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PHC orders reopening of KP roads blocked by PTI supporters

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Tuesday ordered the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government and police to ensure the reopening of roads blocked by PTI supporters and protesters in recent days. The protesting PTI workers have blocked KP’s entry and exit points for the last four days , demanding that the federal government move incarcerated party founder Imran Khan from jail to a hospital for medical treatment . A two-member bench headed by Justice Ijaz Anwar and including Justice Farah Jamshed took up the set of petitions filed by MPA Sobia Shahid, lawyer Tariq Afghan, Swabi resident Yousaf Ali and Shaoor Khan. Upon the bench summoning them, KP Inspector General Zulfiqar Hameed, Chief Secretary Shahab Ali Shah and Advocate General Shah Faisal Utmankhel appeared in court. At the outset of the hearing, Justice Anwar inquired about how many days it had been since the roads were blocked. “The roads have been shut for the past three days. Initially, 14 points were blocked, and now...
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The shutdown of USAID and the deeper crisis behind it

“Why did you start driving inDrive?” It’s my go-to icebreaker with drivers in Pakistan. Lately, the answers have been unsettlingly similar. “I used to work in the development sector,” one man told me. “Then I lost my job.” I’ve heard that line — or a version of it — too many times to dismiss as coincidence. Since the United States pulled the plug on its aid apparatus , the fallout has been immediate. On the surface, the shutdown of USAID is being framed as just another abrupt policy reversal — a bureaucratic casualty in an era of disruption. But look closer, and it reveals something far more profound: the cumulative weight of domestic and international tensions that have been simmering, both within and beyond the US for decades. Cycles of aid, cycles of distrust The first source of strain lies beyond US borders. From its inception as a Cold War instrument, American foreign aid has been shaped by an enduring tension between its declared objectives of development and altruism and it...
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Accused Bondi killer Naveed Akram appears in court by video link

Accused Bondi Beach killer Naveed Akram appeared in an Australian court via video link Monday, in his first public hearing since the nation’s worst mass shooting in nearly three decades. Akram and his father, Sajid, allegedly attacked a Hanukkah celebration in December. Sajid was shot and killed by police during the attack. Akram has been charged with terrorism, 15 counts of murder, dozens of counts of causing wounds to a person with intent to kill and planting explosives. He appeared in a Sydney court for about five minutes via video link from prison, according to a statement from the court and local media. The timeline of evidence was also discussed, the court said. The accused wore a green jersey during the hearing, which dealt mostly with technical matters such as suppressing the identification of some victims, local media said. He reportedly spoke only one word — “yeah” — when asked by the judge whether he had heard a discussion about the extension of suppression orders. A...
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CRICKET: REBALANCING CRICKET

It was never going to be easy for the International Cricket Council (ICC) to sideline Pakistan from the T20 World Cup, let alone exclude them from the marquee clash against India. That is precisely why, today on February 15, Pakistan will take on India for the ninth time in T20 World Cup history. It is a rivalry in which Pakistan has managed only one victory so far. Yet win numbers barely matter when these two teams meet, because this contest has grown far beyond cricket and has become arguably the most anticipated fixture in global sport. In the build-up to this match, uncertainty loomed large. Until just days before the game, there was no official confirmation that Pakistan would play. This followed a dramatic political intervention when the Government of Pakistan announced that it would not permit the Pakistan team to participate in the World Cup group-stage match against India. Despite the tournament featuring 20 teams, this single lucrative fixture dominated headlines across the...
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Iran open to nuclear deal compromises if US discusses lifting sanctions, minister tells BBC

Iran is ready to consider compromises to reach a nuclear deal with the United States if Washington is willing to discuss lifting sanctions, Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Majid Takht-Ravanchi told the BBC in an interview published on Sunday. Iran has said it is prepared to discuss curbs on its nuclear programme in return for the lifting of sanctions, but has repeatedly ruled out linking the issue to other questions, including missiles. Takht-Ravanchi confirmed that a second round of nuclear talks would take place on Tuesday in Geneva, after Tehran and Washington resumed discussions in Oman earlier this month. “[Initial talks went] more or less in a positive direction, but it is too early to judge,” Takht-Ravanchi told the BBC. A US delegation, including envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, will meet with the Iranians on Tuesday morning, a source had told Reuters on Friday, with Omani representatives mediating the US-Iran contacts. Iran’s atomic chief said on Monday the co...
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TTAP sit-in at Parliament House over Imran’s health concerns enters 3rd day

ISLAMABAD: The sit-in by the main opposition alliance Tehreek-i-Tahafuz-i-Ayin-i-Pakistan (TTAP) at Parliament House over concerns regarding PTI founder Imran Khan’s health entered its third day on Sunday. After the Supreme Court (SC) was informed on February 12 that Imran’s right eye had only 15 per cent vision remaining, the TTAP announced it would stage a sit-in until the ex-premier was shifted to a hospital of his personal doctors’ choice. Although government figures on Saturday had hinted that Imran — currently incarcerated at Rawalpindi’s Adiala jail — will soon be shifted to a hospital, no such development had occurred till Sunday morning. PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan shared visuals of him, TTAP Chairman Mehmood Khan Achakzai, Senate Opposition Leader Allama Raja Nasir Abbas, PTI Secretary General Salman Akram Raja, MNA Asad Qaiser and Senator Faisal Javed, among others, sitting at Parliament House. A TTAP leader, wishing not to be named, told Dawn that thi...
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