ISLAMABAD: The government will present the inquiry report of last week’s plane crash before a parliamentary session on June 22, said the country’s aviation minister, Ghulam Sarwar Khan, on Thursday while requesting the media and the public not to speculate about the causes of the accident.
“This will be a provisional inquiry report based on free and fair investigation [into the incident]. Nobody should have any confusion about it,” the minister said while promising to release all the inquiry reports of the past 11 plane crashes as well
A Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) plane carrying 99 people including crew members crashed into a residential area near the Jinnah International Airport in Karachi last Friday, resulting in 97 casualties. Two passengers miraculously survived the incident.
“It is my commitment to the nation that all information [related to the plane crash] will be shared with the public in the minimum possible time,” the minister said while announcing to lay the inquiry report in an upcoming parliamentary session on June 22.
Pakistan has a checkered history of aviation safety record that includes a number of air crashes. The country has witnessed 12 plane crashes including the recent one since 1947, out of which 10 involved PIA flights. The other two planes belonged to Air Blue and Bhoja Air.
The minister said that an independent inquiry board was looking into all aspects of the recent crash while an 11-member French team of experts had also collected evidence from the site of the incident to ascertain the causes of the accident.
“Why did this accident happen, how it happened and who is responsible for it, the whole nation is concerned about it,” the minister said, adding that all inquiry reports, including those focusing on past accidents, would not only be made public but also used to take action against all those who were found guilty of negligence.
He said that voice and data records had been found, and the French investigators would take them back to their country to decode them. “There are technical questions that you or I cannot answer. So, we will wait for experts to tell us,” he said.
“Whoever is held responsible [for the accident] will face dire consequences,” the minister said.
He also revealed that the pilot of the ill-fated plane tried to make belly-landing three times without announcing that its landing gears were not extending.
“It is a million-dollar question that he [the pilot] touched the runway three times, but then again lifted the plane up in the air,” he said, adding that the inquiry team would try to answer all the queries.
Out of 97 bodies, 51 have been handed over to their families after identification with the help of DNA tests while the identification process for the remaining bodies is still underway. “We are trying our best to hand over the bodies to their families as soon as possible,” the minister said.
He added that the government teams were surveying the damaged property and vehicles on the crash site to compensate the residents of Model Colony where the plane crashed.
“At least 15 homes are completely destroyed …. We will fully compensate their owners,” he added.
Plane crash inquiry report to be made public on June 22 – aviation minister
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Plane crash inquiry report to be made public on June 22 – aviation minister
- Ghulam Sarwar Khan revealed the pilot of the ill-fated plane made three botched attempts to make belly-landing
- Out of 97 plane crash victims, bodies of 51 have been identified with the help of DNA tests
At least five drown, several missing after flash flooding in Pakistan’s Swat river
- The flash floods resulted from heavy rain, rapidly raising river water to dangerous levels
- Rescuers striving to save stranded people, including tourists, at several locations in Swat
ISLAMABAD: At least five people drowned and several others were missing in the wake of flash flooding in the Swat river in Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province, the KP Rescue 1122 service said on Friday.
The perennial river originates in the high glacial valleys of the Hindu Kush mountains, from where it flows into the Kalam area before forming the spine of the wider Swat valley.
The flash floods resulted from heavy rain, rapidly raising river water to dangerous levels at six different locations across the Swat valley, according to the rescue service.
“Ten people were swept away near Relax Hotel Bypass and the body of one was recovered,” it said in a statement. “Three bodies were retrieved from at Angaro Dheri area.”
“Seven people were stranded at Ghalay, while body of a person was recovered.”
More than a dozen others, including tourists, were stranded in multiple areas of Swat.
On Thursday, the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) warned of heavy rains and flash floods in several parts of the country from June 26 till June 28.
It advised residents in flood-prone areas, particularly near nullahs, low-lying zones and slopes, to remain alert and avoid unnecessary movement, calling on emergency services to ensure readiness for any potential incidents.
“Eighty personnel of Rescue 1122 are taking part in the search operation,” the KP rescue service said.
The developments come as Pakistan braces for another extreme monsoon season and ramps up preparedness efforts.
In 2022, deadly floods brought by record monsoon rains and glacial melt killed over 1,700 people and impacted 33 million people in Pakistan. Raging currents swept away homes, vehicles, crops and livestock in damages estimated at $30 billion.
From India-Pakistan to Iran and Ukraine, a new era of escalation
- There have been several dramatic examples of escalation in several already volatile global stand-offs over the past two months
- Conflict between major nations can become normalized at speed – whether that means an exchange of drones or an existential battle
WASHINGTON: As India’s defense chief attended an international security conference in Singapore in May, soon after India and Pakistan fought what many in South Asia now dub “the four-day war”, he had a simple message: Both sides expect to do it all again.
It was a stark and perhaps counterintuitive conclusion: the four-day military exchange, primarily through missiles and drones, appears to have been among the most serious in history between nuclear-armed nations.
Indeed, reports from both sides suggest it took a direct intervention from US Secretary of State Marco Rubio to halt an escalating exchange of drones and rockets.
Speaking to a Reuters colleague in Singapore, however, Indian Chief of Defense Staff General Anil Chauhan denied either nation had come close to the “nuclear threshold”, describing a “lot of messaging” from both sides.
“A new space for conventional operations has been created and I think that is the new norm,” he said, vowing that New Delhi would continue to respond militarily to any militant attacks on India suspected to have originated from Pakistan.
How stable that “space” might be and how great the risk of escalation for now remains unclear. However, there have been several dramatic examples of escalation in several already volatile global stand-offs over the past two months.
As well as the “four-day” war between India and Pakistan last month, recent weeks have witnessed what is now referred to in Israel and Iran as their “12-day war”. It ended this week with a US-brokered ceasefire after Washington joined the fray with massive air strikes on Tehran’s underground nuclear sites.
Despite years of confrontation, Israel and Iran had not struck each other’s territory directly until last year, while successive US administrations have held back from similar steps.
As events in Ukraine have shown, conflict between major nations can become normalized at speed – whether that means “just” an exchange of drones and missiles, or a more existential battle.
More concerning still, such conflicts appear to have become more serious throughout the current decade, with plenty of room for further escalation.
This month, that included an audacious set of Ukrainian-organized drone strikes on long-range bomber bases deep inside Russian territory, destroying multiple aircraft which, as well as striking Ukraine, have also been responsible for carrying the Kremlin’s nuclear deterrent.
All of that is a far cry from the original Cold War, in which it was often assumed that any serious military clash – particularly involving nuclear forces or the nations that possessed them – might rapidly escalate beyond the point of no return. But it does bring with it new risks of escalation.
Simmering in the background, meanwhile, is the largest and most dangerous confrontation of them all — that between the US and China, with US officials saying Beijing has instructed its military to be prepared to move against Taiwan from 2027, potentially sparking a hugely wider conflict.
As US President Donald Trump headed to Europe this week for the annual NATO summit, just after bombing Iran, it was clear his administration hopes such a potent show of force might be enough to deter Beijing in particular from pushing its luck.
“American deterrence is back,” US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told a Pentagon press briefing the morning after the air strikes took place.
Iran’s initial response of drones and missiles fired at a US air base in Qatar – with forewarning to the US that the fusillade was coming – appeared deliberately moderate to avoid further escalation.
Addressing senators at their confirmation hearing on Tuesday, America’s next top commanders in Europe and the Middle East were unanimous in their comments that the US strikes against Iran would strengthen Washington’s hand when it came to handling Moscow and Beijing.
Chinese media commentary was more mixed. Han Peng, head of state-run China Media Group’s North American operations, said the US had shown weakness to the world by not wanting to get dragged into the Iran conflict due to its “strategic contraction”.
Other social media posts talked of how vulnerable Iran looked, with nationalist commentator Hu Xijn warning: “If one day we have to get involved in a war, we must be the best at it.”
LONG ARM OF AMERICA
On that front, the spectacle of multiple US B-2 bombers battering Iran’s deepest-buried nuclear bunkers — having flown all the way from the US mainland apparently undetected — will not have gone unnoticed in Moscow or Beijing.
Nor will Trump’s not so subtle implications that unless Iran backed down, similar weapons might be used to kill its Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei or other senior figures, wherever they might hide.
None of America’s adversaries have the ability to strike without warning in that way against hardened, deepened targets, and the B-2 – now being replaced by the more advanced B-21 – has no foreign equal.
Both are designed to penetrate highly sophisticated air defenses, although how well they would perform against cutting-edge Russian or Chinese systems would only be revealed in an actual conflict.
China’s effort at building something similar, the H-2, has been trailed in Chinese media for years – and US officials say Beijing is striving hard to make it work.
Both China and Russia have fifth-generation fighters with some stealth abilities, but none have the range or carrying capacity to target the deepest Western leadership or weapon bunkers with conventional munitions.
As a result, any Chinese or Russian long-range strikes – whether conventional or nuclear – would have to be launched with missiles that could be detected in advance.
Even without launching such weapons, however, nuclear powers have their own tools to deliver threats.
An analysis of the India-Pakistan “four-day war” in May done by the Stimson Center suggested that as Indian strikes became more serious on the third day of the war, Pakistan might have taken similar, deliberately visible steps to ready its nuclear arsenal to grab US attention and help conclude the conflict.
Indian newspapers have reported that a desperate Pakistan did indeed put pressure on the US to encourage India to stop, as damage to its forces was becoming increasingly serious, and threatening the government.
Pakistan denies that – but one of its most senior officers was keen to stress that any repeat of India’s strikes would bring atomic risk.
“Nothing happened this time,” said the chairman of the Pakistani joint chiefs, General Sahir Shamshad Mirza, also speaking to Reuters at the Shangri-La dialogue in Singapore. “But you can’t rule out any strategic miscalculation at any time.”
For now, both sides have pulled back troops from the border – while India appears determined to use longer term strategies to undermine its neighbor, including withdrawing from a treaty controlling the water supplies of the Indus River, which Indian Prime Minister Modi said he now intends to dam. Pakistani officials have warned that could be another act of war.
DRONES AND DETERRENCE
Making sure Iran never obtains the leverage of a working atomic bomb, of course, was a key point of the US and Israeli air strikes. Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agreed that the dangers of a government so hostile to Israel obtaining such a weapon would always be intolerable.
For years, government and private sector analysts had predicted Iran might respond to an assault on its nuclear facilities with attacks by its proxies across the Middle East, including on Israel from Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza, as well as using thousands of missiles, drones and attack craft to block international oil exports through the Strait of Hormuz.
In reality, the threat of an overwhelming US military response – and hints of an accompanying switch of US policy to outright regime change or decapitation in Iran, coupled with the Israeli military success against Hezbollah and Hamas, appear to have forced Tehran to largely stand down.
What that means in longer term is another question.
Flying to the Netherlands on Tuesday for the NATO summit, Trump appeared to be offering Iran under its current Shiite Muslim clerical rulers a future as a “major trading nation” providing they abandoned their atomic program.
The Trump administration is also talking up the success of its Operation ROUGH RIDER against the Iran-backed Houthi militia in Yemen.
Vice Admiral Bradley Cooper, selected as the new head of US Central Command, told senators the US military had bombed the Houthis for 50 days before a deal was struck in which the Houthis agreed to stop attacking US and other international shipping in the Red Sea.
But Cooper also noted that like other militant groups in the Middle East, the Houthis were becoming increasingly successful in building underground bases out of the reach of smaller US weapons, as well as using unmanned systems to sometimes overwhelm their enemies.
“The nature and character of warfare is changing before our very eyes,” he said.
Behind the scenes and sometimes in public, US and allied officials say they are still assessing the implications of the success of Ukraine and Israel in infiltrating large numbers of short-range drones into Russia and Iran respectively for two spectacular attacks in recent weeks.
According to Ukrainian officials, the drones were smuggled into Russia hidden inside prefabricated buildings on the back of trucks, with the Russian drivers unaware of what they were carrying until the drones were launched.
Israel’s use of drones on the first day of its campaign against Iran is even more unsettling for Western nations wondering what such an attack might look like.
Its drones were smuggled into Iran and in some cases assembled in secret there to strike multiple senior Iranian leaders and officials in their homes as they slept in the small hours of the morning on the first day of the campaign.
As they meet in The Hague this week for their annual summit, NATO officials and commanders will have considered what they must do to build their own defenses to ensure they do not prove vulnerable to a similar attack.
Judging by reports in the Chinese press, military officials there are now working on the same.
Pakistan army chief urges civil servants to uphold integrity in state governance structure
- Development comes after defense minister described civil-military hybrid system as ‘co-ownership of the power structure’
- Field Marshal Asim Munir stresses inter-institutional cohesion, unified purpose to advance Pakistan’s strategic objectives
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Army Chief Field Marshal Asim Munir has urged young civil servants of the country to uphold integrity in the state governance structure to achieve national security imperatives and overcome internal and external challenges, the Pakistani military said on Friday.
The statement came after the army chief’s meeting with probationary officers of the 52nd Common Training Program (CTP) of Pakistan’s Civil Services Academy at the Army Auditorium in Rawalpindi, according to the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the military’s media wing.
These probationary officers remained attached with the formations of Pakistan Army at peace time locations and operational areas of Azad Kashmir, and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan provinces, and gained “rich experience” of the three services during various interactions and visits.
In his address, the field marshal spoke on a range of critical issues, including national security as well as internal and external challenges, and the pivotal role of the Pakistani armed forces in preserving regional peace and national stability.
“The Chief of Army Staff further highlighted the indispensable role of a capable, transparent, and service-driven civil bureaucracy within the architecture of state governance,” the ISPR said in a statement. “He urged the young officers to embody the highest standards of integrity, professionalism, and patriotic commitment in the fulfillment of their responsibilities to the nation.”
The development comes a week after Pakistan’s defense minister Khawaja Asif described the country’s governance as a “hybrid model” in which military and civilian leaders share power — an open secret in political circles but a rare public admission by a serving official that took on added significance amid the army chief’s solo visit to the United States this month and an unprecedented meeting with President Donald Trump.
Asif acknowledged the military’s prestige had “skyrocketed” after Pakistan’s four-day conflict with India last month, calling it a “blessing in disguise,” but rejected that this would erode democratic authority or give the army unchecked control.
“No, it doesn’t worry me,” he told Arab News, when asked if Pakistan’s history of direct and indirect military rule made him uneasy about the army’s stronger image.
“This is a hybrid model. It’s not an ideal democratic government … So, this arrangement, the hybrid arrangement, I think [it] is doing wonders,” Asif said, adding that the system was a practical necessity until Pakistan was “out of the woods as far as economic and governance problems are concerned.”
The defense chief argued the long-running political instability and behind-the-scenes military influence in earlier decades had slowed democratic development, but the current arrangement had improved coordination.
Pakistan’s military has played a central role in national affairs since independence in 1947, including periods of direct rule after coups in 1958, 1977 and 1999, when General Pervez Musharraf toppled then-Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, the elder brother of current Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. Musharraf ruled until 2008 when elections restored civilian governance. Even under elected governments, however, the army is widely considered the invisible guiding hand in politics and in shaping foreign policy, security strategy, and often key aspects of governance.
The ISPR said the army chief’s interaction with the young civil servants was part of a “broader national initiative aimed at strengthening institutional synergy and deepening mutual understanding” between Pakistan’s civil and military leadership, according to the ISPR.
“He (Field Marshal Munir) underscored the imperative of inter-institutional cohesion, mutual respect, and unified national purpose in advancing Pakistan’s strategic and developmental objectives,” it said.
The CTP participants appreciated the opportunity to gain insight into the Pakistan Army leadership’s strategic vision, operational readiness and its multifaceted contributions to national resilience and development, the ISPR added.
Pakistan begins registration of intending pilgrims for next year’s Hajj
- The registration process will continue till July 9 without any fee through 15 approved banks across the nation
- Registration will be mandatory for pilgrims left out of private scheme this year as well as overseas Pakistanis
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has begun registration of intending pilgrims for next year’s Hajj pilgrimage for both the government and private schemes, its religious affairs ministry said on Friday.
Intending pilgrims can register themselves through 15 approved banks and only registered candidates will be considered eligible for Hajj 2026, according to the ministry.
After the registration, which will continue till July 9, pilgrims will be able to opt for government or private Hajj scheme. No fee will have to be paid for Hajj registration.
“Hajj registration is being carried out on the instructions of the Saudi Arabian government,” the religious affairs ministry said in a statement.
“The Saudi Arabian government will set the Hajj quota based on the registration.”
The expenses and other terms and conditions of Hajj 2026 will be issued separately as per the Hajj policy, according to the statement. Registration will be mandatory for pilgrims who were left out of the private scheme this year as well as Pakistanis residing abroad.
Pakistan received a quota of 179,210 pilgrims from Saudi Arabia for Hajj 2025, which was evenly divided between the government and private Hajj operators.
While the government filled its full allocation of over 88,000 pilgrims, a major portion of the private quota remained unutilized due to delays by companies in meeting payment and registration deadlines.
Last week, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif directed the religious affairs ministry to begin preparations for the 2026 Hajj immediately, calling for urgent reforms to the country’s private Hajj scheme.
“The operational plan should be developed in accordance with the Hajj policy issued by Saudi Arabia,” he said. “No negligence in serving pilgrims next year will be tolerated.”
Previously, Pakistan’s religious affairs minister, Sardar Muhammad Yousaf, had confirmed that over 67,000 private-sector slots went unused, despite a last-minute effort to reclaim some of the allocation.
The shortfall prompted criticism and concerns over regulation and the capacity of private Hajj companies.
US, Pakistan agree to work together to promote peace in Middle East
- The development comes after 12-day war between Iran, Israel raised alarms in the region
- State Secretary Marco Rubio tells Pakistan PM Iran can never acquire a nuclear weapon
ISLAMABAD: The United States (US) and Pakistan have agreed to work together for peace in the Middle East, the US State Department said on Thursday, following a telephone call between US State Secretary Marco Rubio and Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
The development comes after a 12-day war between Iran and Israel, which began with June 13 Israeli airstrikes on Iranian nuclear facilities and military leadership, raising alarms in a region that was already on edge since the start of Israel’s war on Gaza in October 2023.
The Israeli strikes came at a time when Iranian officials were engaged in nuclear negotiations with the US and the conflict worsened after the US struck three Iranian nuclear sites on June 22. President Donald Trump claimed the strikes set back Iran’s nuclear program by years.
Pakistan has remained engaged in talks with regional partners like Saudi Arabia, Iran, China and Qatar to de-escalate tensions in the Middle East after Iran conducted retaliatory strikes on a US base in Qatar, raising fears the conflict could draw in other regional states.
“Secretary Rubio emphasized Iran can never develop or acquire a nuclear weapon,” State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said in a statement after Rubio-Sharif call. “The two leaders acknowledged the importance of working together to promote a durable peace between Israel and Iran and maintaining regional stability.”
Israel, the only Middle Eastern country widely believed to have nuclear weapons, said its war against Iran aimed to prevent Tehran from developing its own nuclear weapons. Iran is a party to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty while Israel is not.
Pakistan condemned Israeli and US strikes on Iran, and expressed concern over Iranian strikes on the US base in Qatar, calling for all parties to adhere to international law and the United Nations (UN) charter principles.
“While exchanging views on the current situation in the Middle East, the prime minister stated that Pakistan would continue to play a constructive role for bringing peace to the Middle East,” Sharif’s office said in a statement after his telephonic talk with Rubio.
In recent weeks, Pakistan has also repeatedly thanked Trump for his mediation during Islamabad’s four-day military standoff with India last month. Both countries had pounded each other with missiles, fighter jets, artillery fire and drone strikes that killed over 70 on both sides before the US announced a ceasefire on May 10.
While the May 10 ceasefire continues to hold, New Delhi has refused to budge from its earlier stance of suspending a decades-old water-sharing treaty with Pakistan. Islamabad has previously said any attempts to stop or divert its water will be regarded as an “act of war” and is also exploring a challenge to the Indian move.
During his conversation with Rubio, Sharif appreciated the “key role” Washington played in the Pakistan-India ceasefire, according to his office.
“The Prime Minister and Secretary Rubio agreed to continue working closely to strengthen Pakistan-US relations, particularly through enhanced trade,” it said.
