Pakistan vows ‘unflinching support’ on Kashmir Solidarity Day

Supporters of Pakistani Islamic political party Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) hold placards as they march during a demonstration to mark Kashmir Solidarity Day in Lahore on February 5, 2020. (AFP)
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Updated 05 February 2020
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Pakistan vows ‘unflinching support’ on Kashmir Solidarity Day

  • It’s been a battle of hope against overwhelming odds, President Alvi says in address to nation
  • National Assembly’s resolution calls on India to allow rights groups, media into the region

ISLAMABAD: As Pakistan observed the Kashmir Solidarity Day across the nation on Wednesday, Prime Minister Imran Khan lambasted India for its “scant regard of basic human norms” in the disputed region.

It follows New Delhi’s decision to take away Jammu and Kashmir’s special autonomous status on August 5 last year, leading to a subsequent curfew and a complete lockdown in the area.

“The unprecedented length of these restrictions has fully exposed the ‘fiction’ of India’s democracy and its scant regard for basic human norms,” PM Khan said in his address to the nation on Wednesday to mark the occasion.

He added that Kashmiris, the Muslim Ummah, Pakistan, and the international community had “rejected India’s travesty of law and justice” whereby eight million Kashmiris had been “turned into prisoners in their own land through the deployment of over 900,000 occupation troops.”
Following up on its decision taken on August 5, India formally split the region into two federal territories on October 31, in an attempt to fully integrate it with the rest of the country.

Khan said that tens of thousands of innocent people had been “arbitrarily detained and thousands of young boys abducted and incarcerated at undisclosed locations.” 

“This is a true manifestation of Indian state-terrorism,” he said.

PM Khan was joined by President Arif Alvi who expressed solidarity with the people of Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir, too.

“It has been a battle of hope against overwhelming odds, of courage against fear, and of sacrifice against tyranny; but through all of it, the Kashmiri people have persisted, unrelenting and proud as they have always been, to deny India the perverse gratification of subjugating them,” he said, before adding that New Delhi’s decision had “further strengthened the bond” between Pakistan and the people of the disputed region.
Earlier on Tuesday, the National Assembly unanimously passed a resolution urging India to reverse its decision and withdraw troops from the area.

The resolution calls on New Delhi to “immediately reverse and rescind its illegal action August 5, 2019, and October 31, 2019,” and withdraw “its occupation troops” from Indian-administered Kashmir and the Line of Control (LOC).

Tuesday’s resolution also asked India to lift a media ban in Kashmir with immediate effect, and allow the United Nations Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP) and the international media into the region, “to assess and report the human rights situation there.”

It also requested the Organization of Islamic Cooperation to convene a special summit on Kashmir, and called on the United Nations to enforce a peaceful settlement of the Kashmir dispute in accordance with the relevant Security Council resolutions, which provide for “a free and impartial plebiscite conducted under the auspices of the United Nations.”

The Kashmir issue is “not just a territorial dispute but a question of people’s inherent right to self-determination,” NA Speaker Asad Qaiser said, as quoted in a statement released on Tuesday.

Qaiser added that “each and every Pakistani child stood with their Kashmiri brethren,” as he requested all citizens and the Pakistani media to observe Kashmir Solidarity Day on Wednesday.


Pakistan champions SCO Development Bank plan to drive regional economic integration

Updated 03 June 2025
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Pakistan champions SCO Development Bank plan to drive regional economic integration

  • The finance minister virtually addresses SCO meeting in Beijing due to ongoing annual budget preparations
  • Muhammad Aurangzeb welcomes the operational launch of the SCO’s network of financial think tanks

KARACHI: Pakistan’s finance chief Muhammad Aurangzeb highlighted his country’s support for the establishment of a Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Development Bank during his address to the meeting of his regional counterparts on Tuesday while describing the initiative key to economic integration.

Aurangzeb made the remarks as he virtually joined the SCO finance ministers’ meeting held in Beijing due to Pakistan’s ongoing annual budget preparations. The SCO, a key Eurasian political and economic bloc, has emerged as a major platform for regional coordination and economic cooperation.

The SCO Development Bank is a proposed multilateral financial institution to serve member states that has been under discussion for several years. It has gained renewed interest from some SCO countries like Pakistan, China and Russia as part of efforts to boost regional economic integration, infrastructure financing and regional connectivity.

“Regarding the SCO Development Bank, Pakistan strongly supports this establishment,” the Pakistani finance minister said during his address.

“We envision the bank as an institution for innovation, integrating digital finance, fintech solutions and green financing mechanisms into its core operations, and look forward to engaging on the technical details of establishment of the SCO Development Bank,” he added.

Aurangzeb also welcomed the operational launch of the SCO’s network of financial think tanks, saying it would provide a platform for strategic foresight and policy research to support financial cooperation across member states.

Highlighting Pakistan’s recent economic performance, he said the country had made “significant progress” on macroeconomic stability, citing a current account surplus, improved fiscal indicators, a stable currency, growing foreign exchange reserves and reduced inflation.

These gains, he said, were supported by ongoing structural reforms in taxation, energy, public finance and state-owned enterprises.

Aurangzeb reaffirmed Pakistan’s commitment to the SCO’s core principles and called for enhanced economic collaboration through joint ventures, technology transfer and capacity-building initiatives among member states.

Noting global economic challenges such as slowing growth, rising inequality and climate change, he stressed that SCO countries must work together to promote sustainable and inclusive development, particularly across the Global South.

“Infrastructure development and regional connectivity are vital for promoting economic growth and integration,” he said, reaffirming Pakistan’s support for transportation, energy and digital connectivity projects under the SCO framework.

The finance minister concluded by reiterating Pakistan’s commitment to advancing the SCO’s vision of regional stability, prosperity and collective progress.


Islamabad Police say killer of Pakistani TikTok star Sana Yousaf arrested

Updated 41 min 11 sec ago
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Islamabad Police say killer of Pakistani TikTok star Sana Yousaf arrested

  • Sana Yousaf, with over 830,000 followers on TikTok, was murdered at her Islamabad residence on Monday
  • Islamabad Police chief says suspect murdered Yousaf for repeatedly turning down his “friendship” proposals

ISLAMABAD: Pakistani police said on Tuesday it had arrested the main suspect in the murder of 17-year-old TikTok star Sana Yousaf, disclosing that he had killed her after she repeatedly rejected his proposals for “friendship.” 

Yousaf, who had over 830,000 followers and 29 million likes on video sharing platform TikTok, was shot dead at her house in Islamabad’s G-13 area on Monday. Police launched a probe on Monday, saying that unidentified persons shot Yousaf in the chest twice and killed her on the spot. Her body was shifted to the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) hospital in Islamabad for post-mortem. 

A CCTV footage, which was first shared on private news channels and then later on state-run Pakistan Television (PTV), showed a young man walking briskly away from Yousaf’s house in broad daylight. Sharing details of the suspect, Islamabad Inspector General of Police Syed Ali Nasir Rizvi said the suspect is a matriculation student and the son of a retired government officer who was arrested from Faisalabad. 

The police official said the suspect did not have any source of income, adding that he used to promote content on Instagram and other social media platforms. 

“Before getting into the motive, I should make it clear that we have arrested [the suspect] and recovered the weapon of offense,” Rizvi told reporters at a news conference. 

He said police also recovered Yousaf’s iPhone from the suspect, which he had taken with him to erase evidence of the crime. 

“Basically, it was a case of repeated rejections,” Rizvi said, adding that the suspect had been trying to contact Yousaf through social media in the past, who had been rejecting his offers of “friendship.” 

He said the suspect had tried to contact Yousaf for eight to nine hours at her Islamabad residence on May 29, the day of her birthday, but could not succeed. Rizvi said the suspect tried to meet Sana again on June 2 at her residence, waiting there for eight to 10 hours but failed again. 

“And then he planned and entered her house because of his weapon and murdered her,” the Islamabad Police official said. 

Rizvi described it as a “blind murder,” saying that it was a challenging case for police to solve as the suspect had taken her mobile phone and left no evidence of the crime. He credited Islamabad Police officials for solving the murder within 20 hours through the use of cellular technology and digital surveillance. 

Pakistani news outlets frequently report cases of violence against women, particularly for turning down marriage proposals or for uploading videos on TikTok and other social media platforms. 

Police in Pakistan’s southwestern province in January arrested a man for being involved in murdering his 14-year-old daughter, an American citizen, for posting “objectionable” videos on TikTok. 

More than 54 million people use TikTok in conservative Pakistan, where authorities have repeatedly blocked the app over concerns regarding its content. It was banned four times in 2021.


Asia Cup in limbo after India-Pakistan conflict

Updated 03 June 2025
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Asia Cup in limbo after India-Pakistan conflict

  • India are scheduled to host T20 Asia Cup tournament in September this year
  • Strained ties worsened after intense fighting between India, Pakistan in May

NEW DELHI, India: This year’s Asia Cup hangs in the balance following the recent clashes between tournament hosts India and arch-rivals Pakistan.

Already-soured relations between the nuclear-armed neighbors further worsened after four days of intense fighting before a ceasefire was announced last month.

India are scheduled to host the Asia Cup, a flagship event of the Asian Cricket Council (ACC), in September but uncertainty lingers over the T20 tournament.

“To be honest, we have had no discussions within the board about the Asia Cup,” a top official of the Indian cricket board (BCCI) told Reuters on Tuesday, refusing to confirm whether the tournament will go ahead as scheduled.

“We have been busy with the Indian Premier League and then we have India’s tour of England. These are our immediate concerns,” he added.

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) was not forthcoming about its team’s participation in the tournament in India either.

“We will cross that bridge when we come to it,” the PCB told Reuters in a statement.

ACC president Mohsin Naqvi, who also heads the PCB, was not available to comment.

The ACC on Monday announced the postponement of the women’s Emerging Asia Cup, which was due to begin on Friday, citing weather conditions and the spread of the viral disease chikungunya in host nation Sri Lanka.

India will host the women’s 50-overs World this year but Pakistan will play all their matches in Sri Lanka under an arrangement made by the International Cricket Council.

India refused to travel to Pakistan for the Champions Trophy this year and played all their matches, including the March 9 final, in Dubai.

Bilateral cricket has been suspended since 2013 between the Asian neighbors, who play each other only in multi-team events.

India head coach Gautam Gambhir is against playing Pakistan even in neutral venues but will follow whatever the BCCI decided, he said last month.


ADB approves $800 million program to support Pakistan’s public finance reforms

Updated 03 June 2025
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ADB approves $800 million program to support Pakistan’s public finance reforms

  • ADB says the package will support tax reforms and digitalization to help boost fiscal sustainability
  • It includes a $500 million guarantee to help Pakistan unlock up to $1 billion from commercial banks

KARACHI: The Asian Development Bank (ADB) on Tuesday approved an $800 million financing package for Pakistan to help the country improve fiscal sustainability, strengthen public financial management and support economic reforms.

The funding, part of the Improved Resource Mobilization and Utilization Reform Program (Subprogram 2), includes a $300 million policy-based loan and ADB’s first-ever policy-based guarantee of up to $500 million, which is expected to help Pakistan raise as much as $1 billion from commercial banks.

“Pakistan has made significant progress in improving macroeconomic conditions,” ADB’s Country Director for Pakistan, Emma Fan, said in a statement. “This program backs the government’s commitment to further policy and institutional reforms that will strengthen public finances and promote sustainable growth.”

The program supports reforms to tax policy, administration and compliance, along with improvements in public expenditure management, cash handling and digitalization.

It also aims to facilitate investment and private sector development, with the broader goal of reducing Pakistan’s fiscal deficit and public debt while creating space for development and social spending.

Khurram Schehzad, adviser to Pakistan’s finance minister, also confirmed the development in a social media post, saying “diplomacy” led by the finance ministry and economic affairs division had helped secure majority support at ADB Board.

The ADB said the program is backed by a comprehensive support package involving technical assistance and coordination with development partners to help Pakistan build long-term fiscal resilience.

A founding member of ADB, Pakistan has received more than $52 billion in public and private sector financing from the bank since 1966, spanning infrastructure, energy, transport, food security and social services.

ADB plays a leading role in supporting inclusive and sustainable development across Asia and the Pacific.


‘Nothing left’: Indian artillery strike wipes out three generations of women at Azad Kashmir home

Updated 03 June 2025
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‘Nothing left’: Indian artillery strike wipes out three generations of women at Azad Kashmir home

  • Qaisra Bibi, her daughter-in-law and granddaughter were inside kitchen for morning tea when Indian artillery shell hit their home on May 10
  • India, Pakistan engaged in worst conflict in decades that killed around 70 people on both sides this month until US brokered a ceasefire

Abbaspur, POONCH: Blackened from the explosion, shards of a tin roof loosely hang from the branches of a wild apricot tree in the border village of Chaffar in Azad Kashmir’s Poonch district. What once used to be a modest kitchen is now littered with shattered stone, twisted metal and rubble.

It was here that a mortar shell struck hours before a ceasefire was announced between Pakistan and India. The Indian mortar shell instantly killed three generations of women, a mother, her daughter-in-law and two-year-old granddaughter, on the morning of May 10.

India and Pakistan engaged in a four-day military conflict that killed around 70 people on both sides last month, with the two nations attacking each other with fighter jets, missiles, drones and artillery until the United States (US) brokered a ceasefire.

Wajid Kayani, a Pakistani army soldier posted in Lahore at the time of the strikes, took heavy, reluctant steps as he led Arab News to a heap of rubble where his wife, mother and infant daughter had breathed their last in the wake of the cross-border skirmishes.

“[Just a night before], I had spoken to my mother and wife over the phone. They were both worried about the shelling,” he said.

“My mother told me and my younger brother [also a soldier], ‘May God protect you both. If someone has to go [die], let it be me.’ That’s what she said… and I can’t forget it. It’s unbearable,” Kayani said as he broke down.

The photograph taken on May 23, 2025, shows a broken window of Wajid Khan’s house in the border village of Chaffar in the Poonch district of Pakistan-administered Azad Jammu and Kashmir. (AN photo)

The deceased women were identified as Qaisra Bibi, Kayani’s mother, his wife Areesha Qayyum and their daughter Hadiya Wajid, who would have turned two on May 27.

All three of them were inside the kitchen for morning tea when the first shell struck the house, according to the family. Another shell landed just meters away, striking a tree and punching holes into the surrounding walls.

The kitchen, once used to prepare meals for a large joint family, now wears the look of a charred, cratered space. Broken plates, half-melted pots and a ruined gas cylinder are scattered around.

Faiz Muhammad Kayani, the 70-year-old head of the family, struggled to speak as he entered the drawing room of the house with the help of a walking stick. Dozens of mourners have been visiting the family since the attack, but the elderly man, father to three sons and four daughters, is unable to come to terms with the horror he witnessed.

That morning, Faiz was at his younger son’s adjacent house and was coming to feed the livestock when he heard the shell strike his elder son’s house. 

“I ran… I ran fast. But what was left to see? There was nothing left… just mud and stones,” he said in a shallow voice.

“They were buried underneath.”

A picture taken on May 23, 2025, shows the destruction at the house of Wajid Kayani caused by an Indian artillery strike in Chafar village in the Poonch district of Pakistan-administered Azad Kashmir. (AN Photo)

The 70-year-old fell silent before excusing himself from further conversation.

Faiz Muhammad Kayani, father of Wajid Kayani, is pictured at his house in Chafar village in the Poonch district of Pakistan-administered Azad Kashmir. (AN Photo)

Bitter rivals India and Pakistan have fought three wars, including two over the disputed region of Kashmir, since gaining independence from British rule in 1947. Both claim the Himalayan territory in its entirety but rule it in part.

The latest conflict was sparked by a militant attack in Indian-administered Kashmir’s Pahalgam town that killed 26 tourists on April 22. New Delhi blamed the attack on Pakistan, which Islamabad denied and called for a credible, international probe.

‘SCATTERED ACROSS BUSHES’

Kayani’s younger brother, Muhammad Sajid Kayani, also a soldier posted in Azad Kashmir’s Kotli sector, reached the house around 2 p.m. on the day of the tragedy.

“Despite the shock, [our] father pulled out the first body. Her [sister-in-law Qayyum] legs had been blown off,” Sajid said.

Their neighbors were unable to help as the shelling continued for hours. Sajid’s sister, who lived nearby, arrived shortly afterward and began searching for their mother.

“She found only our mother’s face. The rest of her body was scattered across the bushes. We had to collect the limbs piece by piece,” Sajid said.

“She found my little niece Hadiya under the rubble. Her left arm was missing. Her stomach was ripped open, and her intestines were outside.”

A picture taken on May 23, 2025, shows the destruction at the house of Wajid Kayani caused by an Indian artillery strike in Chafar village in the Poonch district of Pakistan-administered Azad Kashmir. (AN Photo)

But Hadiya was not the only child hit by the artillery fire.

“One of our nieces was just stepping inside through the kitchen door into the main house when the shell hit,” Sajid said.

“She was badly injured, shrapnel tore through her legs. She’s still recovering.”

The family held the funeral by 2:30 p.m. on May 10, hours before their eldest son, Kayani, could return home from Lahore.

“I couldn’t even attend the burial of my wife, daughter, and mother,” Kayani said, citing heavy shelling and road closures as the reasons.

Wajid Kayani (right) shows a picture of his two-year-old daughter, Hadiya Wajid, on his mobile in Chafar village in the Poonch district of Pakistan-administered Azad Kashmir on May 23, 2025, who was killed by an Indian mortar shell on May 10. (AN photo)

The two brothers returned to the wreckage the following day to search for anything left.

“We started clearing mud and lifting stones. That’s when we found more of our mother’s remains, her abdomen, and other parts. It must’ve weighed around 20 kgs. We buried them in a separate grave,” Wajid said.

“On the third day, we found even more, collected in a [huge metal] plate, and buried again in the same cemetery.”

Kayani’s daughter, Hadiya, was laid to rest in the same grave as her mother, Areesha. Her small body was torn apart by the attack and the family had no choice but to bury them together, given the intense shelling and chaos at the time.

His older daughter, just four years old, survived the attack. Her trauma, however, continues to run deep. 

“She flinches at every little thing,” Kayani said. “She barely speaks anymore… just sits there, quiet. Too quiet.”