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The chairman of Pashtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP) and ally of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Mahmood Khan Achakzai, recently appeared on a Dawn News programme, expressing solidarity with army in the recent Bannu protests.
“DG ISPR’s press conference on the Bannu issue was completely correct. People within the protestors opened fire, and rumours were spread that Army killed scores of innocent people,” stated the key ally of PTI.
Achakzai opined that according to their own investigation, it was found that some people amongst the protestors opened fire, due to which “one person got killed.”
He also said, “My disagreement with the army is due to our difference of understanding in their constitutional role and I can say, without a doubt, the army did not fire at the protestors. In fact, they pelted stones at the Army.”
ARY News has reported on Thursday that well-known businessman Zulfiqar Ahmed has allegedly gone missing in Karachi.
Social media is peppered with images of an abandoned BMW car in the middle of a road. The car reportedly belonged to Zulfiqar Ahmed, the owner of Paracha Textiles, Meezan Oil, and Cola Next.
According to ARY News, armed men forced Ahmed and his partner, Qaiser, into a double cabin vehicle at gunpoint on Mauripur Road in Keamari.
Interestingly, the eyewitnesses reported that the other person, Qaiser, was released shortly after the capture.
More importantly, the family of the abducted individual is facing challenges in filing a First Information Report (FIR) at a police station. The police have yet to file the FIR.
Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has downplayed the ongoing issues with WhatsApp services being faced by users in Pakistan, attributing it to a possible “technical glitch”, Geo News has reported.
Problems arose a few days ago when users reported difficulty in sending and receiving media files, such as voice notes, photos, and videos, on WhatsApp using their mobile networks.
Complaints included media files either taking too long to download or not downloading at all, with some users receiving the following message from WhatsApp: “Couldn’t download document. Try again. If the problem keeps happening, try connecting to Wi-Fi.”
In the last 24 hours, Downdetector, a global platform that monitors problems with websites and online applications, has continued to receive reports regarding WhatsApp’s outages in Pakistan.
Telecom companies confirmed the issue to Geo News but did not comment further on the reasons behind it.
Interestingly, Usama Khilji, the director of Bolo Bhi, an advocacy forum for digital rights in Pakistan, suggested that the WhatsApp disruptions could be linked to the recent installation of the government firewall.
Khilji added that the complete lack of transparency regarding the firewall system being installed was “criminal.”
PTA spokesperson Malahat Obaid denied any issues with WhatsApp, saying, “There is no issue with WhatsApp or any social media apps currently. In case anyone has experienced any such issue lately, it may be due to some technical glitch.”
As the Bannu Aman (Peace) Jirga, a traditional assembly of elders, concluded their meeting at the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister’s house, the issue of ‘good Taliban’ – the militants who have surrendered to the security forces – came to the forefront.
One of the jirga’s key demands was the “elimination of both the good and bad Taliban and their centres.”
The Jirga also sought to end the Good Taliban’s patrols and pickets in the area. Dawn News reported that the presence of these militants and the Jirga’s demand to end them will be challenging for both the provincial and federal governments.
On Sunday, CM Gandapur issued a video message on social media stating that he had pointed out at the first meeting of the apex committee that “some armed men—posing as government officials or claiming to represent government agencies—were roaming the area and interfering in government affairs.”
Gandapur said that he has ordered the police to arrest such individuals immediately.
After videos emerged of several individuals, allegedly Afghan nationals, vandalising the Pakistani consulate in Frankfurt, Islamabad urged Germany to take immediate measures to investigate the security lapse and hold those responsible for it accountable to the law.
The incident happened on July 20, when a “gang of extremists” attacked the consulate and “endangered” the lives of the consular staff on the premises, says the statement from the Pakistani mission.
In one of the viral videos, it can be seen that protesters carrying placards gathered outside the consulate.
The videos show three men — one of whom is seen clutching an Afghan flag — climbing a flagpole to remove the Pakistani flag.
However, some reports also indicated the protesters pelted the consulate building with stones.
Protest outside consulate
German media outlet DW reported that Saturday’s demonstration was arranged to “highlight complaints against Pakistan’s military and intelligence services, which organisers accused of killing critics and political opponents”.
DW quoted police as saying that about 400 people carrying Afghanistan flags took part in the demonstration outside the consulate.
Netizens on X also speculated that the people who vandalised the Pakistani consulate in Frankfurt belonged to the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement headed by Manzoor Pashteen.
However, Manzoor posted an official denial on X condemning the violence in Frankfurt. “Local authorities should take action against the perpetrator. Trained people are doing such acts on planning to create negative propaganda against people’s protests,” he asserted.
Pakistan’s reaction
The Foreign Office in Pakistan called out the German authorities for failing to protect the “sanctity and security of the premises of its consular mission” under the Vienna Conventions on Consular Relations, 1963.
“We are in contact with the German authorities to ensure such a situation doesn’t arise again and the miscreants face legal consequences,” the Pakistani embassy in Germany posted on its official X handle.
Information Minister Atta Tarar, in a press conference, revealed that NADRA is asked to analyse the footage of the incident in Frankfurt to ascertain whether any Pakistanis were involved.
Though the Foreign Office did not point to the nationality of the miscreants, some of them were draped in the tri-colour Afghanistan flag. Defence Minister Khawaja Asif, however, lashed out at the Afghan nationals, saying Islamabad needed to rethink its hospitality towards Afghan citizens in the wake of this incident.
“There’s a limit to hospitality. They swore at us; they swore at Pakistan. They talk against the integrity of Pakistan. They carry out proper rallies [against Pakistan]. They burn our flags,” he told Geo News, claiming that Pakistan fought wars for Kabul. “I think Pakistan needs to rethink their hospitality,” he said.
Pakistan hosts over three million Afghan refugees and recently launched a deportation drive to expel those who were residing in the country without documents.
Earlier this month, the government extended the stay of registered Afghan refugees by one year.
Joe Biden on Sunday dropped out of the US presidential election and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris as the Democratic Party’s new nominee, in a move that upends the 2024 race for the White House.
The 81-year-old Biden stepped aside after weeks of pressure from Democrats following a disastrous debate performance, throwing the election battle against Republican Donald Trump into unprecedented turmoil.
“While it has been my intention to seek reelection, I believe it is in the best interest of my party and the country for me to stand down and focus solely on fulfilling my duties as President for the remainder of my term,” Biden said in a letter on X while recovering from Covid at his beach house in Delaware.
Biden said he would “speak to the nation later this week in more detail about my decision”. He later added that he was backing Harris, who is the first female, Black and South Asian vice president in US history, and will now be aiming to become its first female commander-in-chief.
“Today I want to offer my full support and endorsement for Kamala to be the nominee of our party this year,” Biden said on X. “Democrats – it’s time to come together and beat Trump. Let’s do this.” Biden is the first president in US history to pull out so late in an election race, and the first to bow out because of concerns over his mental acuity and health.
Biden spent more than three weeks resisting calls to step down following the shock of the June 27 debate, at one point insisting that only the “Lord Almighty” could convince him to back out.
In a bid to show he was up to the job, he gave a number of interviews and what was billed as a “big boy” press conference in which he took numerous questions, but made further gaffes including calling Harris “Vice President Trump”. A tide of voices within his own party calling on him to go, starting with donor and actor George Clooney and ending with former president Barack Obama, sealed his fate.
Chaotic period for US
The end finally came shortly after Biden had been diagnosed with Covid, forcing him off the campaign trail and into isolation in Rehoboth Beach.
Biden’s decision to pull out also caps a tense and chaotic period in the US election, with Trump having survived an assassination attempt at a campaign rally on July 13.
Biden joins a small club of US presidents who have decided to throw in the towel after just one term, with the last being Lyndon Johnson in 1968 — a year also marked by political turmoil and violence.
Johnson’s replacement as nominee, then-vice president Hubert Humphrey, went on to lose heavily to Richard Nixon. But Democrats are counting on Harris to fare better, and hoping that she can prevent convicted felon Trump from making a sensational comeback to the Oval Office.
In recent weeks, the Biden campaign has reportedly been quietly carrying out a head-to-head survey of voters measuring how she matched up against Trump.
While Harris struggled to make an impact in her first years in the White House, she has emerged in the last year as a strong performer on the campaign trail on key messages such as abortion rights. She has also made much of her life story as the first woman in US history to hold the vice presidency, as well as the first person of Black and South Asian origin.
Barring opposition from her party, Harris is now set to be nominated at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago on August 19 in what promises to be a dramatic moment — and a heartrending one for Biden.
Biden took office in January 2021 pledging to heal the “soul of America” after four turbulent years under Trump and the shock of the January 6, 2021 Capitol assault by his supporters.
Overcoming a reputation for verbal flubs, Obama’s former vice president pushed through a massive Covid recovery plan and a green industry scheme.
US allies welcomed his pledge that “America is back” following Trump’s trampling on international alliances, and his strong support for Ukraine as it battled Russia’s 2022 invasion. But he faced criticism over the catastrophic US withdrawal from Afghanistan and inflation that meant overstretched Americans ignored otherwise positive economic numbers.
Behind it all were the ongoing concerns about his age with a series of senior moments, including tripping up the stairs to Air Force One and falling off his bike, contributing to the doddery image played up by Republicans.
Thousands of people rallied on Friday against a planned operation by the Pakistan military to root out militants along the Afghan border, with at least one protester killed when gunfire broke out, officials and witnesses told AFP.
More than 10,000 people waving white flags and calling for peace gathered for the rally in Bannu — 40 kilometres (25 miles) from Afghanistan — where a suicide bomber on Monday rammed an explosive-packed vehicle into an army enclave, killing eight Pakistani troops.
“Military operations have been ongoing for 20 years, yet peace has not been established,” protester Jamaluddin Wazir told AFP.
“Military operations can never be a substitute for peace.”
Pakistan’s government announced earlier this year, without giving details, that the military would launch a new campaign to counter violence in areas along the border with Afghanistan, which has surged following the Taliban government’s return to power.
Friday’s protest turned violent when crowds reached the walls of an army facility and gunfire broke out, witnesses and officials reported.
“They chanted slogans against the army, and some started throwing stones at the facility’s wall. This led to firing in the air by the military, causing a stampede,” an intelligence official in the nearby city of Peshawar told AFP on condition of anonymity.
At least one protester died, according to Pakhtun Yar, the provincial minister for public health, who was a speaker at the protest. He accused the military of opening fire on the protesters.
For years the Pakistan Taliban — a separate group from the Afghan Taliban but with a similar ideology — waged a bloody campaign in the area, killing thousands of civilians and taking control of parts of the border region, before being pushed back by a military campaign that began in 2014. The clearance operation displaced hundreds of thousands of people and destroyed countless homes and businesses, sparking a local backlash calling for the rights of ethnic Pashtuns to be protected.
But protests against the powerful military, which analysts say holds large sway over the government and foreign policy, are rare and often brought down quickly.
Former prime minister Imran Khan, who waged a campaign of defiance against army chiefs after being ousted from power, is currently in jail on charges of inciting protests against the military.
His party has faced a major crackdown, with supporters and leaders rounded up last year for staging an unprecedented day of rallies against the military, accusing it of interfering in politics.
Violence has surged along the border since the Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan in 2021, with Islamabad accusing Kabul of failing to root out groups taking shelter on Afghan soil while preparing assaults on Pakistan.
The Taliban government insists it will not allow foreign militant outfits to operate from Afghanistan, but Islamabad-Kabul relations have soured over the issue.
A call made by Noor Wali Mehsud, the head of the proscribed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) has revealed a sinister plot by the terrorist organisation to attack government schools and hospitals in Pakistan.
Talking to his henchmen Ahmad Hussain Mehsud alias Ghat Haji, and Saqib Gandapur, Noor says that one method of creating instability in Pakistan is to target government schools or hospitals with bombings without claiming responsibility for them.
The second option, he says, involves destroying the homes of police officers and soldiers.
He then asks the two men to keep the conversation confidential that no one should be able to trace the attacks back to TTP.
The Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP) approved the appointment of two ad-hoc judges on Friday to the Supreme Court for a period of one year, Geo News has reported.
Justice (retd) Tariq Masood and Justice (retd) Mazhar Alam Miankhel, both retired justices of the apex court, were selected after the JCP meeting headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa held on Friday to discuss the appointment of retired judges to the apex court in a bid to reduce pendency of the cases.
Justice (retd) Mushir Alam, Justice (retd) Maqbool Baqar and Justice (retd) Miankhel had declined offers to be appointed ad-hoc judges.
Sources have told Geo that Justice Mansoor Ali Shah, Justice Muneeb Akhtar and Justice Yahya Afridi opposed the appointment of Justice (retd) Miankhel as the former judge had already declined the offer.
However, his appointment was approved by a 6:3 majority and now it is up to the former judge that he accepts the offer or maintains previous his stance, they added.
Meanwhile, Justice (retd) Masood’s appointment was approved by 8:1 majority, with Justice Akhtar in opposition.
US President hopeful Donald Trump says he has been shot in the ear at a political rally, saying he heard a “whizzing sound” and feeling a “bullet ripping through skin”
At the scene, a male attacker was shot and killed by a member of the Secret Service after the apparent assassination attempt on Trump at the event in Pennsylvania.
The attacker also killed one and critically injured two others at the rally.
A witness told BBC they saw a man with a rifle crawling on a nearby roof before the shots rang out.
Trump is safe, but many are saying the attempt on his life will help seal his win in the presidential race against Joe Biden.
