The bloc is coordinating the investigations by the Consumer Protection Cooperation Network, which brings together the competent authorities of the EU’s 27 states.

The network launched talks with the companies last year, but the EU executive said the approach “did not bring satisfactory results”.

The European consumer authorities later identified several games that needed further study, including Candy Crush Saga, Minecraft and Clash of Clans.

The EU said that alongside Ubisoft, the other companies involved in the probe included Minecraft developer Mojang, US giant Riot Games, and Supercell, which makes Clash of Clans.

Authorities will now probe whether there are any breaches of EU consumer law.

The bloc’s guidelines on in-game virtual currencies say games must show the real-world price of any required in-game items and currencies. Games also must show clear information before any purchase, and companies must not force players into unwanted transactions.

Gamers should also be told they can withdraw from contracts within 14 days, including for unused virtual currency, the EU said.

“The industry must ensure that its games do not expose players — especially children — to harmful or unfair practices,” EU consumer protection chief Michael McGrath said. “The game must be fair, and the rules must be respected.”

He added in a statement: “National authorities, with the support of the Commission, will make sure they are enforced.”

The EU has also ramped up efforts to protect children online, announcing earlier this month rules that will force companies to make video games and social media platforms safe before minors use them.

The EU is also expected to unveil consumer protection rules known as the Digital Fairness Act that will cover the video game sector.

Nadia Sarwar, who was employed at NBP since 2008, alleged that the petitioners, Aqeel Abbas and Usman Shahid, had harassed her by misusing their authority.

She alleged that they had forced her to stay in the office after hours and required her to disclose details for applying for medical and other leaves, which would make her “uncomfortable”.

“Besides causing interference in her work and creating the hostile and offensive work environment, the petitioners had also been giving adverse remarks against her performance and also uttered shameful, unethical, scandalous, immoral and un-Islamic words/comments against her,” the FCC verdict noted.

The FCC’s Monday verdict overturned a December 2025 IHC ruling that had set aside the president’s order from 2014 and restored the ombudsman’s 2013 order of the two men’s compulsory retirement.

Authored by Justice Ali Baqar Najafi of the three-member bench, the FCC order reproduced the definition of harassment stated in the Protection against Harassment of Women at the Workplace Act 2010, which lawyers note was amended.

‘Poorly reasoned’

Lawyer Aaminah Qadir said the FCC verdict went against an SC judgement by a female judge “who actually understands (first-hand) that implications of harassment at work may not always be overtly sexual”.

“Sad days as we take steps back and undermine solid judgements from the SC. Gender gap is sure to widen,” she remarked in a post on X.

Barrister Maleeha Bokhari, in a post on X, said, “With the greatest respect, this judgement is wrong in law and dangerous in effect.”

She highlighted that in 2022, the Parliament amended section 2(h) of the 2010 Act to include “discrimination on basis of gender, which may or may not be sexual in nature”.

“The amendment also added stalking, cyber stalking and derogatory gestures. It extended protection to ‘any person’, to former employees, and to informal workplaces,” Bokhari noted.

She argued that the FCC judgement contradicted the Constitution’s Articles 14 (dignity of person), 25 (equality before the law) and 34 (ensuring women’s full participation in all spheres of national life).

“As more women enter the workforce and drive Pakistan’s economy, the forms of harassment evolve. Our protections must evolve with them, not shrink,” Bokhari wrote on X.

“Dignity at work is not conditional on the harasser’s intent being sexual.”

Lawyer Reema Omer said, “It is easily one of the most regressive judgements related to gender-based abuse in recent times and fails victims of harassment, including women.

“It is poorly reasoned, disconnected with how workplace harassment actually occurs, and ignores important sections of the law it is supposed to interpret,” she observed.

Journalist Benazir Shah contended that the FCC’s “narrow” interpretation of workplace harassment law would “leave some forms of gender-based harassment outside the law”.

A post by the Women in Law collective said that the FCC, in its verdict, had “spent a page defining ‘sexual’. It never checked whether this conduct was”.

The collective also criticised the FCC for alleged discrepancies within the verdict.

Advocate Nida Usman, who founded Women in Law, asserted that the FCC verdict had “serious flaws [regarding] due process and accuracy about the cases they have chosen to rely on”.

She noted that the FCC ruling had raised “the evidentiary burden for victims which goes way beyond what the Act requires”.

Elaborating on this, Usman particularly noted the FCC’s observation that to “prove a sexual harassment, a bare minimum requirement is the impartial, credible material, capable of surviving the test of reasonableness and it must be reinforced with convincing/independent evidence”.

She added, “Harassment usually happens without witnesses, although here there were two!”

In another post, the advocate quipped, “Apparently not wanting to being harassed at work now counts as ‘preferred treatment’.”

Lawyer Hassan Abdullah Niazi described the FCC verdict as “a terrible, regressive, judgment that makes Pakistan’s workplace harassment law out of step with international best practices”.

“Harassment operates across a spectrum but the FCC fixates on one point, leaving countless women without an avenue for redressal,” Niazi said on X.

Activist Usama Khilji highlighted “blatant misogyny” of the FCC ruling and termed its “decisions antithetical to the court’s supposed duty”.

FCC’s interpretation

The Protection against Harassment of Women at the Workplace Act 2010 describes harassment as “any unwelcome sexual advance, request for sexual favours or other verbal or written communication or physical conduct of a sexual nature or sexually demeaning attitudes, causing interference with work performance or creating an intimidating, hostile or offensive work environment, or the attempt to punish the complainant for refusal to comply to such a request or is made a condition for employment”.

Interpreting that definition, the FCC ruling said that an “act, conduct or attitude has to be sexual in nature, if it is to be covered under the definition of harassment for the purpose” of the 2010 Act.

“The word ‘sex’ an adjective and the word ‘sexual’ is related to the instinct, physiological processes and with physical attraction or intimate physical contact between two individuals.

“A gesture, therefore, made to another person for gaining sexual gratification would fall within the definition of harassment under the Act, 2010 but may have different forms; i.e. verbal, non-verbal or physical but the expression harassment is understood in its ordinary sense explained in the dictionaries.”

The FCC observed that the meaning of harassment under section 2(h) of the 2010 Act was “only restricted to conduct which is sexual in nature and all other acts of harassment fell beyond such restricted definition of actionable harassment”.

“It can, therefore, be safely said that any misdemeanour, behaviour or conduct unbecoming of an employee at the workplace towards other employee or an employer, or from an employer to an employee… may be generically classified as harassment but is not an actionable act per-se under the Act, 2010 unless such behaviour or conduct is inherently demonstrated or demonstrable of its sexual nature.

“Any grave or devastating conduct or behaviour is not actionable as contemplated in the definition of harassment unless it is sexual in origin,” the FCC stated.

The FCC order also referred to two rulings issued by the Supreme Court in 2021 and 2025, adding: “With due respect to the view of Supreme Court, we do not agree with this observation well within our powers under Article 1897 of the Constitution on the basis of the very definition of sexual harassment under Section 2(h). Any other interpretation would be amounting to reading into the said provision of the Act, 2010.”

The maritime police force of semi-autonomous Puntland said on Tuesday that it had recovered the MT Honour 25 in an operation. The Palau-flagged oil tanker had 19 crew members on board, including 10 Pakistanis.

In a statement on Wednesday, FO said: “Pakistan is deeply saddened by the tragic loss of five crew members during the operation to recover the hijacked vessel, MT Honour 25, off the coast of Somalia.

“Among those who lost their lives are three Pakistani nationals: Rafiullah Khan, Syed Kashif Umer and Mahmood Ahmed Ansari.”

The FO added that four crew members were also injured, including three Pakistani nationals. “The injured have been taken to a nearby hospital and are receiving medical care,” it added.

The surviving crew members of MT Honour 25 “have been brought safely ashore at Bandar Beyla”, a town in Puntland, according to FO.

“Pakistan’s team at the Embassy in Djibouti is proceeding to Bandar Beyla to assist the Pakistani nationals.”

The FO said it remains in close contact with the Somali authorities and other concerned stakeholders through its missions and relevant authorities.

“Every possible effort is being made to ensure proper medical care for the injured, facilitate the transportation of the mortal remains of the deceased, and ensure the safe return of the surviving Pakistani crew members,” the statement read.

On Tuesday, “The naval and ground units of the Puntland Maritime Police Force conducted a planned operation in the Dharin-Bar area of Bandar Beyla district,” Puntland maritime police said in its initial statement.

In another late-night statement, it announced that the operation had concluded and the recovered vessel was “now safe and under the Puntland government’s control”, adding that 21 suspected pirates were apprehended, while operations to locate the remaining members continue.

“Before the operation begun, the pirates on board the ship killed five of the crew. Among those killed were three from Pakistan, one from Myanmar and one from India,” it said.

After the MT Honour 25’s hijacking in April, months had passed with no progress either in negotiations or the payment of the ransom, said to be around $3 million, for the recovery of the hostages.

The hostages were said to be victims of an “ownership crisis”, as it was not clearly established who owned the ship — the man previously thought to be an owner was later revealed to be more likely a middleman who hired them.

Since its hijacking, the crew had made several emotional videos and audio appeals, reporting that they had run out of clean water, food and medicine. Meanwhile, their families launched an international appeal, calling on foreign governments, the United Nations (UN) and the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) to take coordinated action to help secure the release of their loved ones.

For its part, the FO maintained that it remained “actively engaged” to secure the release of the sailors.

Last month, in a meeting with the International Maritime Organisation’s (IMO) head, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar pressed for “urgent and effective institutional intervention” for the return of the Pakistani sailors.

Somali piracy has seen a resurgence, with at least 15 attacks since April, the highest since 2013.

At his Labour Party’s annual conference on Tuesday, Burnham, who campaigned to stay in the EU in a 2016 referendum on membership, argued the nation should again consider options for “Britain’s long-term relationship with our European partners”.

He said Britain’s departure from the bloc had failed to fulfil its supporters’ pledge of “taking back control”, and instead had made the nation weaker, especially on the economy and on dealing with high levels of immigration.

Britain could ‘go all the way’

Speaking to the BBC, Burnham again said Britain should consider several options for a future relationship, including not only full membership but also rejoining the EU’s single market or a customs union, reigniting a divisive debate that has split the country for the last 10 years.

“We could stay as we are. That’s definitely an option, if people think this is the right place to stay,” Burnham said, listing certain options including one to “go all the way”.

It is not clear how Burnham will canvass opinion on the EU, but he said in his conference speech that he would “take the opportunity around the summit to lay out to you, to lay out to the country, what I believe the different options are”.

An EU-UK summit was postponed from July 22 following Keir Starmer’s resignation as prime minister, and it could now happen in November, although any formal move would have to wait until the next election, due by mid-2029.

Londoners who Reuters spoke to on their morning commute largely supported an effort to rejoin the bloc, although there were doubts.

“I’m sort of open to getting closer to Europe, but I’m not sure the country needs another Brexit debate all over again,” actuary Roy Taylor, 59, said.

Polling mixed when conditions considered

Burnham said the options should be assessed based on “what is doable” and the advantages and disadvantages of each.

Burnham has said he will stick to Starmer’s government pledges made at the last election in 2024, which included the promise to “stay outside of the EU” and no return to the single market, the customs union or freedom of movement.

Another issue would be whether the EU would want to offer Britain re-entry on terms which Burnham might favour.

Polls show a majority of Britons would support joining the EU, but that often falls away when any requirements are considered, such as contributing to budgets and adopting the euro.

Brexit vote triggered years of upheaval

Britain voted to leave the European Union in 2016, ending more than four decades of membership and triggering years of political upheaval, with successive governments grappling with the economic and diplomatic consequences of that vote.

Burnham, who replaced Starmer in July, has said he would like Britain to rejoin the EU in his lifetime, and his message at conference that Brexit had failed to make Britain richer was welcomed by many in his Labour Party.

“I am very clear, and I will say this bluntly: Brexit has caused more harm than good,” he told the BBC. “So the question is, what do we do about that?”

But Britain’s populist Reform UK party, led by veteran Brexit campaigner Nigel Farage, criticised Burnham’s plans, blaming the Labour government for low economic growth rather than the referendum vote when Britain voted to leave the EU.

“Andy Burnham has barely been prime minister five minutes and he’s already trying to sneak us back into Brussels via the back door,” Reform’s deputy leader, Richard Tice, said.

The continent’s biggest sporting event has been riddled with logistical problems, including a shortage of beds and issues with transport.

There are over 17,000 athletes and officials, more than the Olympics, and countries have accused local organisers of mismanagement.

“We must offer our apologies to the athletes and others affected by these inconveniences,” said Mayor Ichiro Hirosawa, who is also acting chairman of the local organising committee.

“We must sincerely reflect on the mishandling that occurred,” he added.

“There were human errors and a lack of communication with the national teams.

“We are responding based on what has happened.”

Unlike past Games, there is no athletes’ village in a bid to manage costs, with participants instead staying in temporary wooden units, on a cruise ship and in hotels.

Some teams have complained about the temporary cabins, even saying the beds are too short.

Early in the Games, local organisers apologised to South Korea after the North Korean national anthem was accidentally played.

There have been issues with buses for athletes not running when they should, not turning up at all or going to the wrong venues.

Some athletes were also stranded for hours at the airport when they landed in Nagoya for the start of the Games on September 19.

The Games, which are taking place in Nagoya and Aichi prefecture, end on Sunday.

The 29-year-old was substituted at halftime during his side’s 4-2 friendly win over Australia on Tuesday, sparking concern in Barcelona-based media that they may be about to lose a key player to injury.

Raphinha was limited to 33 club appearances last season due to fitness issues and missed four games in April because of a hamstring problem in the same leg, which he also sustained while on international duty.

The Brazilian Football Confederation said in its statement that Raphinha had “a small muscle oedema” following a scan. He will miss Brazil’s third friendly match against India on Saturday and will not be replaced.

Last Friday, manager Carlo Ancelotti had selected Raphinha to play the full match in a 1-1 draw with Australia, during which he assisted Rayan’s late equaliser.

Raphinha has been in fine form this season, scoring 14 goals and providing three assists in his eight appearances for his club side.

Barcelona are next in action on October 10, hosting Getafe in LaLiga.

The shot — now etched in Pakistan football history as the one that brought the side its first-ever point in a FIFA competition, the FIFA ASEAN Cup, and against a side ranked more than 60 places above it — equalled the scores to 2-2 after Philippines had scored two early, and sparked celebrations in equal measure.

The delight was special because it came with a surprise element.

How could a team that had prepared for the tournament in a short training camp, without its head coach, stun a higher-ranked side in this manner? How could a team from a country without even a semblance of a proper football competition and grassroots structure challenge one from a country that has all of that and more? And how could a federation beset by a prolonged crisis field a side so competitive?

Those questions are almost as important as the result itself.

Samad provided one answer.

The Pakistan player based abroad had arrived in Indonesia on Sept 25, a day before the team’s opening FIFA ASEAN Cup match against Thailand, which Pakistan lost 4-0. Several of his fellow diaspora players also joined the squad directly in Indonesia rather than being part of the national-team camp in Islamabad.

The camp itself was brief. And head coach Nolberto Solano was not there.

The Peruvian coach missed the camp after applying for the wrong type of Pakistan visa. His documents had to be resubmitted, delaying his arrival until the team was already in Indonesia. In his absence, assistant coaches Titus Bramble and Walid Javaid oversaw the sessions.

For a national team whose players largely do not play together, those lost days matter.

Yet two days after Samad arrived, Pakistan were back on the pitch against the Philippines and, after falling 2-0 behind, produced the sort of comeback that had rarely been seen from the national side.

Mohammad Ali Akbar pulled one back two minutes after half-time before Samad equalised around the hour.

Pakistan had never previously scored in, or taken a point from, a FIFA competition. They had now done both in the same match.

“This is a fantastic result for Pakistan football, arguably its most impressive result of the 21st century,” Ismail Farooq, a football analyst at FC Nuremberg in Germany and a keen observer of Pakistan football, tells Dawn.

Ismail puts the achievement into perspective by pointing to the gulf between the two teams. Pakistan are ranked 198th in the world while the Philippines are around 60 places higher and have the kind of regular domestic football and established structures that Pakistan have lacked.

Pakistan, he said, were “massive underdogs”.

That makes the fightback significant. But it also makes what happened before it harder to ignore.

The players arrived from different parts of the world, trained together for a limited period and entered the tournament without having had the benefit of a full camp under their head coach.

The result therefore says as much about the resilience of the players as it does about the possibilities that exist within Pakistan’s player pool.

It is also where the country’s diaspora footballers become part of a much larger conversation.

The overseas-based players have increasingly provided Pakistan with a pool of talent that would be difficult for the domestic system to produce on its own. But their late arrival also highlights the absence of a sufficiently strong structure at home to prepare and develop players consistently.

Shaikh Hamdan, head coach of Karachi United Football Club and a UEFA B-licensed coach, believes the result could nevertheless have an important effect well beyond the national team.

“Any positive result for Pakistan football can only be a good thing for the game at grassroots level,” he tells Dawn. “Results inspire participation.”

Children watching Pakistan score and compete, he added, could begin to dream of representing the country, while positive performances could also help convince parents that football can be more than simply a recreational pursuit for their children.

That is the opportunity presented by Bandung.

But it is not the same as having a functioning football system.

Pakistan have not had a proper domestic league since 2015. Youth competitions remain limited and competitive opportunities for young players are scarce.

There is no consistently functioning pathway taking a talented child from grassroots football through age-group competitions and into the professional and international game.

“There are passionate coaches, academies and football communities doing excellent work across the country,” Hamdan says.

“But there is still no structured pathway that consistently takes talented young players from grassroots football through youth competitions and into the professional and international game.”

That gap has consequences.

Talented youngsters can spend crucial developmental years without enough meaningful competitive matches.

Academies can do good work but have limited opportunities to test their players against strong opposition. Coaches can identify potential without knowing where that player will go next.

And when the national team comes calling, it can be easier to look abroad.

The diaspora players are not the problem. Their presence has been an important source of quality and experience for Pakistan. The problem is that their importance has grown partly because the domestic pathway has failed to provide enough alternatives.

That Pakistan can still produce or find players capable of competing with a team such as the Philippines should therefore be viewed as encouragement rather than vindication of the existing system.

Ismail’s assessment is blunt. According to him, the Bandung result was “despite our domestic football situation, not because of it”.

That distinction could determine what happens next.

The Pakistan Football Federation has announced plans for district and youth football and has sought expressions of interest for a new league. But announcements are only the beginning. What Pakistan needs is a sustained calendar of meaningful competition that allows players to develop and coaches to work within a stable system.

More than a year after the PFF elections in May 2025, that structure remains a work in progress.

At grassroots level, football continues to rely heavily on uneven local structures. Provincial and district associations are effectively dysfunctional, while facilities and access to quality coaching remain limited in many areas.

Political chaos

The administrative uncertainty surrounding the PFF has compounded the problem.

The May 2025 elections brought former FIFA development officer Syed Mohsen Gilani to the presidency. Since then, disagreements over the federation’s direction and decision-making have continued.

Reports, as well as a document that circulated publicly — and was labelled “fake” by the PFF — referred to an alleged understanding involving Mohsen and Hafiz Zakaullah under which Mohsen would serve for a year before facilitating Zakaullah’s succession. Zakaullah has publicly referred to such an understanding, while its status and interpretation have been disputed.

The episode has formed part of a wider pattern of competing claims and factional tensions, including disagreements over the federation’s functioning and postponed Congress meetings.

All of this matters to what happens on the pitch.

A national team needs more than a group of talented players assembled for an international window. It needs a domestic competition feeding players into the national side, youth teams developing the next generation, coach education producing better trainers, regular camps and enough international football to test progress.

Hamdan believes the Philippines result has demonstrated that the potential is there.

“Rankings are influenced by many factors, including the number of international matches a nation plays, and Pakistan has historically had far fewer opportunities than most countries,” he says. “The performance against the Philippines reflects the potential that exists within our player pool and demonstrates that the gap is not as large as many people assume.”

But potential is not a development strategy.

Pakistan have experienced moments of encouragement before. The Diamond Jubilee title in the Maldives ended a 74-year wait for a standalone tournament victory and offered hope under Solano.

The FIFA ASEAN Cup was supposed to be another step.

The 4-0 defeat against Thailand exposed the gulf Pakistan still have to bridge. The performance against the Philippines showed, however, that the gulf is not necessarily reflected in the players’ appetite to compete.

They conceded twice but did not disappear. They found a goal, then another, and held on against a team with a significantly higher ranking and a deeper footballing infrastructure.

That is what made the night in Bandung special.

The danger is in asking the result to mean more than it can.

Ismail says the “biggest mistake” would be to regard the draw as proof that Pakistan football is doing things right.

“We are barely doing anything domestically,” he observes.

That does not diminish what the players achieved. If anything, it makes their achievement more striking.

The challenge is to ensure that a night such as Bandung does not remain another isolated flash of possibility.

The 2023 World Cup qualifying victory over Cambodia remains, in Ismail’s view, the biggest result of the century for Pakistan football. Yet the excitement surrounding that win did not produce the transformation of the domestic game that many hoped for.

Bandung should not meet the same fate.

The result has given Pakistan football something that cannot be manufactured by a federation, a league or a development plan: belief.

Children saw their national team score. Fans saw players refuse to accept defeat. Players who had travelled from abroad found themselves part of a team that had produced something historic.

Now the institutions have to catch up.

A functioning domestic league, meaningful youth competitions, clearer player pathways, better academy environments, improved coach education and regular international football across age groups would turn isolated moments of promise into a process.

The draw against the Philippines was an encouraging step — and Pakistan may well pull another surprise in their final ASEAN Cup group match against Vietnam on Friday.

It was also a reminder of how much more could be possible. The players have shown that they can fight back.

The bigger challenge is whether Pakistan football can finally build a system worth fighting for.

Lahore celebrated the Basant festival earlier this year from Feb 6 to 8 after an 18-year hiatus.

The festival was banned in 2007 because of an increasing number of deaths and serious injuries caused by sharp strings, particularly to motorcyclists and pillion riders, as well as by celebratory gunfire.

During a meeting, the chief minister directed the authorities to make arrangements for the 10-day celebration, according to a statement released by the government.

She described the festival as a gift for the people of Lahore to mark the arrival of 2027 and as a means of promoting Punjab’s cultural heritage and the historic traditions of the provincial capital.

Under the schedule approved by the chief minister, Basant festivities will begin on Jan 29 and continue until Feb 7. However, celebrations will remain suspended on Feb 5 to observe Kashmir Day.

“Ten-day Basant will promote Punjab’s cultural colours and Lahore’s centuries-old traditions across the world,” CM Maryam was quoted as saying.

According to the statement, the chief minister directed the administration to ensure better arrangements for public safety and convenience than those made during the previous festival.

She also appealed to citizens to celebrate responsibly, saying the authorities and the public should set a new example through a sense of duty, responsibility and commitment to protecting human lives.

CM Maryam directed the relevant departments to begin preparations well in advance and ensure that the extended festivities did not compromise public safety, the statement said.

She stressed that the success of the 10-day event would depend on strict adherence to safety regulations and responsible behaviour by citizens.

“The chief minister said Lahore’s cultural identity and traditions should be promoted while ensuring that celebrations remained safe and convenient for residents and visitors,” the statement concluded.

In August, CM Maryam announced that the festival would be held from Mar 12 to 14, 2027. However, in the latest announcement, the government has revised the schedule.

The Punjab government, in May, had also announced a new set of rules and regulations for kite-flying during next year’s Basant festival.

The 20-year-old Azerbaijan national had travelled to Pakistan for business purposes and was allegedly gang-raped by three men in a rented flat of a private housing society located near Raiwind on the night between Sept 25 and Sept 26.

In her statement, the complainant had named two women with whom she had met before the men accused of raping her joined them. Two of those men had been arrested and were sent on a six-day physical remand on Tuesday.

On Wednesday, the woman suspect was produced before Judicial Magistrate Azhar Mahmood at the Cantonment Courts under strict security.

A prosecutor informed the court that it would be her first physical remand and argued that, being a woman, she could be kept in jail during her physical remand.

A counsel for the suspect, however, contended that her relationship with the complainant was limited to friendship.

He argued that physical remand of a woman could not be sought except in offences of murder or robbery.

The counsel further submitted that nothing was required to be recovered from the suspect.

The magistrate asked the suspect whether she wanted to undergo a medical examination.

“No, I do not want to undergo a medical examination,” she replied.

The magistrate then allowed a three-day physical remand of the suspect to the police.

The magistrate directed that the woman suspect would remain in police custody from sunrise to sunset and, for rest, would remain in jail in judicial custody.

On Tuesday, a session’s court granted interim pre-arrest bail to the second female suspect in the case, restraining police from arresting her till Oct 5.

The woman’s lawyer said her client wanted to join the police investigation to prove her innocence.

Survivor’s statement

The Defence C police had registered a case against three unidentified suspects on September 26 on the survivor’s complaint.

In her statement under Section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), the Azeri woman said she had arrived in Islamabad from Istanbul on Sept 13 and stayed in Faisalabad for five days before travelling to Lahore.

“I had a plan to visit Skardu, but I could not go there because I was alone,” she said.

According to her, on the day of the alleged incident, she messaged two women, asking them to meet her in Lahore.

At around 11pm, she went to a cafe where she met one of them — the woman sent on remand today — and later accompanied her to a house in Bahria Town to meet the other, who has secured pre-arrest bail.

The complainant told the magistrate that at around 2am, a white car arrived carrying two men, one of whom was sent on remand on Tuesday (first suspect).

Later, they moved to an apartment where two more men arrived, one of whom was the second person sent on remand (second suspect), while she did not know the name of the other man.

According to the complainant, in a separate room, the woman on bail took between Rs20,000 and Rs30,000 from the first suspect, saying the money was for a party, while the woman now on remand also joined them.

The Azeri woman said she made it clear that she “did not need money or alcohol”. She alleged that the first suspect tried to touch her and locked her in a separate room.

When she asked about her friends, she was told that they had left. When she tried to leave, the complainant said she was told that she could not go because her friends had taken money.

The victim said she offered to pay the men, but they told her that she would have to drink alcohol with them before they would let her go.

She alleged that the three men raped her.

She further stated that the suspects then put her in a car and threw her out at an unknown location, while threatening her with dire consequences if she approached the police.

According to her statement, the suspects also took her handbag containing Rs200,000, an iPhone 13 Pro Max and another mobile phone.

She then requested some people present there to help her call the police emergency number 15, following which the police arrived.

It is the second such case in which a foreign woman was reportedly gang-raped in the Defence C police station area during the last four months.

In June, two foreign women, nationals of the Netherlands and Venezuela, were allegedly abducted and sexually assaulted in the Defence C police station area.

According to the FIR, the women were abducted by five suspects, including a close relative of a senior political personality, who demanded ransom and subjected them to sexual assault during their captivity.

Police were called to the Royal Air Force Fairford base in southwest England on Sunday after a resident saw several vans “acting suspiciously”, triggering an evacuation of the nearby village and the declaration of a “major incident”.

“Those vehicles have been subject to extensive examination… and we can confirm that no improvised explosive devices were found. However, a quantity of petrol was recovered,” National Counter Terrorism Policing head Laurence Taylor said.

The development came as British media reported that a member of the group called police around an hour before a local farmer alerted officers after spotting the men and vans.

There have been huge questions around the incident after five London-based Britons were released on bail Monday after being arrested early Sunday on explosives and terror offences, with Washington criticising their release.

“I understand why this development will have come as a surprise to many, but I’d like to reiterate that it was an investigative decision,” Taylor added, after US President Donald Trump said he was “surprised” by the decision.

“I wouldn’t have done that,” Trump told reporters, as his Secretary of State Marco Rubio alleged a “foreign actor” was involved.

Speculation was rife about the incident near the Fairford airbase, which is used by the US military to launch strikes on Iran.

Iran’s embassy in London has said it “categorically rejects and strongly condemns” speculation that Tehran was involved.

The latest update lends credibility to some theories that the men could be fuel thieves, as energy prices rise in the UK.

But the scare forced 85 homes in a nearby village to be evacuated, with many residents having to stay elsewhere for at least one night.

Police said they had searched homes in London and were hoping to stand down investigative operations on Wednesday.

‘Embarrassing’

A resident in the neighbouring village of Kempsford, Patricia, 60, told AFP it was “very embarrassing that people around the world thought it was a terrorist attack. But in the end, no — it’s a lot of noise for nothing”.

The security scare became public after a farmer living in the village of Whelford near the airbase rang police after seeing the three vans blocking a road and a group of masked men fleeing the scene.

British media later reported that officers had already been alerted by one of the suspects before the farmer’s call, although police have not publicly commented on the reports.

Armed officers arrested the five men — all London residents in their mid-20s — on suspicion of explosives offences and, later, “suspicion of preparing a terrorist act” under anti-terror laws.

Police said the men “remain under investigation and must adhere to strict conditions while we continue our work”.

Security at the base had reportedly been heightened recently.

Britain gave Washington permission in March to use Fairford for “specific defensive operations into Iran” to destroy Iranian missiles at source.

US bombers and other planes have since been seen taking off and landing from the base — the only one on Britain’s mainland used for this purpose.

Aerial footage of the vans showed they appeared to contain barrels, and at least one was marked with a fake logo and phone number, giving the false impression that it was owned by a legitimate diesel delivery firm.

The legitimate firm said in a statement on its website that “neither the vehicle nor any of the individuals involved has any connection whatsoever with Fuel2U”, adding it was cooperating with the police.

“It’s a bit odd they were here in the middle of the night,” one local told AFP as she did some gardening in the nearby village of Kempsford.

“If they were true terrorists, they wouldn’t have released them,” she added, asking not to give her name.

A British military camp was the victim of a “security breach” last year after intruders cut through a fence to steal fuel from a tanker.

The National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA) produced the 17-year-old suspect before Judicial Magistrate Naeem Wattoo on the completion of his three-day physical remand.

The magistrate asked the investigating officer (IO) whether the suspect’s father had any objection to the case.

The officer replied that the father of the suspect had no objection. He also informed the magistrate that the teenager was his parents’ only son.

He said the father told the investigators that his son, a second-year student in Bahawalpur, used to conduct various kinds of research.

The IO said the physical custody of the suspect was no longer required.

At this, the magistrate sent the suspect to jail on a 14-day judicial remand and directed the IO to submit a charge-sheet within the stipulated time.

‘Breaking Bad’

The NCCIA arrested the teenager on Sep 23. The agency said at the time that the suspect had reportedly developed strained relations with his father and allegedly planned to kill him following a disagreement.

During the investigation, authorities learned that the teenager had developed an interest in chemistry after watching the American crime drama ‘Breaking Bad’. He had reportedly set up a small laboratory at home to conduct chemical experiments, the NCCIA spokesperson said.

The suspect allegedly obtained chemical material from Australia and Islamabad and concocted a substance at home with the intention of poisoning his father. He reportedly administered the substance to his father on one occasion, but the attempt was not successful, the spokesperson said.

Subsequently, the teenager allegedly sought further guidance from AI, asking how to administer a poison capable of causing his father’s death without detection, he added.

The spokesperson said the Punjab NCCIA received the information about the suspect through an automated system. Following this, NCCIA Punjab Director Hissam Bin Iqbal directed the formation of a team to investigate the matter.

The team later conducted an operation in Bahawalpur and arrested the suspect. Further investigation had been initiated to determine the circumstances surrounding the incident, the nature of the chemicals involved and the suspect’s online activities, the spokesperson said.

AI chatbots and agents have been linked to cases of harm and death, leading to concerns about their usage and the imposition of tighter regulations and controls.

The Euro­pean Union last month introduced sweeping laws that give it the power to enfo­rce landmark AI rules and to fine any companies that break the law. Pakistan has also previously called for the use of AI to be regulated by the United Nations charter.

Last year, American artificial intelligence firm OpenAI said it would add parental controls to its chatbot ChatGPT after an American couple said the system had encouraged their teenage son to kill himself.

Flydubai Flight FZ1073 from Dubai diverted over Jordanian airspace towards Saudi Arabia, transmitting a general emergency signal before transmitting another emergency signal that indicates a possible unlawful interference several minutes later, according to flight tracking website Flightradar24.

The Boeing 737 plane then again transmitted the general emergency signal before landing at Tabuk airport in northwestern Saudi Arabia, the website said.

An Israeli official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told Reuters that the pilots had transmitted the emergency signals after getting into a physical altercation with each other.

It was not immediately clear if either pilot had intentionally transmitted the signal.

Israel said it was organising the safe return of Israeli passengers.

“The incident is under control, and all measures are currently being deployed in order to return the Israeli passengers safely to Israel,” a statement from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said.

The incident was not believed to have been a hijacking, the Israeli prime minister’s office added.

An airline spokesperson said the Flydubai flight experienced an “incident” en route to Tel Aviv and diverted to Tabuk, where it landed safely.

All passengers were safe and accounted for, the spokesperson said, without providing any further details.

Yasmin Abu Kasis, whose daughter Miriam was on the flight, said that her daughter had told her that she had heard screaming and that a man took a knife, put the pilot on the floor, and that there was blood everywhere.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held consultations over the incident, which his office said in a statement was “under control,” adding that all efforts were being made to bring the Israeli passengers back to Israel, which has no official diplomatic relations with Saudi Arabia.

Israeli military chief Eyal Zamir also held a “situational assessment” with the commander of the air force and other military officials, Israel’s military said in a statement.

Flydubai operates daily flights between Dubai and Tel Aviv, a route that is popular among Israeli nationals.

It is not the first time a flight between Israel and the UAE has landed in Saudi Arabia. A Flydubai flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv made an emergency landing in Riyadh in September 2025 due to a medical emergency, Israeli media reported at the time.

Tarar made the remarks while addressing a ceremony organised by the Institute of Strategic Studies Islamabad to launch a report on the IWT issue.

Water and the IWT remain a contentious issue between India and Pakistan, following New Delhi’s unilateral abeyance of the accord in April last year — a move that was followed by a brief military conflict between the two sides in May 2025.

Following India’s move, Pakistan termed any attempt to suspend its water share an “act of war”, noting the IWT had no provision for unilateral suspension. It later argued that Delhi’s action was a violation of the 1969 Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties.

“We are a peaceful nation, but we cannot allow India to weaponise water because it is the basic right of the 240 million people of Pakistan,” Tarar said, drawing attention to the “wider precedent involved”.

“If a state can unilaterally put a binding international water treaty in abeyance despite established dispute resolution mechanisms, the implications extend to transboundary water governance across the world,” Tarar warned, adding that it may have implications for countries sharing water under similar frameworks.

Tarar reiterated that Pakistan will continue to engage the international community and defend the country’s vital national interests.

At the outset of his address, Tarar said, “I take great pride in the fact that wherever we go, we say we are the people of the Indus Valley [..] we identify ourselves with the Indus waters.”

He noted that when the treaty was signed, the signatories “did not envisage that there would come a time a few decades down the line when conditions in India would deteriorate so much that they would be legally ignorant, morally bankrupt and devoid of ethics”.

Tarar held that the IWT was legally binding upon both parties. “It contains stipulations that this legal instrument cannot be unilaterally revoked, rescinded, or altered,” Tarar added.

He further stated that the treaty cannot be “unilaterally altered, revoked, rescinded or held in abeyance, for that matter, but even if there is a dispute, both the parties have to adhere to the terms and conditions of the treaty”.

At this, Tarar recalled an August ruling by the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA), saying, “The court upheld Pakistan’s stance, giving legitimacy and strength to the argument that there cannot be a unilateral attempt to change the status of this treaty”.

In its August order, the PCA had backed Pakistan’s stance, declaring that the IWT between the two countries remained fully in force, as India had no justification for ending or suspending the agreement.

Tarar further stated that Pakistan had approached the issue diplomatically: “We have engaged the international community and presented our point of view — legal and diplomatic — and as a nation-state, which respected the rights of others, in a manner that has been most effective.”

At this, the information minister recalled Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s speech at the recent United Nations General Assembly (UNGA).

“PM Shehbaz said that the IWT is the lifeblood of our people and our region, and any attempt to usurp this right be treated as an act of war,” Tarar said.

Tarar stated that Pakistan’s position on the IWT remained “absolutely clear,” adding that the treaty was an “instrument of peace and stability for the region”.

He noted that India had justified its actions with “alleged cross-border terrorism”; however, he went on to highlight sacrifices made by Pakistan in the fight against terrorism.

“We have economic losses of over $50bn over the past many decades,” Tarar said.

He continued: “When one Pakistani citizen lays down their life, yes, it is to make Pakistan safe, but it also makes the world a safer place.”

Tarar, drawing a contrast with neighbouring India, said, “India has illegally tried to alter the status of the IWT and has been accused at the international level of transnational aggression”.

Shifting his attention back to the IWT, Tarar said India’s actions were “highly condemnable” and unjustifiable at a “legal, diplomatic, and moral level”.

The IWT allocates the eastern rivers — Ravi, Beas and Sutlej — to India, while the western rivers — Indus, Jhelum and Chenab — are largely allocated to Pakistan. The 1960 water-sharing agreement has also established mechanisms for data-sharing and dispute resolution.

Turkiye, Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan also took part in the exercise, while Kazakhstan attended as an observer country, according to PTV.

The joint exercise aimed to “enhance cooperation, communication and professional capabilities among special forces”, PTV reported.

The participating forces also exchanged experiences on modern operations, combat strategies and ways to address security challenges.

“Eternal Brotherhood-5 reflects the growing defence and security cooperation, mutual trust and strengthening of military relations among the participating countries,” PTV said.

Pakistan routinely conducts joint training exercises with the friendly countries.

Earlier in April, Pakistan and Egypt concluded a two-week-long military exercise also focused on counter-terrorism.

In January, the 13th Pakistan-US bilateral joint military exercise — ‘Inspired Gambit 2026’ — was held with a focus on counter-terrorism.

In October 2025, Pakistan and Kazakhstan participated in a joint counter-terrorism training exercise lasting two weeks to improve military-to-military relations.

In February, Pakistan and Uzbekistan “agreed to continue mutual participation in joint military exercises and training, and to cooperate in the field of professional development, exchange of best practices and collaboration between military institutions of the two countries”.

Last month, Pakistan, Turkiye and Saudi Arabia agreed to form a mechanism for joint military training under the trilateral defence pact.

Still, since its 2003 invasion of Iraq, the US has held effective control of the country’s oil revenue dollars, giving Washington extraordinary leverage over Baghdad’s affairs, with implications for regional dynamics involving Iran.

How does the US control Iraq’s oil revenues?

This stems primarily from the management of Iraq’s oil income through the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

After the 2003 invasion, the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA), led by the US, set up the Development Fund for Iraq (DFI), held at the New York Fed, and designed to collect the oil revenues for use in reconstruction and development efforts.

The Fund also aimed to protect the Iraqi oil revenues from lawsuits and claims relating to Saddam Hussein’s rule.

An executive order by then president George W. Bush to set up the arrangement has been renewed by every president since. The DFI eventually became an account of the Central Bank of Iraq at the New York Federal Reserve, as it remains today.

What leverage does this give the US over Iraq?

Oil is Iraq’s most important revenue source, making up about 90 per cent of the state budget. This gives Washington significant sway over the country’s economic and political stability.

When the Iraqi government asked US troops to leave in 2020, Washington reportedly threatened to cut Iraq’s access to the New York Federal Reserve funds, with Baghdad ultimately backing down.

While Iraq has gained more control over its financial affairs since the early years of the occupation, the link highlights the enduring influence of the US on the economic landscape of Iraq, even as the latter seeks to assert sovereignty and independence.

Why has the arrangement endured for so long?

The system helped anchor Iraq’s financial stability and safeguards state finances, government officials told Reuters on condition of anonymity.

It boosts international confidence in the management of oil income, eases access to US dollars needed for trade and imports, and protects revenues from external claims and financial shocks, including claims by creditors and lawsuits, they said.

The arrangement supports exchange-rate stability and underpins confidence in the Iraqi economy, while working to strengthen domestic financial institutions and assert greater economic sovereignty, they added.

It also allows the government to push back against some actors, such as Iran-allied groups, who seek fewer curbs on dollar access. Last year, the US imposed sanctions on Iraqi banks and individuals it accused of laundering money for Iran.

How has this arrangement affected Iraq?

The heavy curbs on US dollar supply led to a parallel, informal market for dollars, resulting in a price spread between the official exchange rate set by the central bank and that on the black market.

The price difference is essentially a risk premium for dealing outside the formal system.

In his second term, President Donald Trump has pursued a campaign of maximum pressure on Iran, with Iraq often caught in the crossfire as Tehran has used it as a vital economic lung.

The war he launched with Israel against Iran on February 28 added further pressure on Baghdad.

What is the status of Iraq’s oil revenue management?

Iraqi oil revenues remain in the custody of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

CBI has historically used dollar auctions, formally known as the foreign currency window, as the main mechanism to supply dollars. Private banks and exchange houses could bid daily to purchase US dollars using Iraqi dinars.

Iraq formally ended the auction system at the start of 2025 after significant US pressure, part of a broad crackdown on alleged siphoning of dollars to sanctioned parties, especially Iran.

Header image: A stage with a banner for Sovereignty Day in Baghdad, Iraq on September 30, 2026. —Reuters

Pakistan’s men swept South Korea 2-0 in their quarter-final without needing a deciding rubber.

Mohammad Ashab Irfan set the tone in the opening match against Na Jooyoung, needing all three games but rarely looking troubled.

The 22-year-old traded early points with his 19-year-old opponent before surging to a 7-2 lead in the first game, eventually closing it out 11-5 in nine minutes.

The second followed a similar script — Jooyoung twice clawed his way back to within a couple of points, only for Ashab to restore his cushion each time and seal it 11-8.

The Korean threatened a fightback in the third, pulling back three points as Ashab served for the match, but the Pakistani finally converted on his fourth attempt to complete an 11-5, 11-8, 11-8 win in just under half an hour and put Pakistan 1-0 up.

Pakistan’s top-ranked player, Noor Zaman, then had the chance to seal the tie against Seojin Oh, and made light work of it despite a scare in the third game.

The world No. 33 raced through the first game 11-4 in six minutes and followed it with an equally comfortable 11-5 in the second, building leads of four points or more in both.

Oh, 20, produced his best squash of the tie in the third, fighting back from 8-7 down to level and then snatching the game 11-8 to keep Korean hopes alive.

But Noor responded immediately in the fourth, racing into a four-point lead and reeling off seven straight points to close it out 11-2 — sealing both the match and a 2-0 win for Pakistan without the tie needing to go the distance.

Noor and Ashab have already secured bronze medal in the singles event.

The result sends Pakistan through to face Hong Kong, who defeated Qatar in the other quarter-final, in Thursday’s semi-final.

There was no such reward for Pakistan’s women, who went down 2-1 to China in their second round-robin qualifier — a defeat that followed an opening 3-0 loss to Macau in the same play-off group and ends their hopes of reaching the quarter-finals.

Pakistan had finished third in their four-team pool behind Hong Kong and South Korea, dropping them into a round-robin decider against China and Macau for the tournament’s remaining two quarter-final berths.

Wednesday’s tie followed the same pattern as their first: an early loss in the opening singles, a spirited fightback in the middle match, and a decider that ultimately slipped away.

Thirteen-year-old Mahnoor Ali opened proceedings against Ziyi Liu and never found her rhythm.

The 19-year-old Chinese player raced through the first game in five minutes, winning it 11-4, before edging a tighter second 11-8.

Liu pulled away in the decider, building an early six-point cushion that Mahnoor could only intermittently interrupt, and closed out the match 11-2 to hand China a 1-0 lead in the tie.

Sana Bahadar dragged Pakistan level with the standout performance of the day, overcoming Yuning Zhang in three hard-fought games.

The 20-year-old built an early 7-2 cushion in the first before Zhang, also 20, rallied to within three points; Sana held her nerve to close it out 11-7 on her second match point.

The second game swung repeatedly — the pair traded the lead seven times before Sana, trailing 9-6, reeled off three straight points to level at 9-9 and then closed it out 11-9.

Any hope of a Chinese recovery in the third evaporated as Sana, after trading the opening two points, won eight in a row to seal the game 11-2 and level the tie at 1-1.

The contest came down to a decider between 14-year-old Sehrish Ali and Ziyuan Yin, and China’s teenager proved too strong.

Yin, 14, surged to an early lead in the first game and closed it out 11-3, then weathered a mid-game wobble in the second — Sehrish had narrowed the gap to 9-5 — before finishing it 11-7.

The Pakistani teenager briefly led in the decider, but Yin responded with a burst of consecutive points to pull clear and served out the match 11-2, sealing a 2-1 win for China.

At the Aichi Prefecture General Shooting Gallery, Pakistan’s Ghulam Mustafa Bashir sits eighth in the men’s 25m rapid fire pistol qualification after a strong opening stage on Wednesday.

Bashir scored 289 with eight inner tens across his 30 shots, posting series scores of 95 (8 seconds), 96 (6 seconds) and 98 (4 seconds).

The three-time Olympian, who won bronze at the 2022 ISSF World Championships in Cairo, now faces Stage 2 on Thursday — another 30 shots that will determine his final qualification score out of 600 and whether he advances to the final.

The movement succeeded, the government was overthrown, and the quota system was largely scrapped — but the reform has had unintended consequences.

Women are securing a shrinking share of public sector jobs in the Muslim-majority nation of 170 million people.

Tothapi Azad, a 25-year-old Dhaka University graduate, supported calls to end quotas — but says she should have supported retaining them for women.

“For me, who had my family’s support, a quota might not have been essential — but for an average woman, it was essential,” she told AFP.

“A job is a tool for women’s empowerment. For rural women, it is more than that — a survival tactic, a shield to resist domestic violence.”

Data shows that the share of female government recruits has fallen since quotas were cut, shrinking an already limited number of civil service roles held by women.

‘Uncomfortable’

Until 2018, quotas accounted for 56 per cent of Class I posts, the top ranking civil service and public sector jobs.

That included 10pc for women, as well as 30pc for descendants of those who fought for Bangladesh’s independence in 1971.

Another 16pc was reserved for underprivileged regions and people with disabilities.

In 2018, after student protests, the then prime minister Sheikh Hassina scrapped quotas.

In 2024, it was proposed to reinstate quotas, sparking student protests.

That escalated into a mass uprising, and Hasina was overthrown.

Today, 93pc are filled on merit. A 7pc quota is reserved for those related to freedom fighters and other smaller groups, and there is no quota for women.

The Bangladesh Public Service Commission (BPSC), which runs the recruitment examinations, has around 300,000 applicants each year for 2,500-3,000 Class I jobs.

Before the quota was scrapped in 2018, women accounted for up to 35pc of recruits, including both quota and merit-based appointments.

That has dropped to 19pc, according to figures from the last exam round.

A BPSC official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the body “finds the outcome uncomfortable”, but that its “duty is limited to conducting the examination”.

AKM Abdul Awal Majumdar, a former bureaucrat, backs merit-based recruitment but advocates coaching to help women compete.

“My female colleagues were unparallelled,” he said.

The government elected in February also backs merit-based recruitment.

Md Abdul Bari, a public administration minister, described it as a “rational reform” in parliament.

But some officials fear the decline in female recruitment will become increasingly visible.

“At this moment, at least 21 women are leading 21 districts,” said a female bureaucrat with 20 years of experience, speaking on condition of anonymity.

“In 10 years’ time, there won’t be this many women in the service.”

‘Can’t continue’

The impact goes beyond the civil service.

Police data shows that only 267 women out of 2,651 candidates qualified as constables this year.

Only six of the 184 candidates who qualified as police sub-inspectors were women. No women qualified as sergeants, compared with 96 men.

“We can’t continue without them,” a police officer told AFP, noting that every station has dedicated desks for women and children.

Bangladesh previously had 60pc quotas for women in primary teaching positions. That has also ended.

Asif Shahan, a Dhaka University professor of Development Studies, said fewer women in government would impact policymaking.

“Their issues get reflected in policy,” he told AFP.

The debate has split students.

Md Mazharul Islam, a Dhaka University students’ union career advisor, a supporter of the Islamist party Jamaat-e-Islami, backs a merit system.

“Society was much more conservative before, and girls were not allowed to pursue higher education,” he said.

“That has changed.”

Philosophy student Adity Islam said abolishing the women’s quota was wrong.

“We measured women across all walks of life with the yardstick of female students at Dhaka University,” said Islam, who is involved in leftist politics.

“Cutting the quota for women would eventually impact the overall governance system. We have already seen that in some districts. So aspiring candidates in many other places will lose hope.”

Header image: This photograph taken on September 7, 2026 shows Dhaka University students walking across the campus in Dhaka. —AFP

The sources added that hideouts of the Fitna al Khawarij were targeted in Mir Ali and surrounding areas. Fitna al Khawarij is a term the state uses for terrorists belonging to the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).

A large quantity of weapons and ammunition was recovered from the terrorists killed during the operation, security sources said.

According to PTV, security forces also thwarted an attempt by the terrorists to intercept a ration truck near the Mir Ali Bazaar.

It added that security forces were committed to the complete elimination of terrorism under the counter-terrorism campaign ‘Azm-e-Istehkam’.

President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif have lauded security forces for their successful operation in Mir Ali, Radio Pakistan reported.

President Asif Ali Zardari said that the operation against terrorism would continue to ensure peace in the country, adding that the designs of the terrorists would be foiled at all costs.

PM Shehbaz, meanwhile, held that eliminating terrorism remained the government’s top priority, according to state media.

KP has been witnessing terrorist attacks and security challenges for a long time. The province, excluding the merged districts, recorded 54 terrorist attacks in August compared with 36 in July, representing an increase of 50 per cent, according to data compiled by the Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies (PICSS).

A day earlier, in an IBO in KP’s Bara area, security forces killed five terrorists. On Monday, four terrorists were killed during an IBO in Dera Ismail Khan.

Last week, a dozen people lost their lives while 35 others were injured in a suicide blast that targeted the Aman Mela police checkpost in DI Khan’s Darazinda tehsil.

On Sept 18, a major attack in the old Police Lines in KP’s Kohat claimed 23 lives and injured about 100 others. Eight terrorists were killed during an overnight clearance operation.

On Sept 17, security forces killed 10 terrorists in separate operations in KP between Sept 15 and 17. Earlier in the month, over 20 terrorists were killed during multiple engagements in KP between Sept 3 and 5.

The Sweden-based Right Livelihood Foundation honoured Haider “for breaking barriers, as the first female lawyer from her Hazara community, to challenge ethnic, state and patriarchal persecution, guided by the conviction that no human being is illegal.”

According to the foundation’s website, Haider in 2018 “led a seven-day hunger strike against the targeted killing of Hazaras” that led to direct negotiations between the army chief and Hazara women, “resulting in a sustained decrease in attacks against the community”.

It added that Haider had combined legal work with street activism and community empowerment, securing “justice for thousands targeted or ignored by those in power, specifically ethnic, gender and religious minorities, as well as refugees”.

“Her law firm has also helped restore freedom of movement for more than 600 political activists and human rights defenders,” the Right Livelihood Foundation said.

Haider is a founding member of the Women’s Democratic Front as well, the foundation said, adding that she “helped pioneer Balochistan’s first Women’s March, a street mobilisation that sparked discussions on feminism across the deeply patriarchal region”.

Through her organisation ‘We the Humans’, Haider has “helped over 400 widows of terrorism victims gain financial independence”, the foundation said.

“Despite detention, cyber-harassment and death threats, she continues to work towards a world where, in her words, ‘no human being is illegal’,” the foundation said.

The Right Livelihood Award was established in 1980, when Swedish-German stamp collector Jakob von Uexkull sold part of his collection to fund it, after the foundation behind the Nobel Prizes refused to create new awards in the fields of environmental protection and international development.

A prominent US artificial intelligence researcher and two women-led rights groups were also recognised.

The jury said in a statement it had chosen US artificial intelligence researcher Timnit Gebru “for challenging concentrated power in artificial intelligence and pioneering digital technology rooted in justice, lived experience and human agency.”

Gebru is known for her work examining how biases influence AI and in 2017, Gebru co-founded Black in AI.

The foundation also gave the nod to the Rural Women’s Assembly — a grassroots movement of more than 178,000 small-scale farmers across 11 Southern African nations.

The Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association (GYLA), which the jury described as “Georgia’s oldest and most prominent human rights organisation,” was also honoured.

Coalition troops were deployed to Iraq and Syria in 2014 to fight the Islamic State group, which had seized large swathes of territory, committing massacres and forcing thousands of women and children into slavery.

The group was defeated in Iraq in 2017 and in Syria in 2019, but coalition forces stayed on to battle the group’s remnants.

The United States and Iraq agreed in 2024 to wind down the coalition’s mission, and its troops withdrew gradually from bases across the country, restricting their presence to the autonomous northern Kurdistan region.

On Wednesday, the US announced the mission’s formal conclusion.

“Today, the United States and our Coalition partners formally concluded Operation Inherent Resolve in Iraq, consistent with the September 2024 US-Iraq joint statement and US national interests,” the Pentagon said in a statement.

The US Department of Defence, however, added that it would “continue to provide targeted training and intelligence support to our Iraqi partners”.

‘Sovereignty’

The US-led coalition did not defeat IS alone. Kurdish Peshmerga fighters played an important role in crushing IS, as did powerful Iraqi factions.

The Iraqi government, which celebrated the withdrawal, believes it will deprive armed factions of the excuse they have used to retain their arsenal.

Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi hailed the end of the mission as the start of a new chapter.

“A new phase has begun, defined by Iraq’s sovereignty, the strength of its institutions, the readiness of its forces, unity of decision-making, and balanced partnerships with its friends,” Zaidi said at a ceremony on Wednesday.

He had also declared that October 1 would be celebrated as Sovereignty Day.

It is “a national occasion that affirms the completion of Iraq’s path toward sovereignty and consolidates the presence of the state and its institutions”, the heads of Iraq’s executive, legislative and judicial branches said on Monday.

They added that “the presence of weapons outside state authority must be addressed… in line with timelines set by the government, in a manner that strengthens state sovereignty”.

Intensified attacks

Zaidi, who came to power this year with the US’s blessing, has vowed to reinforce the state’s monopoly on arms and ensure that armed factions hand over their weapons to the state.

His government initially set September 30 as the deadline for factions to disarm, but later withdrew the time limit as talks continued to “regulate” weapons — an issue that has fuelled division and is expected to take much longer to resolve.

With several powerful groups refusing to disarm, senior politicians have intervened and are now hoping to work out a compromise deal.

Factions have put forward conditions that include not only the withdrawal of foreign troops, but also an end to American political and economic interference.

The powerful Kataeb Hezbollah group said the withdrawal of “the occupation forces… is a start towards achieving full sovereignty”.

But the group also threatened Zaidi’s government.

“A government that doesn’t work for the good of its people will be brought down by all possible means,” it said.

Many armed groups have long demanded the withdrawal of US troops and have begun targeting them with drones and missiles, triggering US retaliatory strikes that killed several faction commanders over the years.

Most IDPs told Dawn in Bara that the provincial government or the Khyber district administration had yet to issue a formal notification about their return, while no practical arrangements for any return plan had yet to be seen on ground.

“The Oct 10 return plan is a mere verbal announcement according to which 50 families would be sent back to their homes in Tirah Valley on a daily basis but we have yet to see the establishment of any registration centre or arrangements for transportation,” a displaced person said.

He said that with almost 27,000 families registered as displaced from different parts of Tirah until now, it would take around one and a half years to complete the return process as per the official plan of sending only 50 families on a daily basis from Oct 10 onwards.

Giving a breakdown of the tribes affected by the sudden evacuation in December 2025, Suhbat Khan, a spokesman for the Tehreek-i-Mutasreen Tirah (TMT), said 27,000 displaced families belonged to six major tribes of Tirah, with every major tribe divided into 30 sub-tribes each.

He said that most IDPs were still in a state of disbelief about the “verbal” return plan but if authorities actually executed it, only eight families from every major tribe would be entitled to go back every day with the subtribes left to scramble and quarrel about selecting the number of persons to be sent back.

“The return plan is confusing just like the IDPs’ hasty and forced evacuation during harsh winter last year, with the majority of the displaced families still awaiting compensation promised before their eviction from their houses in Tirah,” he said.

Gul Zarin, a resident of Bagh Maidan, who is currently staying with his extended family members in Bara, alleged that neither the provincial government nor the federal government was willing to shoulder the responsibility of taking care of Tirah IDPs who were still awaiting promised official assistance, both in cash and kind.

“We were deceived by all government departments when we arrived in Bara after the 110 kilometres long journey in snow and rain. A sizable number of children, women and elderly persons fell critically ill due to harsh weather, while authorities failed to honour their promise of helping them,” he said.

Mr Zarin flayed the provincial government over its “criminal silence” about the safe and honourable return of displaced families and said the district administration had abdicated their responsibilities in favour of a so-called 24-member committee of Tirah elders that had already lost the confidence of most IDPs as the committee failed to secure their legitimate official assistance during the last 10 months.

Haji Zareef, another resident of Tirah, said that they also reserved the right to demand compensation for their damaged homes, illegal occupation of their farmlands during their absence in the name of so-called development schemes in the valley and ruthless and excessive felling of natural forest worth millions of rupees during the last 10 months.

Meanwhile, a delegation of Sipah elders from Sanda Pal, Dray Naghari, Drowta and Khapur areas in Upper Bara area of Tirah valley have met the 27 Brigade commander in Tirah Maidan and discussed with him the much-awaited registration and return of over 400 families to their houses.

Dawn has learnt that the Sipah elders told the regional security official that families from those areas were asked to vacate their houses in November 2023 on the pretext of a limited, targeted military operation with an assurance from the security forces that the displaced families would be allowed to return in a maximum 15 days’ time.

The brigade commander was further told that while the displaced families still awaited their return despite a lapse of almost three years, none of those families were registered, denying any official assistance.

Members of the Sipah delegation said that while the security official assured them that they had no objection to the return of over 400 families to their homes, they should instead consult the district administration for possible assistance.

Published in Dawn, September 30th, 2026

The All Political Alliance, Upper South Waziristan, organised the jirga.

Mehsud tribal elders, ulema, political and social figures attended the jirga.

The jirga passed a resolution, demanding an end to mortar firing and quadcopter strikes in populated areas, which put people’s lives and property at risk.

The resolution called upon the authorities to ensure that residents were not exposed to unnecessary risks. It demanded coordination between authorities and people to address public issues.

The participants called for relaxing the curfew imposed repeatedly in the area. They said that arrangements should be made to facilitate the movement of patients, elderly people and those facing medical or other emergencies during curfew hours.

The participants also highlighted difficulties residents faced at security checkpoints. They claimed some checkpoints closed before evening, inconveniencing people travelling between different areas. They demanded that checkpoints remain open for appropriate hours to facilitate residents’ smooth movement.

The jirga also discussed the installation of speed-breakers at checkpoints. Participants said three speed-breakers at a single location created difficulties for patients, elderly people and other travellers.

They demanded that speed-breakers be installed at appropriate distances to facilitate smooth traffic movement. They also called for suitable modifications to safety walls installed at checkpoints, particularly to facilitate the passage of large vehicles.

Another issue raised during the jirga was poor mobile phone and internet services in Shaktoi. The participants said the residents were still deprived of basic communication facilities in the region.

Published in Dawn, September 30th, 2026

The federal government started Khyber Institute of Child Health (KICH) and its affiliated children hospital 14 years ago which was supposed to open in three years but still the chances of its becoming operational are dim.

A senior member of Pakistan Paediatrics Association (PPA) told this scribe that they were expecting that the hospital would be launched on Sept 1. “In spite of receiving 100pc cost of work, there are many things to complete. The communication and works department seems reluctant in handing over the building to relevant authorities for reasons best known to it,” he said.

He said that paediatricians were pushing through many sides with the hope that sense would prevail and the first children hospital would start work. All the provinces, except Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, have more than one children hospitals.

C&W dept yet to hand over building to relevant authority

“If communication and works department leaves it and operational funds are released, we can make the hospital operational within one month,” said the PPA member.

Sources in health department said that they had requested an annual operational fund of Rs2.9 billion for the current year and Rs500 million one time for buying power generators. “Uninterrupted power supply is not a requirement but mandatory for the hospital,” they said.

However, handing over the building is main demand as for the last eight months they had been hearing to get the building in one month but that month was not coming and as result, the starting of the facility was in limbo, they said.

“The communication and works department has received all funds as per PC-1 but their tasks remain far from completion. Also, authorities have requested Rs4 billion for operational cost of the hospital and a summary is in process of approval,” said sources.

The hospital has been declared as medical teaching institution (MTI) on the demand of PPA. The status of MTI, according to sources, was demanded with the hope that things would get fast-tracked as its Board of Governors (BoG) would take decisions independently without bureaucratic control.

“However, it is a new hospital and requires funds. It cannot be run like other well-established and old hospitals that have been given MTI status and are now run by their respective BoG,” they said.

According to sources, the start of the hospital will be tiresome as at this stage. The hospital requires funds from government but when it becomes functional, it will start receiving its share of funds released to all the MTIs.

They said that the hospital had its own BoG with its members having a lot of experience but it was looking towards the government for want of funds.

Officials said that KICH and Children Hospital were desperately needed to act as an umbrella for hospitals in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The hospital would be producing trained paediatricians, nurses and paramedics and would impart training to healthcare workers in paediatrics, they added.

They said that the facility would open doors of postgraduate training to doctors in sub-specialties for which medics, who could afford, presently visited other provinces. They said that with the passing of time, the hospital would become a centre of excellence not only for KP but also for healthcare providers from other provinces.

They said that children, who were half of the province’s population, required the best healthcare services. “Once it becomes operational, donor organisations will help to improve its services as they are interested in enhancing child health services,” they added.

Published in Dawn, September 30th, 2026

The villagers were held hostage by militants on Friday when the former were relocating to safer areas in the Hathikhel area.

A video received by Dawn purportedly showed the released individuals standing together, while local commander of the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) Nasir alias Gidarh and some local elders were also seen with them.

In the video, the militant commander asked the local elders not to get involved in the ongoing fighting.

Police have not issued any statement about the release of hostages.

The development came amid the continuing tensions in Hathikhel and adjoining mountainous areas among militants, police and a local peace committee. Several families are reportedly facing difficulties and moving to safer locations.

Local sources earlier claimed that militants were trying to prevent residents from leaving the area and had imposed certain restrictions on families seeking to relocate.

They also insisted that some houses were demolished after families failed to comply with those restrictions.

Meanwhile, another group in Hathikhel has taken up arms against militants and is reportedly engaged in an armed resistance.

Local sources said that the group was unwilling to negotiate with militants.

DETAINED: Eight suspects were detained during an operation against suspected militants in the Talgi area here on Tuesday.

The joint operation was led by Bannu district police officer Furqan Bilal.

The personnel from the counter-terrorism department, police, Elite Force and security forces participated in the operation, which led to the demolition of the hideouts of militants with the assistance of drone quadcopters and armoured personnel carriers.

The security personnel detained eight suspects and seized one Kalashnikov and two pistols.

Published in Dawn, September 30th, 2026