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Major among five soldiers martyred during operation in Balochistan’s Barkhan: ISPR

A major-ranked officer was among five soldiers martyred during an area sanitisation operation in Balochistan’s Barkham district, said the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) on Wednesday. At least seven terrorists were also killed during the operation. According to a statement by the military’s media wing, the operation, carried out by the Pakistan Army and Frontier Corps Balochistan, took place in Barkham district’s Nosham area and targeted members of Fitna al Hindustan — a term used by the state to designate terrorist organisations in Balo­chistan. “During the operation, a group of terrorists was located and engaged by troops. During [the] fire exchange, seven terrorists of Indian-backed Fitna al Hindustan were sent to hell,” ISPR said, adding that weapons, ammunition and explosives were also recovered from the killed terrorists. “However, during intense fire exchange, five brave sons of soil, including a field officer, met the ultimate sacrifice and embraced shahadat (mart...
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'No indication' Andes strain of hantavirus has mutated: EU agency

The European Union’s health agency (ECDC) said on Wednesday there was nothing to suggest that the Andes strain of hantavirus had mutated following a deadly outbreak of the illness on a cruise ship. The deaths of three passengers from a rare hantavirus outbreak on a cruise from Argentina to Cape Verde sparked international alarm. Seven other passengers are confirmed to have the virus, including a French woman in a critical condition, while an eighth case is considered “probable”, according to an AFP tally. All of the passengers have been evacuated and are now in quarantine. “Preliminary investigations based on the whole genome sequencing that is available to us suggest that there are no indications that this virus is acting any differently from the known virus circulating in some regions of the world,” Andreas Hoefer, of the Stockholm-based European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, told journalists. “All sequences obtained to date are virtually identical, which means tha...
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Unyielding stances

GLOBAL suffering continues as uncertainty over the fate of the war in the Middle East refuses to dissipate. Market analysts and decision-makers have repeatedly warned that the economic damage already wrought — and worsening daily as vital shipping routes through the Strait of Hormuz remain closed — could take months, in some cases years, to reverse. Every day that passes without clarity on how and when the war will end introduces fresh intensity to the uncertainty roiling global markets and adds to the economic turmoil the world must bear because of it. Iran may have been pummelled militarily but refuses to accept defeat. The consensus in foreign intelligence circles is that it may be able to endure for a lot longer before economic pressure forces it to reconsider its position. The US, for its part, seems to be losing the endgame, with its leadership’s obduracy drawing it deeper into a quagmire which is not easy to exit. ...
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Imran's sisters, KP CM demand meeting with incarcerated PTI founder, threaten sit-in

ISLAMABAD: The sisters of PTI founder and former prime minister Imran Khan and the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chief minister were once again denied a meeting with the ex-premier at Adiala jail on Tuesday. Imran’s sister, Aleema Khan, told reporters that being denied a meeting was “nothing but contempt of court”, as they were not being allowed to meet Imran despite clear orders from the Islamabad High Court (IHC) that family meetings be arranged every Tuesday and Thursday. When asked about the sit-in, she said that last time, a police officer had requested them to leave and gave an assurance that he would not repeat the request the next time she came to the prison. “I want to hold a sit-in throughout the night,” Aleema said. KP CM Sohail Afridi urged parliamentarians from across Pakistan to stand in solidarity with Imran’s sisters, adding that he was in Rawalpindi on Aleema’s invitation. “These people are shameless. They have paralysed the wh...
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Bannu attack

THE attack was audacious and well-coordinated. On the night of May 9, terrorists struck a police outpost in KP’s Bannu district , martyring 15 officers and injuring three, according to official reports. An explosive-laden truck rammed into the post, followed by what seems to have been a coordinated assault from multiple directions involving heavy weaponry and drones. This suggests sophistication in terrorist tactics, and it seems the sole purpose of the attack was to cause maximum casualties. It is yet another grim reminder of how fraught the security situation remains in the province, where terrorists have repeatedly attempted to challenge the state’s writ. The human cost, borne once again by police families, cannot be measured. Unfortunately, without a successful counterterrorism plan, chances of similar attacks by terrorists remain very high. The state must ensure that the perpetrators are brought swiftly to justice. The civilian leadership was qui...
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India's Modi to launch multi-nation tour amid global unrest

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will embark this week on a multi-nation tour to the United Arab Emirates and four European countries, officials said on Monday. Modi will start his whirlwind tour from the UAE — where a 4.5 million-strong Indian community lives — on Friday, India’s foreign ministry said in a statement . Modi will meet with the UAE’s leader, Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, with energy cooperation high on the agenda amid global supply disruptions caused by the Middle East war . “The visit will serve to promote the significant trade and investment linkages between the two countries,” the statement said. The premier will then travel to the Netherlands between May 15 and 17 on his second visit there since 2017, with defence, semiconductors and “a strategic partnership on water” between the two countries on the agenda. Modi’s visit “early in the tenure of the new government will provide an opportunity to further deepen and expand” India’s partnership with the Dutc...
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Taxing the people — a messy structure

Pakistan’s official tax discourse is mostly structured around a single question: how to collect more revenue. This narrow obsession with short-term revenue targets has produced a deeply distorted tax system that undermines growth, penalises documentation and increasingly shifts the burden onto those who are already visible, compliant and easy to tax. Instead of broadening the tax base through structural reform, successive governments have relied on incremental, often distortionary measures, such as higher rates, additional levies, withholding taxes, and temporary surcharges, to squeeze immediate revenue from the formal economy. Inevitably, the result is a regressive tax structure where compliant firms, salaried individuals and documented businesses shoulder a disproportionate burden while politically protected and informal sectors, including agriculture, retail, real estate and large parts of the services sector, remain lightly taxed despite their substantial contribution to GDP. Th...
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