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KP CM says ‘no official call’ given to PTI workers for protest, apologises to people of province for ‘difficulties’

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi apologised to the people of his province on Monday, saying that PTI workers had taken to the streets of their own accord. His statement comes against the backdrop of protests at multiple places by PTI activists in KP. The party workers have blocked entry and exit points to the province, resulting in inconveniences for the people and KP being cut off from the rest of the country. The protests began on Friday, simultaneously with sit-ins by opposition parliamentarians and Tehreek Tahafuz-i-Ayeen Pakistan leaders in Islamabad, over PTI founder Imran Khan’s health. When KP CM was asked today about what would be the next line of action for PTI workers, he said: “We have not given any line of action to the workers. The workers have come out on their own. Our strategy was just for the parliamentarians.” He said the plan devised for parliamentarians was to stage a “peaceful sit-in” outside the Parliament in Islamabad. “But, unfortunate...
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Optimism gone awry

They came, they saw, they collapsed. After the hullabaloo of the boycott and “ un-boycott ”, after the claim of a moral victory in the immoral corridors of the ICC, there was some expectation that Pakis­tan’s chutzpah in cricket politics would translate onto the cricket pitch. But it was not to be. For the Pakistani fan, it is usually the expectation that kills you. Beyond the post-boycott optimism, there were genuine cricketing reasons to be optimistic this time around. The only silver lining for Pakistan now is that the outcome of this match should not stop their qualification for the next stage. In recent months, Pakistan have looked like a team getting to grips with modern T20 cricket. They rediscovered spin and are reconnected with the joy of hitting. In recent months, Pakistan seem to have rediscovered spin and the joy of hitting, but the team still have much to learn if they are to challenge the stronger nations A team and game formula has begun to emerge under the low-k...
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Bold calls, soft results: 5 takeaways from Pakistan’s loss to India

There are nights when Pakistan versus India feels like theatre: breathless, chaotic, hanging by a thread. And then there are nights like the one in Colombo. At the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, this was not a last-over classic or a heart-stopping choke. It was clinical. India posted 175, Pakistan were rolled for 114. A 61-run defeat . No controversy to dissect, no umpiring debate to hide behind, no “if only” moments to cling to. Just a gulf. Here are five takeaways from a game that was disappointingly straightforward. Agha’s captaincy: bold or baffling? Salman Ali Agha did not hide behind convention and that alone deserves akcnowledgement. He decided to chase on a slow Colombo surface that was expected to grip more under lights. Bold. He opened the bowling himself and dismissed Abhishek Sharma for a duck - poetic, especially after publicly stating he wanted the Indian opener to play. He even promoted himself to bat at no.3 earlier in the tournament, leading by example. But bold decis...
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Bangladesh’s Tarique Rahman thanks those who fought for democracy

• Bangladesh’s PM-to-be pledges to restore governance, economy; vows to fix ‘broken’ systems • Urges unity as BNP sweeps first polls since 2024 uprising DHAKA: Bangladesh’s prime minister-in-waiting Tarique Rahman on Saturday dedicated his party’s landslide election victory to the citizens who “sacrificed for democracy” during the deadly 2024 uprising and pledged to prioritise the restoration of economy and governance. Rahman, the 60-year-old scion of one of the nation’s most powerful political dynasties, called for national unity as he prepared to lead the South Asian nation of 170 million people following the Bangladesh Nationalist Party’s sweeping success in Thursday’s vote. He will take over from an interim government led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, which has steered Bangladesh since a student-led uprising ousted Hasina in August 2024. “This victory belongs to Bangladesh, belongs to democracy,” Rahman said in his first speech since the vote. “This victory belongs to p...
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CTD unit activated in Gilgit Baltistan

GILGIT: The Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) has been made operational in Gilgit-Balt­istan and a dedicated CTD police station has been formally established in Gilgit. In a statement, GB Police said the CTD had begun work with 250 officers and personnel, while recruitment for another 600 posts would be completed during the current year to strengthen the unit’s capacity. The statement said assistance would be sought from Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa for basic training and professional skills development of CTD personnel in GB. SSP Tanveerul Hassan has been appointed head of CTD Gilgit-Baltistan. All counterterrorism-rela­ted FIRs registered so far have been transferred to the CTD police station in Gilgit. Mr Hassan said the CTD had four wings, including investigation, intelligence and operations, and would handle terrorism-related cases across the region. He said the case relating to Thursday’s attack on a Frontier Works Organi­sation (FWO) vehicle in the Tangir valley of Diame...
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US moving second carrier to Middle East as Iran tensions build

The Pentagon is sending an aircraft carrier from the Caribbean to the Middle East, US officials said on Friday, a move that would put two carriers in the region as tensions soar between the United States and Iran. The Gerald R. Ford carrier, the United States’ newest and the world’s largest carrier, has been operating in the Caribbean with its escort ships and took part in operations in Venezuela earlier this year. Asked why a second aircraft carrier was headed to the Middle East, US President Donald Trump said: “In case we don’t make a deal, we’ll need it … if we need it, we’ll have it ready.” One of the officials, who was speaking on condition of anonymity, said the carrier would take at least a week to reach the Middle East. The Gerald R. Ford will join the Abraham Lincoln carrier , several guided-missile destroyers, fighter jets and surveillance aircraft that have been moved to the Middle East in recent weeks. The United States most recently had two aircraft carriers in the ar...
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UN Security Council condemns suicide attack on imambargah in Islamabad

UNITED NATIONS: The 15-member United Nations Security Council (UNSC) on Friday condemned the suicide bombing at an imambargah in Islamabad in the “strongest terms”. On February 6, a suicide bomber had ripped through the Friday congregation at the Imambargah Qasr-i-Khadijatul Kubra on the outskirts of Islamabad. At least 38 people were killed in the incident and more than 150 were injured. In a press statement issued by UNSC President James Kariuki, the 15-member body described the February 6 attack as a “heinous and cowardly suicide bombing terrorist attack”. The UNSC expressed “its deepest sympathy and condolences to the families of the victims and to the government and the people of Pakistan” and wished “a speedy and full recovery to those who were injured”. Reaffirming its long-standing position, the UNSC said that “terrorism in all its forms and manifestations constitutes one of the most serious threats to international peace and security”. The statement further stated that...
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