The Indian Coast Guard has seized 526 kilograms of heroin and methamphetamine valued at more than ₹3,000 crore from an Iranian dhow in the Arabian Sea, while apprehending five Pakistani crew members onboard the vessel.

According to a statement issued by the Indian Coast Guard, the seizure was made during an intelligence-led joint operation conducted with the Gujarat Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) and a central intelligence agency.

Indian Coast Guard units intercepted the suspicious Iranian dhow west of Lakshadweep after detecting and tracking the vessel.

The Coast Guard said sustained tracking and a “hot pursuit” culminated in the tactical boarding of the dhow, resulting in the seizure of the large consignment of narcotics.

Five Pakistani crew members onboard the vessel were apprehended during the operation.

The vessel and its crew have since been escorted to Mumbai for a multi-agency investigation and subsequent prosecution, according to the Coast Guard.

The Indian Coast Guard said it remains committed to securing India’s maritime borders, dismantling drug-smuggling networks and countering transnational organised crime. (Newswire)

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The motorway linking Pakistan’s capital with Peshawar, about 180km (110 miles) to the northwest, has been closed to all traffic until further notice, according to a police notification.

So have the highway towards Dera Ismail Khan, the Hazara motorway and the Grand Trunk Road at Attock.

Each carries traffic between Islamabad and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the province governed by the party of jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan, whose supporters plan to march on the capital on Sunday, September 27, demanding his release.

The motorway from Lahore, about 375km (235 miles) to the southeast, remains open.

Inside Islamabad, workers have welded shipping containers together and filled them with gravel and sand so they cannot be pushed aside. Several schools and colleges have been told to shut so police brought in from Punjab and Sindh can be housed there.

Police expect the march to draw between 20,000 and 25,000 people, according to local media reports.

While two of the country’s main opposition parties announced marches on the capital this month, only Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has faced measures on this scale.

Jamaat-e-Islami (JI), a religious party, also set out for Islamabad last week to protest against rising fuel prices. On Monday, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif telephoned its leader, Hafiz Naeemur Rehman, and by Tuesday afternoon JI had postponed its march, pending a meeting between the two men.

PTI leaders have received no such call.

Instead, Khan’s three sisters, all over the age of 65, have been detained in Lahore and at least six of the party’s legislators in Islamabad, all under a 1960 public order law that allows preventive detention without charge.

PTI says the true figure of those arrested is higher, and that one lawmaker taken from the parliament lodges has not been traced since.

Khan has been in prison since August 2023 and remains Pakistan’s most prominent opposition figure. But his party enters the final stretch before the protest weakened, with no major demonstration outside Khyber Pakhtunkhwa since November 2024, by its own account.

Yet, say analysts, the Pakistani government appears to be treating the protest march as a far bigger threat than a regular political event would warrant.

“While this is undoubtedly a difficult moment for PTI, it is equally exposing the government’s own frustration,” Habib Akram, a Lahore-based political analyst, told Al Jazeera.

“In fact, the government’s conduct suggests something more. It isn’t just afraid of this protest; it has turned this protest into a matter of its own survival.”

A capital behind containers

More than 2,000 containers have been placed across Islamabad and at Attock Bridge, the main crossing between Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab, according to media reports, with 19,000 police officers on their way from Punjab and Sindh, and thousands more deployed at Attock.

Dawn, the country’s leading English-language newspaper, said in an editorial that the government appeared to be preparing “not for a political event but an invasion”.

Talal Chaudhry, the junior interior minister, rejected the suggestion that the government was shutting down the capital itself.

“Normal life in Islamabad is continuing. Hospitals, offices and essential services are functioning. The containers and security arrangements are precautionary measures, not a shutdown,” he told Al Jazeera.

Rana Ihsaan Afzal, a coordinator to the prime minister and a government spokesperson, was more candid.

“In trying to counter the rhetoric PTI has adopted, we do have to take certain measures, and yes, those measures carry their own consequences too, but we have to look at the bigger picture,” he told Al Jazeera.

It is all being mounted during one of the deadliest weeks for Pakistan’s security forces this year.

An attack on a police compound in Kohat, in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, killed more than 20 people on September 18, and six soldiers were killed in a gunfight in nearby Hangu two days later.

Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi set those losses against the march in Lahore on Monday.

“The situation in KP [Khyber Pakhtunkhwa] over the past 10 days is before everyone. There was a suicide attack on a mosque, and two or three other attacks. Our captain was killed, our soldiers were killed, our policemen were killed, and these people are preparing to storm a city,” he said.

The government’s case

Government ministers have seized on a remark by Junaid Akbar, PTI’s chief in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, who said protesters would turn Islamabad into Somnath, a Hindu temple in India sacked by Mehmood of Ghazni, an 11th-century invader, to try to paint the upcoming protest as a major law and order threat.

“Peaceful people do not leave their homes carrying nail-studded sticks,” Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said in Kohat on Monday.

But the PTI’s Sohail Afridi, the chief minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, who will lead the September 27 march, answered Tarar in Peshawar on Monday.

“We will go there on nothing but two hands and two feet. There will be nothing else in our hands,” he said.

In a September 18 judgement, the Islamabad High Court ruled that no party could block roads into the capital, and barred provincial governments from using state resources for the march.

Days later came the arrests of Imran Khan’s sisters. Aleema Khan was detained in Lahore on Sunday, and her sisters, Uzma Khan and Noreen Niazi, were taken in a predawn raid on their homes the next day, according to a family statement on September 22.

The Lahore High Court has reserved its decision on whether a petition challenging Aleema’s detention is admissible, after the family’s lawyer argued that the order was issued after the arrest.

Chaudhry said the sisters faced several cases, had led confrontational protests in the past, and were being held as a preventive measure.

PTI says the arrests reach far wider, listing five members of the National Assembly, a senator, provincial legislators and more than 1,500 workers.

“We were peaceful, we are peaceful, and we will remain peaceful. We are being punished for being peaceful,” Gohar Ali Khan, the PTI chairman, said in Peshawar on Monday, noting that four women from Khan’s family, including his wife Bushra Bibi, are now in jail.

‘Long march’ vs ‘permanent plan of action’

But Interior Minister Naqvi suggested that the government is bracing for a confrontation.

“I think this time we will draw up a permanent plan of action. We will not go halfway,” Naqvi said in Lahore on Monday, adding that the matter would be settled “once and for all”.

What he ruled out was a long sit-in of the kind PTI has staged before.

“This time, it will not happen that they come, and the country is shut down for 10 or 20 days. That possibility does not exist,” he said.

Afridi has signalled that he has exactly that in mind.

“The long march is not a T20, it will be a Test match,” he said on Monday, a reference to cricket’s five-day format.

If Naqvi’s comments sound ominous, they also carry a history with them.

On May 9, 2023, after Imran Khan was briefly arrested, his supporters attacked military installations across the country, including burning down a senior commander’s official residence in Lahore. That led to a major crackdown on the PTI’s supporters and leaders, with hundreds placed under arrest for days, and party leaders pressured to leave the group.

Then, on November 26, 2024, a PTI march on Islamabad ended in an overnight crackdown by security forces, in which the party says at least 12 of its supporters were killed. The government denies that, and says four security personnel died — even though Al Jazeera met families of some of the PTI supporters killed. (Al Jazeera)

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The son of jailed ex-Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan has said the family faces a “disgraceful” crackdown ahead of a major protest march due to take place this Sunday.

Suleiman Khan, 29, urged Western governments to take a stand against the “tyrants” leading Pakistan and said the detention of three members of his family in the country was “intended to intimidate them ahead of Sunday’s protest”.

Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party has called a march to the capital Islamabad on Sunday, with officials telling The Independent they are prepared for the demonstration to become a multi-day affair. The authorities have said they plan to stop the march happening, lining the streets of the capital with shipping containers and reportedly warning local hospitals to prepare for a “mass casualty event”.

Speaking to The Independent, Suleiman – Khan’s eldest son with his ex-wife Jemima Goldsmith, who alongside his younger brother is based in London – criticised the move to detain three of Khan’s Pakistan-based relatives, including his sister, ahead of the march. Dozens of PTI activists and party workers have also been detained. 

“The abduction of our family members, including women and children, in the middle of the night, with no reasons given was absolutely disgraceful, and further evidence that this is a fascist regime,” he says. 

Ahead of Sunday’s planned march, authorities detained three of Khan’s sisters ​and hundreds of party activists in recent days, citing a need to maintain public order.

The show of force is the starkest sign in years of how divisions between Khan’s PTI and the military-backed government have polarised the South Asian nation of 240 million.

Suleiman describes his father’s treatment in jail as “appalling and illegal”.

He says the “only thing we can do at the moment is continue to raise awareness … and speak to politicians about what is going on not only with the appalling and illegal way in which our father is being treated, but his family, party, and any dissenting members of the public”.

Kasim wrote on X: “You can arrest families and threaten people with violence. But you cannot imprison 250 million Pakistanis or crush the will of a generation. No regime is more powerful than its people. The world must watch as the people of Pakistan come together to demonstrate their plea for justice, even in the face of threats of violence.” 

Zulfiqar Ali Bukhari, a senior PTI leader and close ally of the jailed former prime minister, says the party was “100 per cent going ahead” with the nationwide protest. 

“We’re looking at different variables of how to manage the flow of the protest. It’s not necessary that we will reduce it to one day. It could be stretched over several days. So these are strategies that we’re looking at,” Bukhari says, describing the latest crackdown on Khan’s immediate family and supporters as “deadly”.

On Sunday, police detained Khan’s sister Aleema at her home in Lahore under the Punjab Maintenance of Public Order (MPO) law, according to Amnesty International. Hours later, authorities also detained his other sisters, Uzma Khan and Noreen Niazi, along with several other relatives.

Party leaders condemned their “illegal harassment” and said Sunday’s “long march” will demand Khan’s release. It will also protest what they describe as the erosion of democracy under the ruling coalition government.

The government has made it clear that it does not intend to let the march reach Islamabad. Pakistan’s interior minister Mohsin Naqvi has warned PTI leaders against going ahead with the protest.

“We will … shut down the city for several days. We have clearly told them that they can never achieve anything through such drama, and I will say again that there is still time; they should not go into this situation,” he said.

“Do not harm yourself and your workers,” he warned the PTI leadership, urging it to adopt a “different approach”.

The government said the restrictions are about maintaining public order. However, critics have described the latest crackdown as heavy-handed.

“The pre-emptive arrests of PTI members come ahead of planned country-wide protests by the party on 27 September, which government officials have openly vowed to stop. Roadblocks are already being erected in Islamabad,” Babu Ram Pant, Amnesty International’s deputy regional director for South Asia, said in a statement.

“Amnesty International calls on the Pakistani authorities to immediately release Imran Khan’s relatives and PTI workers, who have been targeted simply for their familial ties, political affiliation and plans to protest,” the rights body said in the statement.

“These developments do not bode well, especially given the authorities’ long track record of reckless and unlawful use of force against protesters. A protest cannot be deemed violent before it has even started.”

Khan, 73, has been in prison since his arrest in August 2023 and is serving a 14-year sentence in a corruption case, alongside a separate 17-year sentence in the state-gifts case. His party says his health has deteriorated during his incarceration, particularly after a serious problem with his right eye.

Khan’s sons, Suleiman and Kasim, earlier this month told the Guardian that they fear their father was being “slowly killed” due to the condition of the prison he is in. They described his confinement as “a form of mental and physical torture”.

In an interview with The Independent last year in September, Khan’s younger son Kasim said: “The conditions my father is kept in are extremely harsh. He is confined to what is effectively a death cell, with poor hygiene and no proper facilities.”

Pakistan’s government has rejected allegations that Khan is being mistreated.

The dispute over Khan’s health has also become a central part of PTI’s justification for the fresh protests.

Bukhari says the party had initially waited for the courts and government to address its concerns. “We kept our cool all the way through, but unfortunately, you know, they’ve ridiculed the Supreme Court of Pakistan,” he says, referring to the apex court’s recent order regarding Khan’s medical treatment.

The Supreme Court in August ordered Khan’s transfer to a private hospital from jail, meeting ‌a longstanding demand of his party and family, who had raised concerns about his health. He was briefly taken to hospital, ​declared medically fit and sent back to prison within a few hours, a surprise move that his supporters and party ‌said violated the top court’s directive.

Bukhari says the protests were about “showing the love and support of Imran Khan in the country”, insisting that they will be peaceful.

The government has been tightening security, reportedly placing over 2000 shipping containers on roads and bringing in police personnel from other provinces. Authorities are also indefinitely closing major roads and highways into the capital, according to reports.

More than 22,000 security personnel were expected to be deployed in Islamabad, while more than 30,000 would be stationed in Attock district, a key link between Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab.

The marches were expected to head towards Islamabad from Karachi, around 1,150km to the southwest, and Lahore, about 270km to the southeast.

Police in neighbouring Rawalpindi, Islamabad’s twin city, have separately requested an additional 9,000 personnel to support the local administration.

According to Dropsite News, Pakistan is putting Islamabad hospitals on emergency footing and directing them to prepare for a possible “mass casualty incident”, including postponing elective surgeries and recalling medical staff. The claim could not be independently verified. 

Documents allegedly obtained by the outlet revealed that federal health authorities instructed hospitals in Islamabad to prepare for a potential “humanitarian crisis” and “mass casualty incident” ahead of the planned protest.  (The Independent)

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At least three people have been killed in northeastern Afghanistan in Pakistani air raids, Afghan officials said.

Kunar provincial spokesperson Farid Dehqan told Al Jazeera that the air attack hit the Nurgal district at about 4am local time on Monday (23:30 GMT Sunday), killing three people and injuring four.

Pakistan’s information ministry ⁠said that 28 “terrorists” were killed in ⁠air strikes on three ⁠targets ⁠in Afghanistan.

Taliban deputy spokesperson Hamdullah Fitrat said at least one house in Kunar, a mountainous province in northeastern Afghanistan, was hit in the attacks, killing three members of the same family and injuring four others.

“In the Barmal district of Paktika province, two locations were bombarded, destroying one shop and one unoccupied house, with no casualties reported,” he said.

The attacks threaten to reignite tensions between the neighbours after nearly three months of relative calm.

Relations between the former allies have been strained since February, when the two sides fought their worst clashes in years.

The dispute centres on violence in Pakistan, with Islamabad accusing Kabul of harbouring armed groups that stage cross-border attacks from Afghan territory.

Afghanistan’s Taliban government denies the charges and says the violence is Pakistan’s internal problem.

The air raids on Monday come days after a Pakistan Taliban faction said it carried out a bombing attack on a mosque at a police facility in Kohat, northwestern Pakistan. The blast and subsequent gun battle killed at least 21 people, mostly police officers, Pakistani officials said.

Pakistan’s Ministry of Information warned Saturday that the country could hit fighters inside Afghanistan in response to attacks in Pakistan. The ministry blamed the Kohat attack on fighters it said were based in Afghanistan. (Al Jazeera)

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India has summoned Pakistan’s top diplomat in New Delhi in protest against a collision between the two countries’ navies in the Arabian Sea.

The Indian Ministry of External Affairs said on Wednesday that a Pakistani naval ship had collided with an Indian warship in international waters the previous day.

The ministry said it had lodged a protest with Pakistan’s charge d’Affaires of the Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi.

It accused Pakistan’s navy of “unacceptable and unprofessional conduct” leading to a collision with an Indian Navy unit.

It said the incident violated a 1991 bilateral agreement that requires naval ships and submarines of both countries to keep at least three nautical miles apart in international waters.

The ministry said the charge d’affaires was asked to convey to his government the need for military units to respect the agreements between the two sides “to prevent any repeat of such incidents”.

India’s charge d’affaires in Islamabad was also instructed to lodge a similar protest with Pakistan’s foreign ministry.

There was no immediate comment from Pakistan’s government.

This incident is the first case of direct military tension between the nuclear-armed neighbours since they fought a four-day direct conflict last year.

The two countries have not had ambassadors in each other’s capitals since 2019, when they downgraded diplomatic ties after New Delhi revoked the special status of Indian-administered Kashmir.

India and Pakistan have fought three major wars, two of them over the status of Kashmir, since they gained independence from British rule in 1947. (Al Jazeera)

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India’s drug regulator has issued a nationwide public health alert against two Pakistan-made skin-whitening creams after tests found excessive heavy metals beyond specified limits. The Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) has identified Goree Beauty Cream and Chandni Whitening Cream as unauthorised cosmetics and warned consumers against purchasing or using them. The alert, issued through a public notice dated September 8, 2026, comes amid concerns over unregistered cosmetics entering the Indian market. The regulator has also directed enforcement authorities to ensure the products are not sold, distributed or advertised.

Which Pakistan-made fairness creams has India flagged?

Goree Beauty Cream (Made in Pakistan)

The fairness cream has been identified by CDSCO as an unauthorised cosmetic. The regulator’s testing found excessive heavy metals beyond specified limits.

Chandni Whitening Cream (Made in Pakistan)

The whitening cream has also been flagged for excessive heavy metals and the absence of the required import registration certificate. Product names and country of manufacture as shown in the CDSCO public notice.

What did the CDSCO notice say?

According to the public health notice issued by the Cosmetics Division of CDSCO, the regulator conducted testing and analysis of the two products. The notice states that the creams:

1. Are unauthorised for sale in India.
2. Have not been issued registration certificates for import by the competent authority.
3. Contain excessive heavy metals beyond the specified limits, which may pose health risks, including toxic effects.

The regulator has advised consumers not to purchase the two products and not to use them if they have already been bought. The warning applies specifically to the two named products. Consumers should not assume that every fairness or whitening cream is unsafe simply because it is a skin-whitening product.

Why are heavy metals in fairness creams a health concern?

Heavy metals are a major concern in cosmetic safety because certain metals can be toxic to the human body, particularly when exposure is repeated or prolonged. Some skin-lightening products have been associated with harmful substances such as mercury, which can damage the nervous system and kidneys. However, the CDSCO notice provided does not identify which specific heavy metals were found in Goree Beauty Cream or Chandni Whitening Cream, nor does it publish their measured concentrations. This means the notice confirms a regulatory safety concern, but it does not establish the exact health effects that either product has caused in consumers.

Can skin-whitening creams affect the kidneys?

Certain heavy metals, particularly mercury, can affect kidney function. Prolonged exposure to mercury-containing skin-lightening products has been linked to kidney damage. However, there is an important distinction between a potential health risk and a confirmed case of illness. The CDSCO notice says the products may pose health risks, including toxic effects. It does not state that these creams caused kidney problems in Nagpur or elsewhere. The claim that a Pakistan-made fairness cream caused kidney problems in Nagpur needs separate medical and regulatory verification. The supplied notice does not establish that link.

How did Pakistan-made creams enter Indian markets?

The exact route through which the two products entered India has not been established in the CDSCO notice. The document identifies the products as unauthorised and says they did not have the required import registration certificates. It also warns establishments and individuals against selling, distributing or advertising them. The presence of the products in Indian markets raises questions about how unauthorised cosmetics are being brought into the country and how they reach consumers. The CDSCO notice itself, however, does not name an importer, smuggler, distributor or specific route through which the creams entered India.

Did Pakistan-made creams have import registration certificates?

According to the CDSCO public notice, the two identified products had not been issued registration certificates for import by the competent authority for sale in India. This is one of the key findings in the regulator’s warning. Under India’s Cosmetics Rules, 2020, imported cosmetics must be registered with the Central Licensing Authority in accordance with the prescribed rules. Cosmetics manufactured in India require a licence from the State Licensing Authority for manufacture and sale. The notice reiterates that cosmetics sold to consumers must meet applicable safety and regulatory requirements.

What does the nationwide alert mean?

The alert has been circulated to:

• All State and Union Territory Drugs Controllers.
• All CDSCO zone, sub-zone and port offices.
• Stakeholders and consumers through the CDSCO website.

Regulatory enforcement units have been requested to ensure that the unauthorised products are not sold within their jurisdictions. The notice also warns establishments and individuals not to sell, distribute or advertise the creams. This is a regulatory warning and enforcement direction. It does not, by itself, establish that every retailer or online seller of the products knowingly violated the law.

What should consumers do?

CDSCO has advised consumers not to purchase the two named products and not to use them if they have already been purchased. For other cosmetics, consumers should:

• Check the manufacturer’s details and manufacturing licence information.
• Look for the batch number, manufacturing date and expiry date.
• Check the import registration number on imported cosmetics.
• Avoid products with unclear or misleading labelling.

Be cautious of fairness creams that promise rapid skin whitening without clear ingredient and manufacturer information.If you have already used one of the flagged creams and develop persistent skin irritation, swelling, unusual pigmentation or other concerning symptoms, consult a dermatologist. If you are worried about possible heavy-metal exposure, tell the doctor the exact product name and take the packaging with you if available.

Are unauthorised cosmetics entering India?

The CDSCO alert highlights a wider consumer safety concern: whether cosmetics that lack required registration and safety compliance are reaching Indian buyers. The regulator’s warning against Goree Beauty Cream and Chandni Whitening Cream follows earlier directions to strengthen surveillance of imported cosmetics sold without valid registration certificates.

For consumers, the immediate message is clear: avoid the two named products. For authorities, the notice raises the need to identify how unauthorised cosmetics enter the market and ensure that sellers and distributors comply with India’s cosmetic safety rules. The supplied CDSCO notice confirms excessive heavy metals and missing import registration for the two products. It does not establish a Nagpur kidney-disease outbreak, a specific smuggling route or a confirmed causal link between these creams and kidney damage. The alert is listed on the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation website. CDSCO Public Notices: Public Health Alert Against Unauthorised Cosmetics Products. (NDTV)

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Protesters in Portsmouth gathered outside the Marriott on Tuesday night, believing busloads of asylum seekers were being brought to the four-star hotel, only to be told that it was Pakistan’s U-19 cricket team on tour.

British media first reported the incident, and the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) confirmed that it was reviewing the team’s security for the remainder of the tour and had reached out to the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB).

Al Jazeera reached out to the PCB but did not receive a comment.

Sumair Syed, PCB’s chief operating officer, told the BBC that the team reported people “knocking on their doors” during the incident, but the players “behaved responsibly and didn’t escalate the situation”.

The team continued with their scheduled match the following day, which they won by 177 runs.

Syed described the incident as “unfortunate” but said he was in contact with the ECB, which had “assured us that every possible measure should be taken for the security of the escort”.

“This is the responsibility of the whole sport to ensure the safety, security and wellbeing of the visiting team,” he said. “They are on it, and we are hopeful that nothing of such sort will happen in the future.”

Tuesday’s incident at the hotel comes in the wake of anti-migrant protests in Portsmouth earlier in the week.

British media reported that hundreds of protesters clashed with the police in Portsmouth on Sunday evening after a dinghy carrying asylum seekers was brought into the UK.

Reform county councillor George Madgwick, who was called to mediate the incident on Tuesday night, has repeatedly defended those protesting against the arrival of migrants in the UK.

“The left are losing their minds that a handful of people went to a hotel, by accident, when they thought migrants had been bussed in. Once they discovered it was incorrect they left swiftly. Literally nothing happened,” he wrote in a post on X on Wednesday night.

“If Labour fixed the small boat crisis this issue would stop,” Madgwick went on to say. (Al Jazeera)

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The U.S. Embassy in Sri Lanka says a joint counternarcotics operation has disrupted a Pakistan‑based trafficking network attempting to move crystal methamphetamine through Sri Lanka to international markets.

The Embassy said in a statement that acting on intelligence developed between August 14–29 by the DEA’s Foreign Counterparts Unit and Pakistan’s Anti‑Narcotics Force Special Investigations Cell, Sri Lanka’s Police Narcotics Bureau (PNB) intercepted suspicious maritime containers arriving from Pakistan. 

The seizure yielded approximately 463 kilograms of crystal methamphetamine, concealed in bath towels, with an estimated street value of $21 million. Several suspects, including Pakistani nationals, were taken into custody.

The US Embassy stressed that the operation underscores the strength of the US–Sri Lanka partnership in dismantling transnational criminal organizations that fund terrorism and threaten communities in both countries.

It further noted that this cooperation builds on longstanding training and technical assistance provided through the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL) to Sri Lanka Police and Customs.

The United States reaffirmed its commitment to working with Sri Lanka and regional partners to aggressively pursue transnational criminal organizations, deny them revenue from illicit drug trafficking, and protect citizens from the dangers of narcotics. (Newswire)

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The Pakistan Cricket Board has lodged a formal complaint with broadcaster Sky after they aired an interview with legendary Pakistan captain Imran Khan’s sons, Sulaiman and Qasim. 

The interview was conducted by ex-England captain and broadcaster Michael Atherton on behalf of Sky, and the full interview was aired on Day 1 of the 2nd Test between England and Pakistan at Lord’s.

According to The Guardian, PCB did not like that the official broadcaster of the Test series aired an interview which was heavily critical of the existing Pakistan government, and they have lodged a formal complaint with the company.

Sky, although they have acknowledged the complaint, did not issue a formal response. The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has also been made aware of the PCB’s grievances with the interview, although the ECB too are yet to come up with a response. 

Pakistan threatened to not take the field at Lord’s after lunch on Day 1?

ESPNCricinfo further reported that PCB even threatened that their players won’t take the field post-lunch if the interview is aired. Sky later released an 18-minute clip, but by the time it was released, Pakistan players were on their way to the ground for the second session. 

However, further reports have emerged from various quarters stating PCB did threaten that the players will protest by not taking the field if the interview was aired. 

What did Imran Khan’s sons say to Sky?

In their interview with Atherton on Sky on Thursday, the two sons of the legendary World Cup-winning Pakistan captain shared their deep concerns about their father’s health, which has considerably deteriorated in the past couple of months while being in jail. 

In a section of the interview, Qasim Khan told Atherton, “Right now, it’s crucial for us that he gets proper treatment. When we saw him, he had an eye patch on from the eye situation; he seemed visibly stressed and that is something that is very hard to imagine.

“Because he embodies a very calm and assured kind of presence. So to hear him stressed, anxious or disturbed is very difficult.”

Earlier this year, 14 former international captains wrote a letter to the Pakistan government expressing their concern over Imran Khan’s condition inside jail and prayed for better treatment of their ex-comrade.

Atherton was among the signatories alongside ex-India captains Kapil Dev and Sunil Gavaskar and ex-Australia skippers Greg and Ian Chappell and Alan Border.

Why is Imran Khan in jail?

The 1992 World Cup-winning Pakistan captain has been embroiled in legal battles since his ouster as the country’s Prime Minister in 2022.

Multiple alleged criminal charges were pressed against Khan and he was taken into custody in May 2023. Ever since then, Khan has spent more than three years in jail.

His condition deteriorated in January 2026 and reports emerged that Khan had only 15 per cent of vision in his right eye. Most recently, he underwent a medical check-up at a hospital in Islamabad. (The Cricket News)

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A fire erupted in a hospital maternity ward in Islamabad on Wednesday (Aug 26), killing 14 infants, Pakistan authorities said, blaming a faulty air conditioner for the blaze.

The dawn fire broke out on the third floor of the Mother and Child Health Ward at the public Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS), the Islamabad district office said in a statement.

The statement gave a death toll of 14, who according to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif were all infants. He called for an investigation.

At the hospital, AFP saw a nurse call out the names of babies who had perished in the fire as families gathered outside.

Khurram Mehmood, 40, told AFP he lost his three-day-old daughter in the blaze and that rescuers took hours to arrive.

“I lost my daughter. She was only three days old,” he said.

“My wife was in the ward. They took everyone out. We were sitting on the road waiting for help.”

A mother with black residue from the smoke on her hands stood crying outside the hospital as she held her 10-day-old baby in her arms.

“People were screaming. There was black smoke. We ran for our lives. Thank god my baby is safe,” Shagufta Parveen told AFP.

An AFP reporter saw other families in tears and a man clear glass from two broken windows, as security guards stood at the entrance to the leading medical facility.

“DEEP GRIEF”

Prime Minister Sharif and Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi expressed “deep grief and sorrow over the deaths of 14 infants” in separate statements.

“Such a situation involving children is irreparable,” the prime minister said.

“The circumstances that led to the incident should be thoroughly reviewed, those responsible should be identified and the strictest possible action should be taken.”

PIMS spokeswoman Aneeza Jalil told AFP said the fire was caused by an electrical fault and “fire sparked from the AC (air conditioner)”.

Sohail Ashraf, the Islamabad chief commissioner, said the emergency call was made just before 7am (10am, Singapore time), with rescue and police teams reaching the scene “immediately” and bringing the fire under control.

Fires in large buildings are frequent in Pakistan, often due to poor safety laws and building codes as well as lax enforcement.

In January more than 65 people were killed in a shopping centre fire in the port city of Karachi.

At least 11 people were killed in another shopping mall fire in Karachi in 2023.

In 2021 at least 16 workers died after a factory fire in the same city.

In 2012 at least 250 labourers died at a garment factory in Baldia Town, in western Karachi, when a fire engulfed the facility. The building had no fire escape. (CNA/ AFP)

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Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Imran Khan has been moved back to Adiala Jail from Shifa International Hospital in Islamabad, a spokesman for his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party said. 

Khan underwent a medical check-up at the hospital and was sent back to prison after doctors deemed it safe for him to remain in custody, according to Pakistani media reports.

“A team of qualified doctors, including an ophthalmologist, a cardiologist, and a physician, conducted a detailed examination of him and declared him medically fit,” Information Minister Attaullah Tarar wrote on X about Khan’s health checks.

“After the completion of this entire process, he was transferred back to Adiala Jail,” he added.

The 73-year-old ex-premier was moved to a hospital around midnight for a medical evaluation following a Supreme Court order directing authorities in Islamabad to provide specialised medical care to him amid health concerns.

Citing sources, Geo News reported that the PTI founder’s commute to and from prison was facilitated under extremely tight security. He has now been shifted to his cell.

During his brief stay at the hospital, dozens of PTI supporters had gathered near the hospital, according to French AFP news agency.

Why Ex-PM Was Taken To Hospital

Khan has been imprisoned since August 2023. He says the cases against him are politically motivated, an accusation the government denies.

According to his lawyers, his health has deteriorated in prison, and he has lost significant vision in his right eye. In its order on Tuesday, the Supreme Court told authorities to transfer Khan to Shifa International Hospital in Islamabad within 48 hours and allow him access to a medical panel that includes his personal physician.

The Shebaz Sharif government in Islamabad first announced it would implement the order but later filed a petition in the top court, seeking a review and recall of its order. The government has said medical reports disclosed no condition requiring immediate treatment.

Opposing Khan’s transfer, Pakistan’s Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar has argued that a convicted prisoner must be treated inside the jail or at a public hospital according to law. He added that he was requesting Khan’s medical tests be carried out at a government hospital instead of a private facility. 

He was taken to the hospital after PTI threatened to file a contempt of court petition against the government on Friday if he is not admitted to the hospital by Thursday at 11.59 pm.

Later, Pakistan’s Parliamentary Affairs Minister Tariq Fazal Chaudhry said the government would fully comply with the Supreme Court’s ruling, claiming the government had not intended to defy or delay implementation of the decision. (NDTV)

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Pakistan captain Babar Azam has returned to the top 10 of the ICC Men’s Test Batting Rankings after two years following his team’s eight-wicket win over the West Indies in Port of Spain that helped draw the two-match ICC World Test Championship series.

The 31-year-old scored 88 and 24 not out, advancing five slots to 10th position in the rankings. He had slipped out of the top 10 in September 2024 after remaining there continuously for the previous five years. Babar’s career best second position was achieved during a home series against England in December 2022.

Abdullah Shafique, who was named Player of the Match for his unbeaten knocks of 160 and 24, has progressed 25 slots to 32nd position, overtaking players like Marnus Labuschagne, K.L. Rahul and compatriots Salman Agha and Shan Masood in the process.

Brandon King of the West Indies is another player to rise in the batters’ list, up from 73rd to joint-69th despite being unable to bat in the second innings due to a back injury. He scored 46 off 50 balls in the first innings.

The bowling rankings see the West Indies fast bowler Shamar Joseph inch up one place to 19th after finishing with three wickets in the match while Pakistan off-spinner Sajid Khan (up five places to 30th), new-ball bowler Mohammad Ali (up eight places to 85th) and left-arm spinner Ali Usman (up 58 places to 97th) have also moved up.

In the ICC Men’s ODI Batting Rankings, Afghanistan opener Rahmanullah Gurbaz has risen three positions to 11th after scoring 32 and 71 in the second and third matches of their series against Ireland. Oman’s Hammad Mirza (up two places to 85th) and the United Arab Emirates’ (UAE) Rahul Chopra (up 37 places to joint-97th) have advanced following their performances in the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup League 2 series in Dundee.

Ireland’s seam bowler Mark Adair returns in 17th position after picking two wickets each in two matches against Afghanistan and Scotland’s Brandon McMullen is up 10 spots to joint-48th in the bowlers’ list after taking three wickets each against Canada and the UAE in Dundee.

The drawn Test series in the West Indies has not helped the cause of either team as they occupy the bottom two positions in the ICC World Test Championship points table.

Australia are at the top with 87.50 percentage points with seven wins and a loss in eight outings while South Africa (75.00) and New Zealand (72.22) are in second and third positions, respectively.

The ICC World Test Championship standings : https://www.icc-cricket.com/tournaments/world-test-championship/standings (ICC)  

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Pakistani authorities have imposed severe new restrictions on international media, including barring them from reporting in most of the country, in a move that has provoked a significant backlash from journalist organisations.

According to the new rules anyone, including Pakistani nationals, should seek permission first if they want to report from anywhere Pakistan except three cities – Islamabad, Karachi and Lahore.

Pakistan is ranked 153 out of 180 on the World Press Freedom Index. Successive regimes there have imposed restrictions and censorship on local media. But this is the first time they have put restrictions on international media.

The sudden announcement of new rules came after the killing of dozens of protesters in Pakistan-administered Kashmir, which was only reported by international media.

Al Jazeera’s website was restricted in Pakistan after it reported on the bloody protests and the news that people were boycotting regional elections from Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistan’s Kashmir.

Pakistan’s information ministry derided Al Jazeera’s reporting as “yellow journalism”, a derogatory term used for sensationalised reporting.

Authorities have not publicly announced a ban of the news website, but it remains inaccessible without a VPN.

The BBC reported from Pakistan-administered Kashmir and quoted protesters and people who accused Pakistani security forces of firing at unarmed protesters. Pakistani authorities issued a strongly worded denial and asked all journalists to immediately leave Kashmir.

The new rules, which the ministry of information called the Foreign Media Facilitation Guidelines 2026, do not specify a timeframe for how long it would take for journalists to be granted permission to report.

Nasir Zaidi, a former general secretary at the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists and a senior journalist, said that international media has been objectively reporting on protest movements, crackdowns on opposition parties and the repressive political situation in Pakistan.

“For decades, various governments have always tried to kill the news and they failed because of the reporting of international media and now it came up with these repressive rules to curb the movement of journalists. They don’t want the truth to be reported,” said Zaidi.

The government denies that the new rules are a blanket restriction on the movement of journalists or constrict media.

Zaidi, who was subjected to public flogging during the military dictatorship of Gen Zia ul-Haq for raising his voice for media rights, said that he had never witnessed such times before.

“Despite the fact I have worked during martial laws, but, such curbs and restrictions on international media were unseen. It is worse than martial law,” he added.

According to the new guidelines, the accreditation and registration is mandatory for international media outlets and journalists in the country.

The new rules also state that journalists can lose their accreditation for “acts against ideology, sovereignty, security or public order of Pakistan”.

Legal experts and journalists have said that these stipulations are vague and difficult to interpret.

“Pakistan is sending a very wrong message to the world with all these rules curbing free speech and freedom of international media,” said Zaidi. (The Guardian)

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Rescue efforts are underway to find a group of missing climbers including world-renowned mountaineer Nirmal Purja following an avalanche on a mountain in Pakistan, the Alpine Club of Pakistan said.

Emergency crews on the ground and in helicopters are scouring the Karakoram mountain range for the 10 climbers, including one American, who are believed to have been on 8,047-meter-tall Broad Peak when an avalanche struck around midday Thursday.

Four bodies have been recovered by ground teams so far, said Irfan Arshad Khan, the Alpine Club’s president. They have not been identified.

Along with Purja and American Mallory Geis, the group included climbers from Oman, Pakistan and Nepal, according to the Alpine Club.

None of them have been heard from since the avalanche. The location of four climbers is showing up on GPS, according to Alpine Club general secretary Ayaz Ahmed Shigri.

The weather was clear on Friday morning, and was expected to stay that way through the weekend, Shigri said.

Purja, also known as “Nims,” made history in 2019, climbing all of the world’s 14 peaks over 8,000 meters (26,300 feet) in just over six months. His feat was chronicled in the hit Netflix documentary “14 Peaks: Nothing Is Impossible.”

Purja was a soldier for 16 years with the British army, in the Brigade of Gurkhas and later the Special Boat Service, an elite unit of the UK’s Royal Navy.

His mountaineering career began when he trekked to Everest Base Camp in 2012, an experience that “fired his passion and ambition for the mountains,” according to the website of his foundation, Nimsdai, which supports mountain communities in Nepal.

CNN has reached out to Purja’s foundation for comment.

Purja quickly became “addicted” to climbing, he told CNN in 2019.

He was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire in 2018, for his military service and mountaineering achievements.

Purja set off on his record-breaking summit of the world’s 14 highest peaks in April 2019, finishing 189 days later in October, smashing a record set by South Korean Kim Chang-ho in 2013 – by more than seven years. 

Purja and his team also carried out a number of daring rescues, often putting their own lives in danger.

He described his feat to CNN as an “extremely, horrendously good experience” – despite his oxygen being stolen while climbing Lhotse, Earth’s fourth-highest peak.

The speed record for summiting the world’s tallest peaks was broken again in 2023 by a Norwegian woman, Kristin Harila, and a Nepali man, Tenjin Sherpa, who summited all 14 peaks in three months and one day.

Purja brought global attention to the issue of overcrowding on Mount Everest, posting a photograph of a “traffic jam” on the upper slopes of the world’s highest peak during his summit in 2019. The resulting backlash to the images led the Nepalese government to draft new climbing rules.

In 2024, Purja became the fastest person to summit all 14 of the peaks without supplementary oxygen.

Summiting just one “8,000er,” let alone all 14, is challenging enough given climbers have to enter the “death zone” – a mountaineering term that describes altitudes over about 8,000 meters where the human body is exposed to insufficient levels of oxygen.

The 12th-tallest peak in the world, Broad Peak is considered slightly less technically difficult than other peaks such as its notorious neighbor K2, but it is prone to harsh and unpredictable weather.

In 2013, three Iranian climbers died on descent after summiting Broad Peak.

Pakistan’s worst modern mountaineering disaster occurred in 2008, when 11 climbers were killed after an avalanche on K2.

After climbing Broad Peak, Purja had planned to climb Cho Oyu, the world’s sixth-highest mountain, located in the Himalayas, to become the first person in history to climb all 14 “8,000ers” twice, according to a post on his X account Monday.

“Broad Peak, I ask for nothing but safe passage up and back down,” he wrote.

“I take zero mountains for granted. Not one. The moment my foot leaves basecamp, it’s 100%. Always has been. Always will be.” (CNN)

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Sri Lanka Women have clinched the ODI series 2-1 after defeating Pakistan Women by 8 wickets in the third and final ODI played in Hambantota today. 

Pakistan were bowled out for 187 in 40 overs before Sri Lanka chased down the target with ease, reaching 191/2 in 37.2 overs. (Newswire)

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Pakistan has asked the United States for a $10 billion exchange stabilization facility, according to two sources briefed on the matter, which, if approved, could provide a lifeline ​for the cash-strapped South Asian economy.

The request, which is being reported for the first time, follows Pakistan’s role in brokering talks over the Iran war, which raised ‌its diplomatic profile and stirred hopes that it could seek economic gains from Washington and other partners.

Pakistani Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb made the request in a letter delivered during a meeting with U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, on Tuesday, a U.S. official said.

In it, Islamabad asked for creation of a Bilateral Exchange Stabilization Support Facility between the U.S. and the Pakistani government worth $10 billion with maturity of up to five years.

The facility, if agreed to, would bolster ​Pakistan’s reserves, ease pressure on the rupee and reduce its reliance on multilateral financing, even as Islamabad undertakes tighter fiscal and monetary policies in line with its International Monetary Fund ​program.

The U.S. Treasury declined to comment on the request. Pakistan’s finance ministry did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request for comment outside of Asia ⁠business hours.

During his meeting with Bessent, Aurangzeb raised the vulnerability of the country’s economy to regional geopolitical developments, his ministry said in a statement that did not mention the request.

“Senator Aurangzeb sought greater ​U.S. support for Pakistan’s road to market, underpinned by improved access to international capital markets, higher foreign exchange reserves, and enhanced sovereign credit ratings,” it said, adding that both sides reaffirmed their commitment ​to deepening bilateral economic cooperation, promoting greater U.S. investment, and advancing strategic projects.

Pakistan remains under $7 billion IMF discipline that has required politically unpopular tax increases, spending restraint and reforms.

Exchange stabilization facilities are rare U.S. Treasury backstops, usually routed via the Exchange Stabilization Fund, that provide dollars, swaps or guarantees to support reserves and steady currencies.

These facilities are different from the permanent standing dollar swap lines that the U.S. Federal Reserve has with some major central banks ​and act as an international supply line of U.S. dollars to underpin financial stability.

A 2025 Argentina package was the first new foreign-government exchange stabilization facility operation since Uruguay in 2002, aside from ​Mexico’s long-standing swap line, dating to the 1940s and now sized at $9 billion.

Pakistan narrowly avoided default in 2023 with a $3 billion IMF standby deal and later secured a $7 billion Extended Fund Facility, along with a separate $1.3 billion ‌loan to ⁠build up its resilience to climate change and natural disasters. But its reserves still depend on official financing, rollovers and deposits from China and Saudi Arabia.

That leaves Islamabad exposed to shifts in bilateral support and IMF disbursement delays. That vulnerability was exposed in April when Pakistan repaid about $3.5 billion, one-fifth of its reserves, to the United Arab Emirates with Saudi Arabia providing $3 billion in fresh support.

Pakistan’s central bank said in January that reserves could return to near their 2021 record, reaching $20 billion by the end of 2026.

RECASTING TIES WITH WASHINGTON

A U.S. exchange stabilization facility would carry weight as both a liquidity ​backstop and political signal, easing pressure on reserves ​and the Pakistani rupee, while reducing the ⁠South Asian country’s dependence on IMF tranches and ad hoc rescues.

IMF-backed reforms have stabilized the economy at a political cost, including higher taxes, spending restraint and limited room for development or welfare spending.

Ratings agency Fitch said in April that Pakistan’s adherence to its IMF program has supported the country’s funding ​capacity, while rebuilt foreign exchange buffers provide a cushion against economic shocks from the Middle East conflict.

But deeper constraints remain. Fitch cautioned that ​rising energy costs and potential ⁠supply disruptions could sharply erode the country’s foreign exchange reserves.

Foreign investment in Pakistan has remained thin, deterred by recurring external crises, policy uncertainty, security risks, past profit-repatriation curbs and a narrow export base, while the country’s credit rating remains deep in speculative-grade territory, keeping borrowing costs high and market access limited.

Pakistan has sought to use its ties to the Trump administration to address some of these issues, with economic cooperation ⁠that has so ​far spanned crypto, real estate and mining.

Pakistan has signed a stablecoin agreement for cross-border payments with an affiliate of World ​Liberty Financial, the main crypto business of President Donald Trump’s family.

It has also pursued a memorandum of understanding to redevelop the closed Pakistan International Airlines-owned Roosevelt Hotel in New York with the U.S. government, and courted U.S. mining investment, including ​in Reko Diq, where the U.S. Export-Import Bank has announced $1.25 billion in financing. (Reuters)

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Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) has announced a 15-member Sri Lanka Women’s National Squad for the upcoming ODI series against the Pakistan Women’s National Team.

The three-match ODI series will form part of the ICC Women’s Championship 2025–2029 cycle. 

The ODI matches will be played on 23, 25, and 28 July 2026 at the Mahinda Rajapaksa International Cricket Stadium (MRICS), Hambantota. (Newswire)

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Pakistan has located the wreckage of a Boeing cargo plane, the country’s airports authority said, adding that rescuers were searching for the five crew members on board when the aircraft went missing.

The plane was approaching Karachi from Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates when radar showed it “rapidly descending” on Tuesday evening after reporting a “navigational system issue”, according to the Pakistan Airports Authority (PAA).

After a 12-hour search, Pakistan’s navy and maritime rescue agency “successfully located and identified wreckage of K2 Airways cargo B737 which was declared missing last night”, the PAA said in a statement posted on X.

The wreckage was found in the Arabian Sea off the coast of Ormara, a town on Pakistan’s southern coast, it said.

The authority published images of personnel lifting pieces of the fuselage from a small boat on to a larger vessel and the red and white debris with the words “K2 Air” laid out on the ship’s deck.

In a statement issued before the plane wreckage was found, the Pakistani prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif, expressed “deep sorrow, grief and regret over the tragic incident in which a private cargo aircraft … crashed into the Arabian Sea and went missing”.

A source told AFP that navy and merchant vessels were taking part in the search efforts, supported by military aircraft.

The aircraft was observed on radar “rapidly descending and with rapid heading change” at 21:21pm on Tuesday and communication contact was lost about 155 nautical miles west of Karachi, the PAA said.

Preliminary data sent from the plane “indicated a loss of altitude, followed by a climb, and then a second, sudden and dramatic loss of altitude”, according to Flightradar24.com, a global flight-tracking service.

K2 Airways is a private cargo airline in Pakistan that operates scheduled and charter flights domestically and internationally. Manufactured in 1999, the aircraft flew as a passenger plane for Aeroflot and Garuda Indonesia before being converted to a cargo configuration in 2012, according to Airfleets.net.

Pakistan’s aviation sector has a chequered history with several deadly plane crashes in the past decade, including in the southern city of Karachi. The EU barred Pakistan’s national carrier from its airspace for four years over safety and licensing concerns, but lifted the ban in 2024. (The Guardian)

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At least 14 schoolchildren have been killed after the roof of a tutoring centre in the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore collapsed, according to officials.

A teacher and eight other children were injured and being treated at a hospital, while police said the owner of the centre and another person had been arrested.

Medical sources said the children killed in the collapse were aged between around four and 12, according to the AFP news agency.

Senior police official Faisal Kamran said rescuers were searching through the rubble after receiving reports that more children could be trapped beneath the debris, the Reuters news agency reported.

He added the centre was housed in an ageing building and that the roof of an unfinished second floor apparently collapsed because of poor construction quality.

‘Precious lives’

Workers had been repairing tiles on the building when the roof gave way and crushed the youngsters, a witness told AFP.

Broadcaster Geo News aired images of uniformed rescuers and civilians using shovels and their hands to dig through dirt and rubble in the partially collapsed building.

Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif expressed his “grief over the loss of precious lives in the collapse of a tuition centre roof in Lahore’s Kahna area”.

Sharif “prayed for the speedy recovery of the injured and directed the authorities to provide them with every possible medical assistance”, according to a statement released by his office.

Khan said in a statement that “those responsible for the incident will be found through a transparent, unbiased and immediate investigation”.

Roof and building collapses are common across Pakistan, mainly due to poor safety standards and substandard construction materials. (Al Jazeera/ AFP)

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Police in Pakistan have arrested a man who allegedly held his wife and children captive at home and abused them for more than a decade.

His wife, a French national named Sylvie Yasmina, claims the man assaulted his family physically and mentally “on a daily basis” and described him as “very violent”, local police told BBC Urdu.

One of their sons managed to sneak out to make a police report, which led to a raid of their house in Bara, a remote town in the mountainous Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

Police found Yasmina and her five children in a cramped and “extremely dilapidated room”, with bruises all over their bodies.

Yasmina and her children have been taken to a women’s shelter in Peshawar. They plan to move back to France, the police say.

According to Yasmina, 54, her husband had “effectively imprisoned” the family since they moved to Pakistan from Australia in 2014.

“According to the woman… She was not allowed to meet anyone, their two older children had missed their studies, while the three younger children were born in Pakistan and never enrolled in school,” a senior police officer told BBC Urdu.

Authorities have not identified Yasmina’s husband, a Pakistani national who they say was “residing illegally” in Australia when the couple met.

They married in 2003 and lived in Australia until 2014, when they moved to Pakistan with their two older children. Yasmina claims she has not had any communication with the outside world since then.

“We were deprived [of our] freedom, my husband didn’t take care of us the way he should as a husband and the father of my children. He beats us and put pressure on our lives on a daily basis,” Yasmina wrote in her statement to the police, parts of which have been published by local media.

“I felt that my future was already ruined, the future of the children would also be ruined.” (BBC)

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