiv.
Minerals deal
Trump has said Ukraine should give the US $500 billion in critical raw materials as payback for aid which Kyiv has already received from the previous Joe Biden administration.
Zelensky declined to sign a detailed US proposal last week that would have seen Washington receiving 50pc of Ukraine’s critical minerals, which include graphite, uranium, titanium and lithium, the latter a key component in electric car batteries.
He has said he wants to do a deal, but that it should offer security guarantees for Ukraine in return.
On Friday, he said US and Ukrainian teams were working on a deal and Trump said he expects a deal will be signed soon.
On Sunday, Zelensky said at the press conference that he rejected the idea that Ukraine owed the US $500bn. “There cannot be [any] format which makes us debtors for the old [aid given].”
Zelensky said earlier this week that Washington had supplied his country with $67bn in weapons and $31.5bn in direct budget support throughout the nearly three-year war with Russia. “I will not sign what 10 generations of Ukrainians will be repaying,” Zelensky said of the minerals deal.
Ukraine’s economy minister Yuliia Svyrydenko said on Sunday that 18pc of Ukraine under Russian occupation contained about $350bn of critical raw materials, adding that Ukraine is conducting additional geological research to update decades-old information.
The president’s chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, said on Sunday that he had held constructive new talks with senior US officials on a deal to develop Ukrainian minerals. “We are moving forward with our work. This was a constructive discussion,” Yermak wrote on Telegram.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa authorities arrested a suspect allegedly involved in trafficking human organs in Peshawar, according to a statement from the provincial excise department on Saturday.
According to the KP Excise Department, joint operations with other institutions to curb smuggling are ongoing “against the illegal spectrum” on the instructions of the provincial apex committee.
“An operation was conducted under the command of Narcotics Control Excise Taxation Officer Faisal Khursheed at the Joint Check Post on the M-1,” the statement reads, adding that a gang involved in removing and selling human organs, including kidneys, was arrested“.
The statement said that the suspect brought two people from Multan to Peshawar, where he allegedly removed their kidneys. It did not elaborate on when this took place.
“The rate for selling the kidneys of both the individuals was fixed at Rs280,000,” the department said. “The gang takes advantage of struggling people, removes their organs and is involved in the business of trafficking them.”
The excise department added that the suspect’s mobile phone contained video footage of the victims. It said the suspect was handed over to the Federal Investigation Agency.
In October 2023, then-Punjab caretaker chief minister Mohsin Naqvi claimed that the police apprehended gang members who were allegedly involved in conducting over 300 unlawful kidney operations.
Naqvi, currently serving as the federal interior minister, told a press conference that the gang’s suspected leader and his accomplices had been arrested and the police team that did the job would be awarded a cash prize of Rs500,000.
He alleged that the main accused unlawfully extracted the kidneys of 328 people and transplanted them to rich clients, adding that the suspect was arrested at least five times in the past and confessed to performing the operations.
The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan on Saturday criticised the sealing of an Islamabad building related to the civil society organisation Pattan.
A press release issued a day ago by the organisation said the residence of Pattan National Coordinator Sarwar Bari was sealed and his family evicted.
Earlier this month, Pattan had published a report on the general elections and described them in a statement as “unprecedentedly rigged” with “vote-rigging, fraud and manipulation”. The findings were similar to its observation last year.
The press release said: “Since the launching of Pattan’s report on Pakistan general elections, Islamabad police have visited residence of Sarwar Bari, our national coordinator, twice in two weeks. On February 21, more than a dozen of police officials along with two magistrates searched his residence and later sealed it. His wife along with her 90-year-old aunt were forced to leave the home.
“As usual, the pretext that is being used to punish Pattan for discovering unprecedented rigging means in the February elections, is utterly baseless. Virtually a three-liner notice for sealing the premise carries no solid ground. It says: ‘Pattan NGO was deregistered on November 19, 2019, and since then, it has been running its affairs illegally. Hence, it was necessary to close it working and to take legal action against the organisation.’”
The organisation asserted it had never received any de-registration notice from the registration authority and also pointed to its many activities held in the presence of state officials through out its “so-called deregistration period”.
“The sealing of national coordinator’s residence and evicting his family members from home is politically motivated and we strongly condemn the brutal action of the administration,” the press release concluded.
Lambasting the development, the HRCP said it amounted to a violation of Article 14(1) of the Constitution. “Such tactics of intimidation against citizens are unacceptable. The matter should be heard immediately in a court of law,” the rights body said in a post on X.
Article 14(1) states that the dignity of a person and the privacy of their home are inviolable and subject to the law. It also states that no person can be tortured to extract evidence.
Bari, currently in London, told AFP that his home in Islamabad was sealed off on Friday night. “This is obviously in response to the report,” he told AFP.
His wife Aliya Bano said the property was closed off by a team of around two dozen, including police officers, magistrates and Islamabad administration officials.
A judge’s order to seal the residence, seen by Dawn.com, said Pattan’s registration as a non-governmental organisation had been cancelled in 2019 and it was operating illegally.
Bari said he often used his residence for Pattan meetings and postal correspondence but was adamant it was primarily his home.
Separately in a post on X, he said Pattan’s office in Multan was sealed as well by “unknown persons”.
Images of the sealed Multan office showed a notice from the Registrar Joint Stock Companies Multan that said an investigation showed Pattan was dissolved as a non-governmental organisation (NGO) in 2019 and no court had as of yet cancelled the dissolution order.
“Despite this, the said NGO is running its affairs illegally. Therefore, in view of this illegal act, it is necessary to close it or take legal action against it. The property is sealed in the light of the following factors,” the notice said.
Pattan had said last year that the February 8 general elections had lost their credibility entirely as people in Pakistan as well as the international community, including the UN, demanded a thorough investigation into alleged irregularities.
IT has now come to this: five judges versus the president, the federation, the Judicial Commission, the registrars of the Supreme Court and the high courts of Sindh, Punjab, Balochistan and Islamabad, and three of their fellow judges.
The five, who are “serving confirmed judges” of the Islamabad High Court, have formally challenged the manner in which three justices were recently transplanted to the IHC from other high courts, how the IHC’s seniority list was subsequently changed, and how far more senior, confirmed IHC judges were summarily replaced on important committees by the freshly transferred judges.
The petitioners have called on the apex court to exercise its original jurisdiction under Article 184(3) to hear their pleas, as they believe what happened at the IHC is tantamount to a “dismantling of the salient features of the Constitution”; specifically, “the independence of judiciary, separation of powers and federalism”. They seem to have made a strong case.
It may be recalled that the trouble at the IHC began last year when several judges formally raised the issue of routine meddling by security agencies in court affairs. The contents of their complaint, addressed to the then chief justice, Qazi Faez Isa, were corroborated by similar complaints made subsequently by other high courts as well. Unfortunately, the former chief justice never had the bandwidth to address these complaints, and the matter was not addressed.
Now, and especially after the 26th Amendment, a perception has been building up that all judges who are perceived as a ‘threat’ by the current regime are being systematically sidelined and ‘neutralised’ by being denied their due promotions and/ or deprived of any important administrative responsibilities they may have held.
The way things have played out in the SC and the IHC in recent months certainly seems to have lent considerable credibility to that perception.
It has been most disappointing to observe that the petitions against the 26th Amendment have not been taken up with the seriousness and urgency they ought to have attracted from the SC. The judiciary’s image as an independent and impartial arbiter has continued to deteriorate as a result.
This petition, if it is taken up, will at least compel various actors to place on the record legal justifications for various actions and decisions which have been publicly perceived as having deprived the judiciary in general, and the IHC in particular, of their institutional independence, autonomy and ability to function without fear or favour.
It must also be reiterated that it is only proper that petitions pertaining to the independence of the judiciary as an institution are heard by a full court so that there is no complaint regarding conflicts of interest. The institutional leadership cannot ignore the growing criticism forever.
