ISLAMABAD: The director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) called on the Pakistani army chief in Rawalpindi on Thursday and discussed the regional security situation with a focus on Afghanistan, the Pakistan army’s media wing said.
The visit by Willian J Burns comes two days after the Taliban announced an interim government made up mainly of ethnic Pashtun men including wanted terror suspects and hard-liners, dashing international hopes for a more moderate administration.
The Taliban’s new government has agreed to the Thursday evacuation of two hundred Americans and other foreigners who remain in Afghanistan. The departures will be among the first international flights to take off from Kabul airport since the militants seized the capital in mid-August, triggering the chaotic US-led evacuation of 124,000 foreigners and at-risk Afghans.
“During the meeting, matters of mutual interest, regional security situation and current situation in Afghanistan were discussed,” the army said. “It was reiterated that Pakistan remains committed to cooperate with its international partners for peace in the region and ensure a stable and prosperous future for Afghan people.”
The CIA director also appreciated Pakistan’s role in Afghanistan, including its help in evacuation efforts and for regional stability and peace.
The Taliban’s announcement of a new government on Tuesday was widely seen as a signal the group was not looking to broaden their base and present a more tolerant face to the world, as they had suggested they would do before their military takeover.
Foreign countries greeted the interim government with caution and dismay on Wednesday. In Kabul, dozens of women took to the streets in protest.
Many critics called on the leadership to respect basic human rights and revive the economy, which faces collapse amid steep inflation, food shortages and the prospect of foreign aid being slashed as countries seek to isolate the Taliban.
CIA director in Pakistan for talks on Afghanistan
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CIA director in Pakistan for talks on Afghanistan
- Visit by Willian J Burns comes two days after Taliban announced interim government made up mainly of ethnic Pashtun men
- CIA director appreciates Pakistan’s role in Afghanistan, including help in evacuation efforts and for regional stability and peace
Pakistan begins first anti-polio drive of 2025 to vaccinate over 45 million children
- Around 400,000 polio vaccinators will administer vaccines door-to-door to children, says official
- Pakistan has reported only one case this year but last year, it reported an alarming 73 cases of disease
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has formally kicked off its first anti-polio drive of 2025 today, Monday, to vaccinate over 45 million children under the age of five, the health ministry said as the country hopes to stem the spread of the disease.
The Pakistan polio program conducts multiple mass vaccination drives in a year, and this year’s first anti-polio vaccination campaign is expected to continue till Feb. 9. Pakistan has assembled teams of around 400,000 polio workers to go door-to-door countrywide to vaccinate children below five years of age, Coordinator for Health Dr. Mukhtar Bharath said.
Polio is a paralyzing disease that has no cure. Multiple doses of the oral polio vaccine and completion of the routine vaccination schedule for all children under the age of five are essential to provide children high immunity against the disease.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif launched Pakistan’s first anti-polio drive of 2025 during an event in Islamabad on Sunday, administering polio drops to children during the ceremony.
“During the polio campaign, more than 45 million children across the country will be administered polio drops,” the Ministry of Health’s spokesperson said.
Dr. Bharath called on parents to support polio vaccinators and ensure their children received the vaccines.
“It is the national and moral responsibility of parents to vaccinate all children under the age of five,” he said.
Pakistan has reported only one polio case this year. However, last year the South Asian country reported 73 cases with Balochistan province reporting 27, the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Sindh reporting 22 case each, and Pakistan’s capital city and eastern Punjab province each reporting one case of the disease throughout the year.
Pakistan and Afghanistan remain the only two countries where the disease is endemic.
Immunization campaigns have succeeded in most countries and have come close in Pakistan, but persistent problems remain. In the early 1990s, Pakistan reported around 20,000 cases annually but in 2018 the number dropped to eight cases. Six cases were reported in 2023 and only one in 2021.
Pakistan’s polio program began in 1994 but efforts to eradicate the virus have since been undermined by vaccine misinformation and opposition from some religious hard-liners who say immunization is a foreign ploy to sterilize Muslim children or a cover for Western spies.
Militant groups also frequently attack and kill members of polio vaccine teams.
Pakistan busts international drug gang, frees family ‘framed’ for smuggling narcotics
- The family was detained in Saudi Arabia after their luggage tag was swapped by the gang at the airport
- Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi praises Anti-Narcotics Force, thanks Saudi government for their cooperation
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) has busted an international drug gang and arrested nine suspects who had “framed” a Pakistani family in their bid to smuggle narcotics to Saudi Arabia, the Pakistani interior ministry said on Sunday.
Farhana Akram, a resident of Lahore, had traveled to Saudi Arabia with her four family members, Haroon Ali, Malik Aziz, Fouzia Aziz, and Zakria Begum, on December 23, when the gang swapped Akram’s luggage tag with the help of an airport staff, according to the interior ministry.
Consequently, Farhana and her family members were detained in Saudi Arabia. The ANF investigated the case and detained a porter after viewing airport footage, which led to the arrest of nine suspects, including the ringleader.
“The ANF provided evidence to Saudi authorities, which led to the release of the innocent family,” the interior ministry said in a statement.
Pakistan’s Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi and ANF Director-General Maj. Gen. Abdul Mueed visited the affected family at their residence and congratulated them on their return home.
“The pain the family endured is indescribable,” he said, praising the ANF and the Saudi authorities for their cooperation. “I extend special thanks to the Saudi government.”
Naqvi said the ANF had initiated a nationwide crackdown against smugglers, cautioning citizens to remain vigilant against individuals offering free Umrah packages as such offers could be deceitful.
Separately, Pakistan’s Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) said on Sunday it had arrested 10 persons deported from Saudi Arabia for allegedly begging in the Kingdom, despite traveling there on Umrah visas.
The trend of beggars abusing visas to beg in foreign countries has Pakistan worried that it could impact genuine visa-seekers and particularly religious pilgrims traveling to Saudi Arabia. According to widespread media reports, Riyadh raised this issue with Islamabad at various forums last year.
Pakistanis are the second-largest expatriate community in the Kingdom, with over 2.5 million living and working in Saudi Arabia, the top source of remittances to the South Asian country.
Saudi Arabia’s KSrelief continues relief efforts in Pakistan, Lebanon and Syria
- The charity distributed 2,160 food packages in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Battagram and Buner districts as well as Sukkur in Sindh
- The aid was given to families in flood-affected areas as part of the Saudi organization’s Food Security Support Project 2025
RIYADH: The King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center’s (KSrelief) humanitarian and relief efforts continue with the distribution of food, hygiene supplies as well as the provision of emergency transport services.
In in Ma’arrat Misrin of Syria’s Idlib Governorate, KSrelief handed out 672 food boxes and 672 hygiene kits as part of the second phase of the food aid and hygiene kit distribution project for populations affected by the earthquake in 2025.
In Lebanon’s Akkar Governorate and Miniyeh district, the aid agency during the past week distributed 175,000 bags of bread to Syrian and Palestinian refugees as well as residents of host communities. The initiative was part of the fourth phase of Al-Amal Charitable Bakery Project in the country.
In the Battagram and Buner districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, as well as the Sukkur district in Sindh province of Pakistan, 2,160 food packages were given to families in flood-affected areas as part of the Food Security Support Project 2025
Meanwhile, KSrelief delivered 125 tons of dates to Sudan as a gift from the Kingdom.
In north Lebanon, the KSrelief-funded ambulance service of Subul Al-Salam Social Association in the Miniyeh district carried out 61 missions during the past week, including transporting patients to and from hospitals and treating burn injuries.
Islamabad lawyers call strike today over ‘unconstitutional’ transfer of judges
- The development comes a day after Pakistan’s president approved transfer of three judges from Sindh, Balochistan and Lahore to Islamabad High Court
- Pakistan’s constitution empowers the president to transfer a judge from one high court to another after the concerned judge consents to the decision
ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad Bar Council (IBC), Islamabad High Court Bar Association (IHCBA) and the Islamabad District Bar Association (IDBA) have announced a strike on Monday to protest recent transfer of judges to the Islamabad High Court (IHC), calling them “unconstitutional measures affecting the judiciary and the legal profession.”
The announcement was made after a joint meeting of lawyer bodies a day after President Asif Ali Zardari approved the transfer of three judges from the high courts of Sindh, Balochistan and Lahore to the Islamabad High Court (IHC), amid opposition from five IHC judges.
Zardari approved the transfers of Justice Sardar Muhammad Sarfraz Dogar from the Lahore High Court (LHC), the Sindh High Court’s (SHC) Justice Khadim Hussain Soomro and the Balochistan High Court’s (BHC) Justice Muhammad Asif to the IHC. Local media reported the government was considering elevating Justice Dogar to the post of the IHC chief justice.
In a statement issued after Sunday’s meeting of lawyer bodies, the IBC said the legal fraternity of Islamabad “strongly condemns” the recent notification regarding the transfer of judges from other provinces to the Islamabad High Court, describing the move as a “direct violation of the principles of judicial independence and regional representation.”
“It undermines the autonomy of the Islamabad high Court,” the IBC said. “The legal fraternity of Islamabad ensures its commitment to resist the unjustified transfers and appointments of judges from other provinces.”
Pakistan’s constitution empowers the president to transfer a judge from one high court to another after the concerned judge consents to the decision. The president can approve the transfer after consulting the chief justice of Pakistan and the chief justice of both high courts.
On Friday, five of 10 IHC judges opposed Justice Dogar’s transfer in a letter addressed to the chief justices of the Supreme Court and high courts. The five judges said if the decision to transfer the judge was aimed at elevating him to the post of IHC chief justice, it would be a “fraud on the constitution.”
The IBC said the lawyer bodies will pursue all legal and constitutional avenues to challenge the move and safeguard the “judicial independence of Islamabad.”
“An All-Pakistan Lawyers’ Convention will be held under the Islamabad Bar Council tomorrow... to formulate future strategy,” it said on Sunday.
Pakistan deputy PM reviews preparations for key talks with Qatar next week
- The bilateral talks in Doha, starting on Feb. 5, are expected to cover areas such as trade, investment and defense collaboration
- They come at a time when Pakistan is seeking to boost foreign investment and trade to put its fragile economy on path of recovery
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s deputy prime minister and foreign minister, Senator Ishaq Dar, has held an inter-ministerial meeting to review preparations for the upcoming Pakistan-Qatar Bilateral Political Consultations in Doha next week, Pakistani state media reported on Sunday.
The bilateral talks in Doha, starting on Feb. 5, are expected to cover key areas, including trade, investment, defense collaboration, and mutual diplomatic interests.
Besides leading Pakistan’s delegation at the talks, Dar will hold meetings with the Qatari leadership, a Pakistani foreign office spokesperson said on Friday.
During Sunday’s meeting, officials briefed the deputy prime minister on the status of various Pakistan-Qatar initiatives, the Radio Pakistan broadcaster reported.
“The deputy prime minister and foreign minister underscored that preparations should be made for substantive, productive and result oriented discussions in Doha,” the report read.
The talks come months after Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif visited Qatar in Oct. 2024 to bolster economic cooperation between the two countries. Sharif led delegation-level talks with the Qatari emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, before holding a separate meeting with him to discuss a wide array of issues.
“The leaders reviewed the entire spectrum of Pakistan-Qatar relations, exploring potential avenues for enhanced cooperation in trade, potential areas of investment, energy, and culture,” Sharif’s office said at the time.
Pakistan and Qatar have longstanding economic, defense and cultural relations. In 2022, the Qatar Investment Authority committed $3 billion for projects in Pakistan, spanning airport management, renewable energy and hospitality.
The talks between both countries are occurring at a time when Islamabad is seeking to boost foreign investment and trade to support its dwindling economy, which is on a tricky path to recovery since Pakistan avoided a default in June 2023.
