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☆ Pakistan’s Ex-Spy Chief, an Imran Khan Ally, Is Arrested
▼ + stars: | 2024-08-12 | by ( Salman Masood | Christina Goldbaum | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

His arrest is the first time in Pakistan’s history that a current or former chief of the powerful Inter-Services Intelligence, or I.S.I., has faced court-martial proceedings. It is widely seen as part of the latest crackdown on allies of the imprisoned former Prime Minister Imran Khan, who handpicked General Hameed to serve as spy chief during his tenure. Officials have accused General Hameed and his brother of attempting to acquire ownership of the housing development by arresting and blackmailing its owner, according to court proceedings. Officials also accused General Hameed of violating the Pakistan Army Act after retiring in 2022, according to the news release, though it did not specify the exact charges. The act prohibits officials from engaging in political activities for two years after retirement.

Persons: Gen, Faiz Hameed, Imran Khan, Hameed, General Hameed Organizations: Inter - Services Intelligence, Inter, Services Public Relations, Pakistan Army Locations: Islamabad

☆ As Misery Multiplies, Pakistanis Rise Up Against the Ruling Elite
▼ + stars: | 2024-08-01 | by ( Christina Goldbaum | Salman Masood | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

In almost every corner of Pakistan, anger at the ruling elite is nearing a boiling point. In a major port city in the southwest, dozens have clashed with security officers over what they described as forced disappearances of activists. In the northwest, protesters have admonished the country’s generals for a recent surge in terrorist attacks. The demonstrations over the past few weeks reflect frustration with Pakistan’s shaky, five-month-old government and with its military, the country’s ultimate authority. And Pakistani politics are more polarized than ever, with the country’s most popular political figure sitting in jail after a bitter rift with the military.

Locations: Pakistan, Islamabad, Afghanistan

☆ Pakistan Says It Will Ban Party of Jailed Former Leader Imran Khan
▼ + stars: | 2024-07-15 | by ( Christina Goldbaum | Salman Masood | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Pakistan’s government plans to ban the party of the imprisoned former Prime Minister Imran Khan, officials said on Monday, a decision expected to exacerbate the political turmoil that has consumed the country for the past two years. The country’s information minister, Attaullah Tarar, said the government was moving to outlaw Mr. Khan’s party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, or P.T.I., after actions that had posed “a direct threat to the fabric of our nation.”But analysts said the decision — which few expect to be upheld in court — reflected growing desperation by the Pakistani government. It has struggled to assert its authority after an election this year in which the country’s powerful military was accused of rigging dozens of races against the broadly popular P.T.I. “If pushed through, it will achieve nothing more than deeper polarization and the strong likelihood of political chaos and violence,” Asad Iqbal Butt, chairman of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, said in a statement.

Persons: Imran Khan, Attaullah Tarar, —, ” Asad Iqbal Butt Organizations: Human Rights Locations: Pakistan

☆ Violent Unrest Over Economic Strife Erupts in Pakistan’s Kashmir Region
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-13 | by ( Salman Masood | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Vast protests have broken out in the Pakistan-controlled part of Kashmir, driven by outrage over soaring electricity bills and flour prices in a region that has long suffered economically because of its status as a conflict zone. In an attempt to quell the growing unrest — which has led to a widespread strike and left one police officer dead and 90 injured — Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif called an emergency meeting for Monday in Islamabad, the Pakistani capital. As protesters planned to march this week to Muzaffarabad, the regional capital, the authorities suspended internet service in many areas and shut down schools in the city. “I have never seen such a large-scale uprising in Pakistan-administered Kashmir,” said Mubashar Naqvi, a Muzaffarabad resident and a teacher at the University of Azad Jammu and Kashmir. “This protest is unique because it unites people from all walks of life in demanding basic necessities.”

Persons: Shehbaz Sharif, ”, Mubashar Naqvi Organizations: —, Monday, University of Azad Locations: Pakistan, Kashmir, Islamabad, “, University of Azad Jammu

☆ Suicide Bomber Kills 5 Chinese Workers in Pakistan
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-26 | by ( Salman Masood | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

At least five Chinese workers were killed on Tuesday when a suicide bomber rammed a vehicle into their convoy in northern Pakistan, officials said. Their Pakistani driver was also killed in the attack. The Chinese laborers were working on the Dasu dam, a hydropower project on the Indus River in the northwestern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The convoy was moving from Islamabad to Dasu and came under attack around 1 p.m., officials said. This was the second-deadliest attack on Chinese working on the project, after a previous suicide attack on a convoy in 2021.

Locations: Pakistan, Pakistani, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Islamabad, Dasu, China, Baluchistan, Gwadar

☆ Election Shocker in Pakistan: Where the Country Goes From Here
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-11 | by ( Salman Masood | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Imran Khan’s stunning performance in Pakistan’s national election has upended most traditional political forecasts in a country where leaders who run afoul of the powerful military rarely find electoral success. Here’s what to know about the uncertainty now hanging over Pakistan’s political system. Mr. Khan’s supporters are challenging the results of dozens of races in the country’s courts, and pressure is growing on Pakistan’s Election Commission to acknowledge the widely reported irregularities in the vote counting. Backers of Mr. Khan say they will hold peaceful protests outside election commission offices in constituencies where they contend the rigging took place. Protests have already erupted in several parts of the country, especially in the restive southwestern Baluchistan Province.

Persons: Imran Khan’s, Khan, What’s, Khan’s Organizations: Mr Locations: Baluchistan Province

☆ In His Second Sentencing in Two Days, Imran Khan Gets 14 Years
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-31 | by ( Salman Masood | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Just a day after he was sentenced to a decade in prison, former Prime Minister Imran Khan of Pakistan on Wednesday was ordered jailed for 14 years in a separate case, dealing him another heavy blow in his bitter feud with the country’s powerful military. The new sentence, handed down eight days before a scheduled national election in which Mr. Khan’s party has been battered by a widening crackdown, came in a case involving state gifts. Mr. Khan questioned the fairness and impartiality of the trial during the hearing on Wednesday. He asked the judge: “Why are you in a hurry to announce the verdict? I have not even recorded my final statement.” Mr. Khan then exited the courtroom, and the judge announced the sentence in his absence.

Persons: Imran Khan of, Bushra Bibi, Khan, ” Mr Locations: Imran Khan of Pakistan

When Iran and Pakistan traded airstrikes this week, both targeting what they said were militant camps, the exchange raised fears that the upheaval sweeping the Middle East was moving into new territory. To Pakistan, which was hit first, it was important to send a clear message that violations of its sovereignty would not be tolerated. Pakistan signaled that it was seeking de-escalation by calling the two nations “brotherly countries” and urging dialogue and cooperation, language that Iran echoed in a statement of its own on Friday. Pakistan’s appeal, analysts said, underlined a plain fact: It could hardly be in a worse position to fight a war. And already at odds with its archrival India, it has seen a souring of its once-friendly relations with the Taliban government in neighboring Afghanistan.

Organizations: archrival Locations: Iran, Pakistan, archrival India, Afghanistan

☆ Pakistan Retaliates With Strikes Inside Iran as Tensions Spill Over
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-17 | by ( Salman Masood | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

In an expansion of hostilities rippling out from the Israel-Hamas war, Pakistan said on Thursday that it had carried out strikes inside Iran. The military action came a day after Iranian forces attacked what they said were militant camps in Pakistan. The Pakistani Foreign Affairs Ministry said that the country’s forces had conducted “precision military strikes” against what it called terrorist hide-outs in southeastern Iran. A senior Pakistani security official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said Pakistan had struck at least seven camps used by Baluch separatists about 30 miles inside the border. The official said that air force fighter jets and drones were used in the Pakistani retaliatory strikes.

Organizations: Pakistani Foreign Affairs Ministry, Baluch Locations: Israel, Pakistan, Iran

☆ Iranian Strike Leaves Pakistan With No Easy Options for Response
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-17 | by ( Salman Masood | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

An Iranian airstrike inside Pakistan on Tuesday that Iran said was aimed at militant training camps has left Pakistani officials facing a difficult decision about whether to retaliate and potentially expand the turmoil that has swept the Middle East. Relations between Pakistan and neighboring Iran reached a new low after Iran’s attack in the restive Baluchistan region, with Pakistan reporting civilian casualties, including children, and warning that the violation of its sovereignty could have serious consequences. On Wednesday, Pakistan expelled the Iranian ambassador to Islamabad and recalled its own ambassador from Iran. In a statement, Pakistan said it “reserves the right to respond” to what it called an illegal and unprovoked attack. “The responsibility for the consequences will lie squarely with Iran,” it added.

Organizations: Relations Locations: Pakistan, Iran, restive Baluchistan, Islamabad

☆ Militant Attack on Air Base Is Latest Episode to Unnerve Pakistan
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-04 | by ( Salman Masood | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The Pakistani military said it had successfully repelled an attack by militants on an air base in central Pakistan on Saturday. The attempt to breach the Mianwali Training Air Base occurred a day after 14 soldiers traveling in a convoy were ambushed and killed in Baluchistan Province, in the southwest. That has fed growing tensions between the Pakistani government and Taliban officials, who have rejected Pakistani accusations of providing shelter to militant groups, including their ally, the Pakistani Taliban. The fighter jets on the air base, which are stored inside concrete hangars, escaped harm, but three other aircraft described as nonoperational were damaged. It was not clear if those defending the air base suffered any casualties.

Organizations: Mianwali Training Air Base, Jihad, Defense Locations: Pakistan, Mianwali, Baluchistan Province, Jihad Pakistan, Afghanistan, Pakistani

☆ Returning to Pakistan, Nawaz Sharif Aims for a Splashy Comeback
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-21 | by ( Salman Masood | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Nawaz Sharif, a three-time prime minister, planned a grand return to Pakistan on Saturday after years of self-imposed exile, seizing an opening in the country’s turbulent politics and economic disarray to attempt another dramatic comeback. In late 2019, an ailing Mr. Sharif left Pakistan for London in an air ambulance after being granted bail from a seven-year prison sentence. While he is Pakistan’s longest-serving prime minister, Mr. Sharif has never finished any of his terms in office, running afoul of the country’s powerful military or, in the latest case, being toppled by corruption allegations. On Saturday, a politically revitalized Mr. Sharif, 73, boarded a plane from Dubai bound to Pakistan, where he plans to hold a big gathering the same day in Lahore, his hometown and Pakistan’s political heart. The rally in Lahore will be a gauge of the popularity of Mr. Sharif and his party, the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz), before an upcoming general election.

Persons: Nawaz Sharif, Sharif, Imran Khan, Nawaz Organizations: Pakistan Muslim League Locations: Pakistan, London, Dubai, Lahore

☆ Children Left Dangling for Hours in Cable Car After Cables Break
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-22 | by ( Salman Masood | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Pakistani officials were scrambling a rescue effort on Tuesday after seven schoolchildren and an adult were left hanging dangerously for hours in a cable car at an altitude of 6,500 feet after two of its cables broke. The cable car, which travels over a stream, is a regular mode of transport for residents of the mountainous northern region, and the children, ages 10 to 12, were en route to a nearby school. As panic gripped the passengers and their families, they issued urgent pleas for assistance. The authorities sent an army helicopter to the site, and video on local television showed it hovering above the cable car at some distance as a commando slid down a rope and delivered food and water. But as the helicopter tried to get closer to the cable car, the car seemed to begin shaking heavily, which appeared to make an air rescue difficult.

Locations: Allai, Battagram, Khyber, Pakhthunkwa Province

The Pakistani government named a caretaker prime minister on Saturday, a move that kicks off preparations for the country’s next general elections and comes amid a year of political turmoil. The close ties that the new leader, Anwar-ul-Haq Kakar, has to the country’s powerful military reinforces its dominance over Pakistan’s politics, sending a clear message: After a year of political turmoil that challenged the authority of military leaders, they have a firm hand on the wheel once more. “He is undoubtedly a choice of the establishment,” Khalid Mahmood Rasool, a political analyst and newspaper columnist, said, referring to the military establishment. The term of the outgoing government, led by Shehbaz Sharif, who is also close the military, ended on Thursday. In Pakistan, once a government’s term ends, a caretaker must be established to oversee the next general elections.

Persons: Anwar, Haq Kakar, ” Khalid Mahmood Rasool, Shehbaz Sharif Locations: Pakistan

☆ Imran Khan Sentenced to Prison, Dashing Hopes of Political Comeback
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-05 | by ( Salman Masood | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

Former Prime Minister Imran Khan was arrested on Saturday after a trial court sentenced him to three years in prison, a verdict that will most likely end his chances to contest upcoming general elections. Mr. Khan was taken into custody by the police from his home in the eastern city of Lahore soon after the court decision was announced in Islamabad. He was found guilty of hiding assets after illegally selling state gifts. “The allegations against Mr. Khan are proven,” said Humayun Dilawar, the judge who announced the verdict in Islamabad, Pakistan’s capital. The case is related to an inquiry by the country’s election commission, which found last October that Mr. Khan had illegally sold gifts given to him by other countries when he was prime minister and concealed the profits from the authorities.

Persons: Imran Khan, Khan, Mr, ”, Humayun Dilawar Locations: Lahore, Islamabad, Pakistan’s

The U.S. Navy’s deep-diving rescue vehicle can reportedly reach depths of just 2,000 feet. The missing Titan submersible was aiming to go far deeper into the North Atlantic. Numerous complications could hinder the effort to rescue the five people aboard the deep-diving submersible Titan, which failed to return from a dive on Sunday to the wreck of the Titanic on the floor of the Atlantic Ocean. The U.S. Navy has one submarine rescue vehicle, although it can reportedly reach depths of just 2,000 feet. That vehicle, called CURV-21, can reach depths of 20,000 feet.

Persons: — Organizations: U.S, U.S . Navy Locations: South, Newfoundland

A crew of five people, including a pilot and four others, were on board the Titan submersible when it lost contact with its support ship during a dive to the Titanic wreckage site in the North Atlantic on Sunday. Here are the passengers who have been confirmed to have been aboard the missing craft. Hamish HardingImage Hamish Harding. Dirty Dozen Productions, via Action AviationHamish Harding, a British businessman and explorer, was among those aboard the submersible, according to Mark Butler, the managing director of Mr. Harding’s company, Action Aviation. Mr. Harding, 58, who holds several Guinness World Records, including one for the longest time spent traversing the deepest part of the ocean on a single dive, wrote on his Facebook page on Saturday that he was proud to finally announce that he had joined OceanGate’s mission “on the sub going down to the Titanic.”

Persons: Hamish Harding, Action Aviation Hamish Harding, Mark Butler, Harding, ” Organizations: Atlantic, Credit, Action Aviation, World Records Locations: British

☆ Pakistan Declares Day of Mourning for Migrant Ship Disaster Off Greece
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-19 | by ( Christina Goldbaum | Salman Masood | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif of Pakistan declared Monday a day of mourning for Pakistanis who died after a fishing boat crowded with migrants capsized off the coast of Greece last week, and ordered a crackdown on the people involved in trafficking Pakistanis to Europe. That would make the tragedy among the deadliest of its kind. At least 104 Pakistanis were confirmed to be among those killed, according to the Pakistani police, though officials expect the toll from the disaster to rise. Many of the missing were from the Pakistani-administered part of Kashmir, the region long contested between India and Pakistan, and nearby in Punjab, Pakistan’s most populous province. Mr. Sharif, the Pakistani prime minister, said on Twitter on Sunday that law-enforcement agencies had been asked “to tighten the noose around individuals involved in the heinous act of human smuggling.” He also announced a committee to investigate people-trafficking networks.

Persons: Shehbaz Sharif, Sharif, “ Organizations: Twitter Locations: Pakistan, Greece, Europe, Kashmir, India, Punjab, Pakistan’s

☆ Droves of Imran Khan’s Allies Defect as Military Ramps Up Crackdown
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-14 | by ( Salman Masood | Christina Goldbaum | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Throngs of supporters of former Prime Minister Imran Khan have been arrested. Key allies have resigned from his party, saying they had been threatened with criminal charges and arrests. As political tensions between Mr. Khan and the Pakistani government have flared in recent weeks and sparked violent nationwide protests, the country’s powerful military has responded by launching a chilling campaign against Mr. Khan’s supporters that aims to hollow out his political party ahead of general elections this fall. The pressure campaign has begun to chip away at Mr. Khan’s momentum, analysts say — the military’s most forceful effort yet to disempower the former leader who was removed from office last year. It’s the latest move in the Pakistani military’s standard playbook to sideline politicians who have fallen out of its favor and preserve its iron hold on the country’s politics.

Persons: Imran Khan, Khan, Khan’s Organizations: Media, Mr

☆ Pakistan’s Powerful Military Faces New Resistance From Courts
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-31 | by ( Christina Goldbaum | Salman Masood | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

For most of Pakistan’s eight-decade history, its courts were largely aligned with the country’s powerful military. In recent months, as former Prime Minister Imran Khan has clashed with the military and current civilian government, the courts have issued ruling after ruling that have thwarted what many consider attempts by the military to sideline Mr. Khan from politics. That defiance was highlighted earlier this month, when shortly after the authorities arrested Mr. Khan in a corruption inquiry, the courts declared his arrest unlawful, ordered his release and granted him bail. It is a striking shift in Pakistan, where the military has long acted as the country’s ultimate political power broker: Directly ruling for over half of the country’s existence and acting as the veiled power behind civilian governments. And as the courts strike out on their own, they are injecting even more uncertainty into an already volatile political climate.

Persons: Imran Khan, Khan, Mr Locations: Pakistan

☆ Imran Khan, Pakistan’s Ex-Leader, Is Arrested
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-09 | by ( Christina Goldbaum | Salman Masood | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Pakistan’s ousted prime minister, Imran Khan, was arrested on Tuesday in a major escalation of a political crisis that raises the prospect of mass unrest by his steadfast supporters. The crisis has been building for months as Mr. Khan has openly challenged the Pakistan military and the current government of conspiring against him. Mr. Khan, who was removed from office in a parliamentary no-confidence vote in April last year, is facing dozens of court cases on charges that include terrorism and corruption. The arrest instantly intensified a showdown between the current government and Mr. Khan, a populist former cricket star, who has staged a political comeback in the months since his removal from office. His party has drawn tens of thousands to political rallies across the country, at which Mr. Khan and others have called for fresh elections and accused Pakistan’s powerful military establishment of orchestrating his ouster.

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