The National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA) said on Thursday it has arrested a suspect in Faisalabad for allegedly defrauding citizens through a TikTok account advertising visas for Saudi Arabia.
A case has been registered against the suspect, who allegedly “used fabricated documents and transferred fraudulent proceeds into bank accounts in collaboration with other” co-suspects, the agency said on X.
NCCIA said it recovered two mobile phones, 10 fake SIMs, an Easypaisa account and an alleged merchant account during the operation.
“Strict legal action will be taken against those using social media platforms to rob citizens on the pretext of overseas jobs and visas,” NCCIA Director General Syed Ali Nasir Rizvi said in a statement issued by the agency’s spokesperson.
He also urged citizens not to transfer money without verifying visa offers on social media and to immediately report any suspicious account to NCCIA.
According to the agency’s statistics for 2026, financial fraud remains the most widely reported cybercrime, constituting 48 per cent of all received complaints.
On Oct 10, NCCIA arrested 281 suspects, including 21 foreign nationals and 20 women, during operations against seven illegal call centres allegedly involved in financial fraud, online harassment and honey-trapping in Lahore.
In September, NCCIA, along with the Federal Investigation Agency, arrested six suspects involved in cyber fraud and financial scams, illegal money exchange and human trafficking across Punjab.
Facing US sanctions, the International Criminal Court was awarded the European Union’s top rights prize on Thursday, in a show of support that risks upsetting President Donald Trump.
“The European Union is built on respect for multilateralism and international institutions, and this prize recognises the important work of the court in upholding international law and justice,” said European Parliament chief Roberta Metsola, announcing the award.
The ICC thanked the European Parliament for giving it the Sakharov Prize “at a time when the Court and its officials face unprecedented challenges”.
“Against this backdrop, the Sakharov Prize carries particular significance, reaffirming the importance of independent judicial institutions and of those who work to uphold international law,” ICC President Tomoko Akane said.
This month, the United States announced sanctions against the ICC aimed at crippling the day-to-day operations of the court, which tries individuals for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.
Trump’s administration has vowed to dismantle the court “brick by brick”, furious that judges have issued an arrest warrant for Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for alleged crimes in Gaza.
The win comes after ex-ICC judge Navi Pillay, who also served as UN rights chief, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize this month — a choice Trump slammed as “disgraceful”, arguing the award should have gone to him.
The EU has already thrown its support behind the ICC in the face of the US sanctions — which will come into force in six months — and has said it is “ready to take any necessary measures” to make sure the court can keep working.
“The International Criminal Court must be free to pursue its mission, independently, and without pressure or intimidation,” EU chief Ursula von der Leyen said on social media after the prize was announced.
Brussels is hoping to use the delay before the sanctions are applied to try to talk the US down, but is also eyeing implementing a “blocking statute” to shield the ICC from Washington.
Three finalists
Set up in 1988 and named after Soviet dissident Andrei Sakharov, the EU prize is bestowed annually on individuals or organisations to recognise their fight for human rights or democracy.
The ICC was among three finalists this year, alongside Tanzania opposition leader Tundu Lissu and twin sisters Taraneh and Romina Rahimi, representing those prosecuted by the Iranian government.
The nominees are put forward by the political groupings in the EU, and the winner is chosen by senior lawmakers. An award ceremony will be held in December.
Lissu, head of Tanzania’s opposition Chadema party, was detained in April 2025. He faces a possible death penalty if convicted of treason for allegedly inciting the public to boycott elections last year.
Taraneh and Romina Rahimi, 21, have respectively been sentenced to death and 36 years in prison for having taken part in anti-government protests in Iran.
Other recent high-profile winners of the Sakharov Prize have been Venezuelan opposition chief Maria Corina Machado, deceased Russian Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny and the people of Ukraine.
Pakistan and the European Union (EU) have agreed to strengthen cooperation at multilateral forums, including the United Nations, to advance a coherent counterterrorism approach, according to a statement issued by the Foreign Office (FO) on Thursday.
The agreement was reached during the 10th round of the Pakistan-EU Bilateral Counterterrorism Dialogue, held in Islamabad.
The Pakistani delegation was led by Dr Fareha Bugti, director general (counterterrorism), while the EU side was headed by Anna Strazska, the European External Action Service’s special envoy for counterterrorism.
During the meeting, the two sides exchanged views on recent regional and global developments affecting the terrorism threat landscape and unequivocally condemned terrorism in all its forms, reaffirming their commitment to combating the threat.
According to FO, the EU condemned recent terrorist attacks in Pakistan, expressed solidarity with the suffering of affected civilians and recognised the value of Pakistan’s efforts to combat terrorism.
“Acknowledging each other’s role in the ongoing global fight against terrorism, Pakistan and the EU expressed concern at the security implications of the situation in Afghanistan,” the statement added.
The two sides maintained that effective multilateralism remained essential to building lasting international consensus on terrorism.
The discussions also addressed the evolving nature of terrorist threats, including the exploitation of cyberspace and information and energy resources to advance their objectives, the statement said.
The FO said Pakistan and the EU exchanged best practices on preventing and countering violent extremism, terrorism financing and radicalisation in all forms, particularly the use of cyberspace by terrorists.
It added that the “two sides identified priority areas for cooperation and reaffirmed their commitment to regular, institutionalised engagement on counterterrorism”.
The FO said the next round of the dialogue would be held in Brussels at a mutually convenient date next year.
The dialogue comes as Pakistan’s counterterrorism challenge enters a new and more complex phase, with terrorist groups evolving their methods of financing and recruitment.
On Tuesday, an international seminar on Pakistan’s evolving counterterrorism landscape, organised by the Institute of Strategic Studies Islamabad, highlighted the changing methods of terrorist groups, including their financing and recruitment.
Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar urged the Afghan authorities to take “concrete, verifiable and irreversible action” against the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and other groups operating from Afghan soil.
Information Minister Attaullah Tarar, who also addressed the seminar, cited UN assessments indicating that more than 6,000 TTP fighters were present in Afghanistan, with the overall militant presence exceeding 20,000.
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s incomes could triple by 2050 if the country ensures faster implementation of structural reforms, according to the World Bank Group’s latest Pakistan Development Update, titled Attaining Escape Velocity.
The report says that following progress on macroeconomic stabilisation, Pakistan has an opportunity to achieve faster and sustained economic growth and create more jobs.
Sound macroeconomic policies in recent years have helped stabilise the economy and preserve growth despite the impact of the Middle East conflict.
Real gross domestic product (GDP) growth increased to 3.7 per cent in FY26 from 3.2pc in FY25.
Revenue growth and expenditure restraint supported record primary fiscal surpluses, which reached 2.9pc of GDP in FY26, while strong remittances enabled the country to rebuild its foreign exchange reserves.
These improvements were recognised through upgrades by two major international rating agencies, S&P and Moody’s, and enabled Pakistan to return to international debt markets with the issuance of a $3 billion Eurobond.
“Pakistan has made real progress in restoring stability, and markets have taken notice,” World Bank Country Director Bolormaa Amgaabazar said.
“But real per capita growth — the rate at which the income of the average Pakistani increases — remains stuck at around 1.6pc. Reforms to drive faster growth are now urgently needed,” she added.
The report finds that higher growth is possible if Pakistan follows the path taken by other successful countries in pursuing ambitious economic reforms. Upgrading policies and institutions to the standards of the average middle-income country could drive sustained annual growth of 6.2pc to 6.9pc, allowing Pakistan to reach Vietnam’s current income level by 2050.
“With macro stabilisation achieved but fiscal resources and foreign exchange still tightly constrained, structural reform to encourage private investment is the necessary next step towards higher living standards,” said Sebastian Essl, the report’s lead author.
“Achieving this kind of private-sector-led growth requires a plan, coordination, and committed reform implementation,” he added.
The report outlines an ambitious set of reforms that could enable Pakistan to attain by 2050 the per capita income levels of countries currently at the upper-middle-income threshold.
Many of the proposed measures build on reforms already underway. These include timely adjustments to power-sector tariffs, which helped reduce energy subsidies from 1.1pc of GDP in FY25 to 0.8pc in FY26, continued trade liberalisation under the National Tariff Policy and the recent privatisation of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA).
Building on these measures, sustained progress will depend on further reforms to improve the business environment, overhaul the tax system, reduce the state’s presence in the economy and expand access to finance.
President Asif Ali Zardari departed for Germany on Thursday on a three-day visit to discuss bilateral ties as the two countries are set to mark the 75th anniversary of their diplomatic relations.
In a statement issued earlier, the Foreign Office (FO) said the president’s visit, scheduled for Oct 22-24, is “part of high-level exchanges between Pakistan and Germany”.
President Zardari “has departed from Lahore for Germany”, the President’s office said on social media on Thursday.
The FO statement highlighted that the visit “holds special significance in the context of the 75th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries being commemorated this year”.
It said the visit reflects the “deep commitment of both countries to further strengthening the partnership”.
During his visit, President Zardari will hold meetings with his German counterpart Frank-Walter Steinmeier, as well as senior leadership and business leaders, with a “particular focus оп economic and trade cooperation”, FO said.
Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah is also expected to accompany the president on his trip, with the matter being discussed in Murad’s meeting with German Consul General Thomas E. Schultze.
In September, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar met German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly.
During the meeting, Germany appreciated Pakistan’s mediation efforts in regional conflicts, especially in the Strait of Hormuz and Bab al-Mandab while the two sides also agreed to “get negotiations on peace for Ukraine going”, according to the German foreign office.
Meanwhile, in June, a German delegation announced plans to bring about 30 German companies to Pakistan and link local businesses to European markets.
KARACHI: A local court on Thursday rejected TV anchorperson Iqrarul Hassan’s bail plea in a cybercrime case pertaining to the alleged dissemination of anti-state content.
Hassan was arrested last week for allegedly disseminating anti-state, false and defamatory content through his official social media accounts. He was booked under multiple sections of the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (Peca).
According to an order issued by the judicial magistrate, a copy of which is available with Dawn, “the order disposes of the bail application filed under Section 497 of the CrPC on behalf of the applicant/accused, Syed Iqrar Ul Hassan, son of Syed Muhammad Ismail, who has been arrested in connection with FIR No. 101/2026 registered at Police Station NCCIA, Cyber Crime Reporting Centre, Karachi, under Sections 9, 10, 20, 24 and 26-A of the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act, 2016 (as amended in 2025)”.
The notice of the bail application was served on the NCCIA’s additional director (legal), the order states.
Earlier this week, Hassan was sent to prison on judicial remand after the NCCIA sought an extension of his physical remand by another eight days.
However, Karachi (East) Judicial Magistrate-I Gulraiz Memon observed that the agency had been given “sufficient time of physical custody”.
“No cogent reason has been given by NCCIA for extension of physical custody; therefore, the accused is remanded to judicial custody till Oct 26,” the judge stated in his order.
The court also issued notices to the NCCIA on a bail application filed by Hassan’s defence counsel, Barrister Mian Ali Ashfaq, and fixed the matter for hearing on Oct 21.
On Oct 17, Hassan was produced before Judicial Magistrate Memon upon the completion of his initial four-day physical remand. The NCCIA sought a further 10 days of custody for questioning, but the magistrate rejected the request and granted the agency two more days.
The magistrate also dismissed a plea filed by Hassan’s counsel under Section 63 of the CrPC seeking his discharge from the case.
In its remand report, the NCCIA said the investigation had progressed but several important aspects remained to be examined in light of the forensic analysis of Hassan’s seized digital devices and records from other departments, including the National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra).
The agency said digital devices containing 1,145.89 gigabytes of data had been handed over to its forensic team for analysis to identify relevant applications, social media accounts, email accounts, stored files and communications linked to the alleged content.
The NCCIA also sought further custody to trace the “origin, relation, financial correlation and cross-border linkages (if any)” of the posts.
In his earlier order, the magistrate observed that collecting digital footprints, technical data and forensic evidence required reasonable time, adding that discharging an accused while the investigation was under way could hamper the process.
The NCCIA alleged that the content was intended to incite the public against constitutional implementation and could cause panic, disorder and unrest.
Hassan was booked under sections 9 (glorification of an offence), 10 (cyberterrorism), 24 (cyberstalking) and 26A (Punishment for false and fake information) of Peca. He had been critical of the government’s policies on social media.
LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Thursday issued notices to Foreign Secretary Asim Iftikhar in two separate contempt petitions over alleged non-compliance with an earlier court order concerning two PTI-affiliated Pakistani citizens detained in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
On September 14, the LHC had directed the foreign secretary to process and decide within 15 days representations concerning the detention of two citizens — Syed Salman Raza Zaidi and Muhammad Junaid Jahangir.
Justice Sadiq Mehmood Khurram heard the contempt petitions on Thursday. Barrister Abuzar Salman Niazi appeared on behalf of the petitioners and alleged that the two individuals remained deprived of consular, diplomatic, and legal access.
He recalled the court’s Sept 14 directive and contended that the petitioners had not been formally informed of any decision on their representations, even though a considerable amount of time had passed.
The counsel urged the court to initiate contempt proceedings against the foreign secretary for non-compliance.
After hearing initial arguments, Justice Khurram issued notices to the respondent secretary for submission of his reply by October 29.
In the main petitions, the counsel stated that Zaidi went missing from his residence in Sharjah on Sept 27, 2024, and was subsequently taken into custody by UAE authorities.
He said despite nearly two years having passed, the petitioner, Faryal Zainab, had still not been provided clear information regarding the charges against her husband Zaidi, the judicial proceedings, any sentence, or the complete court record.
Meanwhile, Advocate Niazi said Jahangir was allegedly detained on Sept 24, 2024, at Dubai airport on his return from Saudi Arabia.
Muhammad Ibrahim, Jahangir’s father, filed the petition challenging the alleged failure of the federal government and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) to provide effective consular protection and legal assistance.
The counsel for the petitioners submitted that despite representations having been filed regarding the detention of both citizens before the foreign secretary, the representations had not been processed.
Both petitioners had asked the court to direct that legal and consular assistance be provided to Zaidi and Jahangir, that their judicial records be obtained and that diplomatic-level steps be taken toward their return to Pakistan.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Thursday forecast a sharp drop in economic output in Pakistan, the Middle East and North Africa this year due to the US-Israeli-led war against Iran, followed by a rebound to 6.6 per cent growth in 2027, while warning that further energy production disruptions could worsen the outlook.
The IMF said the region’s output was expected to contract by 1.3pc as a result of the war’s impact on energy production, shipping, tourism, trade and confidence. Economic output would increase sharply in 2027, but output in those economies would generally stay below pre-war projections.
The war’s impact had been substantial, but uneven, with oil-exporting economies directly affected by disruptions to energy production and shipping hit harder, and oil importers proving to be more resilient, the IMF said in its regional outlook released Thursday in Dubai.
The IMF said its baseline assumed that the conflict would abate in early 2027 and that trade would gradually normalise during the year, but it said the outlook remained clouded by “exceptionally high uncertainty.”
“The main risks derive from further disruption to energy production and trade routes that could drive energy prices higher,” the IMF said in a statement outlining its key messages, noting external financial conditions could also tighten.
External financial conditions could also tighten if investors reassess AI-driven productivity gains and interest rates rise further amid heightened concerns about inflation and fiscal positions, it said.
Oil importers had proven more resilient, with domestic demand supported by remittances and tourism flows, favourable financial conditions, and prompt policy responses that safeguard consumers from higher commodity prices, the IMF said.
Growth in the Caucasus and Central Asia was moderating toward a more sustainable pace, the IMF said, forecasting a 5.2pc rise in economic output in 2026 and 5pc in 2027.
The IMF underscored the mantra it delivered during last week’s annual meetings, urging policymakers to prioritise maintaining price stability, while preserving fiscal sustainability, maintaining central bank independence and enacting structural reforms to boost productivity and create jobs.
Pakistan’s Noor Zaman stunned defending champion and world No. 4 Karim Abdel Gawad of Egypt 3-1 on Wednesday to reach the quarter-finals of the PSA Gold Silicon Valley Open at the Redwood City in California.
The 22-year-old overcame the second seed 11-9, 11-7, 9-11, 11-6 in 52 minutes at Squash Zone, handing the Egyptian a shock defeat in the $143,500 men’s event.
“I was ready mentally and physically today, and I think now is the time for me to beat the top players,” Noor said after the match.
Noor, ranked among the world’s top 35 players, had earlier booked his place in the last 16 with a 3-1 victory over American wildcard Bransten Ming. After losing the opening game 3-11, he fought back to win 11-5, 11-8, 11-9 in 41 minutes.
The Peshawar-born player, grandson of former world champion Qamar Zaman and the 2025 U-23 world champion, has enjoyed a strong run of form in recent months, climbing into the world’s top 30 and collecting five PSA titles.
Meanwhile, Pakistan’s Mohammad Ashab Irfan bowed out in the last 16 after losing 3-0 to fifth seed Mohamed ElShorbagy of Egypt. Irfan had reached the round with a straight-games victory over Hungary’s Balazs Farkas, winning 11-6, 11-4, 11-5.
The PSA World Tour Gold event offers equal prize money for men and women as squash prepares for its Olympic debut at Los Angeles 2028.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday vowed that the federal government, which now runs Khyber Pakhtunkhwa under governor’s rule, would make every effort possible to “bring back” progress to the province.
He made the remarks while chairing a meeting of the provincial apex committee in Peshawar, where he arrived earlier in the day on his first visit to the province since the imposition of governor’s rule and the declaration of emergency on Oct 11.
The meeting, attended by Chief of Defence Forces and Chief of Army Staff Field Marshal Asim Munir and KP Governor Faisal Karim Kundi, reviewed KP’s overall security situation. Federal ministers and newly appointed provincial advisers were also present.
Addressing the committee, PM Shehbaz reiterated that emergency and governor’s rule had to be imposed “under extreme compulsion”.
“I promise that we will leave no stone unturned in bringing back the happiness and era of progress to this province, and in the practical realisation of the wishes, aspirations, and dreams of this province’s people that have been shattered due to the worst actions of recent years,” he said.
The prime minister affirmed that the Centre “will place all possible resources at your feet”.
He added that himself, the Advisory Council led by the governor, the president and the CDF “will ensure that this province, once again, not only matches the other provinces in the race for development, but I would be extremely happy if it moves even further ahead”.
The prime minister regretted that “terrorists were summoned back here” after peace had been established, “washing down all sacrifices down the drain”.
“There can be no greater enmity with the country than not honouring and respecting such sacrifices, not holding them in esteem,” he remarked, highlighting that young soldiers left their homes and families to defend their country.
The premier called for an “all-encompassing analysis as to why this happened”, adding that there was “no worse callousness, criminal negligence, and hostility towards the national interest than this”.
He said: “All issues of the people were pushed aside — whether it is education, healthcare, or protecting the lives and property of the people — and [having] matters with terrorists instead. I believe that no other example can be found of such hostility against the country, in terms of their attitudes, detachment, and callousness.”
PM Shehbaz asserted that 5,000 police vacancies were not filled, Safe City projects were yet to be completed, the capacity of the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) had not been enhanced significantly, and neither were special measures taken regarding police training.
He recalled that all provinces had agreed at the time of the 2010 National Finance Commission Award that KP, being the front-line region in combatting terrorism, needed ample resources.
“From 2010 to today, more than Rs800 billion in funds have either already been provided or are being provided under this,” he stressed.
“However, not only did it resurface, but the weapons needed to counter terrorism, the required capacity, and the trained officers needed were nowhere to be found.”
While saying he would not go into the details, the prime minister emphasised that he had assured the provincial governments of ex-chief ministers Ali Amin Gandapur and Sohail Afridi of the Centre’s full support in the fight against terrorism.
“But nothing was done regarding this,” he regretted, adding that the government could not remain a “silent spectator” when a “party was stooping to such enmity against the country” and the economy and society were being destroyed.
“Therefore, on this occasion we made this one last effort,” the premier said, referring to the province’s interim handover to the federal government under governor’s rule.
Highlighting the Centre’s efforts to stabilise the economy over the past two and a half years, PM Shehbaz remarked, “It wouldn’t have been possible [without] unprecedented partnership between political and military hierarchy.”
He said the federal government could not remain a silent spectator when “terrorists were roaming around dancing in all areas of KP, and were ruling over some areas in the evening, and collecting extortion” at a time when the stabilisation of Pakistan’s economy was being acknowledged globally.
The prime minister recalled the breakdown of the Oct 3 talks between the Centre and reiterated that his government was “compelled to make this decision” of imposing governor’s rule.
PM Shehbaz remarked that the province was “shattered with wounds due to the circumstances created in the past several years”.
He highlighted the poor law and order situation over the past six years, recalling that security forces and law enforcement agencies had made sacrifices to establish peace in KP.
The premier said there was corruption of Rs100bn in the clean drinking water of the Cities Improvement Project and Rs37bn in the “infamous looting” in the case about the Kohistan District Accounts Office.
He said that “80,000 people were martyred and the [economy] suffered a loss of several hundred billion dollars. Only then, in 2018, was peace completely restored in this country”.
Describing the province as “very beautiful”, the premier expressed his hope that the government “work hard day and night and speedily make it progress towards development and prosperity”.
“This is the province that is the first extremely strong wall of the homeland,” he noted.
Development of merged districts a ‘special priority’
In his address to the apex committee, the KP governor termed establishing peace and stability in KP a “collective priority”, and stressed that it was in the interests of the entire country.
Referring to the federal government’s decision to impose emergency and governor’s rule in KP, Kundi said that the peaceful transition showed that the people of the province wanted peace and stability.
“I want to pay tribute to my people who showed restraint despite the turmoil,” he said, asserting there had been no untoward incident in the region following the measures.
On Oct 14, three days after emergency was imposed, a protest demonstration by PTI workers in Khyber’s Bara tehsil turned violent as protesters clashed with police. Injuries to party workers and cops were reported in the incident.
Speaking at the meeting, Kundi also paid tribute to those who sacrificed their lives in the war against terrorism, including personnel of the police, army, Frontier Corps, and Federal Constabulary.
“These sacrifices demand a more effective strategy to combat terrorism,” he underscored.
The governor reiterated that the foremost priority of his KP Advisory Council was to restore peace and eliminate terrorism.
Kundi termed the development of the merged districts a “special priority”.
“The people of these regions have paid a heavy price during this fight against terrorism. Now, they deserve better education, health, and economic opportunities,” he declared.
“The federal government’s cooperation in establishing peace and stability in the province is very significant,” the PPP leader highlighted, saying he was keen to play his role in this collective endeavour.
The governor maintained that the people of KP would not have to choose between peace and development. “This is our collective responsibility to provide people with both.”
Kundi declared that the KP Advisory Council would keep playing its role in integrating these merged areas in the circle of national development.
“The public’s trust is the only metric of measuring our success in the war on terror,” he asserted, while reaffirming that the whole network of terrorism would be annihilated, and the facilitators and financiers of terrorists would also be targeted.
“I seek constant support and supervision by the federal government,” he asked, expressing the hope that the Centre would continue its cooperation.
Emergency amid security challenges
The Centre had imposed emergency and governor’s rule in KP on Oct 11, citing the PTI-led provincial government’s “deliberate disengagement” from the fight against terrorism. The decisions were also endorsed by the Parliament last week amid protests by the opposition.
Governor Kundi, along with Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi, had chaired a meeting of the provincial apex committee a day after governor’s rule was imposed.
In the meeting, the governor — who is now in charge of running the province — assured Naqvi he would enforce all policies of the federal government and work together with the security forces for peace and prosperity of the province.
Kundi asserted that under the new set-up, tackling terrorism would be the priority.
Later that day, Kundi, addressing a press conference, called for greater coordination between the Centre and the province, stressing that policies on counterterrorism will “come from Islamabad [..] not Kabul,” in an apparent jibe at the PTI-led KP government, which has been accused of maintaining a “nexus” with terrorist groups by federal ministers.
The Centre’s move to impose governor’s rule and emergency in KP also followed a mobilisation drive and protest march by the PTI and in opposition at the Centre, to demand the release of its jailed founder, Imran Khan.
Intense negotiations between the two sides a week before the imposition of governor’s rule had failed to yield any results, with counterterrorism policy being one of the main reasons behind the breakdown of their talks.
The PTI said it was being left out of security decisions concerning KP, which the Centre denied. It also called for reviewing the counterterrorism policy, while the latter criticised the KP government’s efforts to combat terrorism in the province and objected to its stance on dialogue with the Afghan Taliban.
Soon after, the Centre also authorised the deployment of Pakistan Army troops and assets in aid of civil power in KP.
Federal ministers have also alleged that the PTI-led government in KP had a “nexus” with terrorist groups, stating that the province’s security situation necessitated the imposition of emergency there.
All but one of the suspects arrested over recent settler attacks on an American photojournalist and a visiting French mayor in the West Bank have been released from detention and placed under house arrest, their lawyers said.
Israeli police had announced on Monday the arrests of 10 people implicated in the attacks in the occupied Palestinian territory, where violence by Israeli settlers is on the rise but perpetrators are seldom prosecuted.
Honenu, a legal aid organisation that often represents Israeli soldiers and settlers, said that all but one of the suspects had been released to house arrest.
Lawyer Assaf Gonen said in a statement that their arrests had only been “for show”, and were “intended to satisfy media pressure and foreign interests”.
The suspects have not been identified.
On Friday, photographer Heidi Levine, 65, who was on assignment for The Washington Post, was taken to hospital with broken vertebrae after being beaten by settlers while covering the West Bank’s annual olive harvest.
The incident comes 10 days after settlers beat an AFP photographer covering the West Bank olive harvest, Jaafar Ashtiyeh, leaving him also requiring hospital treatment.
A day later, settlers attacked a convoy of European diplomats and beat up Bernard Baudoux, 78, the mayor of the northern French town of Aulnoye-Aymeries who was on a goodwill visit.
The attacks drew international condemnation, but mixed messages from the Israeli government.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is facing a tight race for a new mandate, has tried to shore up his pro-settlement right-wing base and has cast doubt on the circumstances behind the recent settler attacks on Westerners.
His tone has drawn unusually strong criticism from the opposition, which has accused him of tarnishing Israel’s image.
Violence has flared in recent months in the West Bank, with near-daily attacks, thefts or vandalism by Israeli settlers against Palestinians.
Settlers have also been seizing olive groves owned by Palestinians, who see the trees as a cultural symbol.
Excluding east Jerusalem, around three million Palestinians live in the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since 1967, alongside more than 500,000 Israelis residing in settlements considered illegal under international law.
India began annual measures on Thursday to tackle toxic air pollution in New Delhi, a megacity of 30 million people regularly ranked among the world’s most polluted capitals.
Delhi’s air quality deteriorates in winter, when cooler air traps pollutants close to the ground. Major sources include coal-fired power plants, traffic, construction and farm stubble burning in neighbouring areas.
The Delhi government on Wednesday announced a ban on open rubbish burning and ordered food stalls to stop using coal or firewood.
In previous years, such measures have failed to curb pollution, which peaks from November to January, when levels of cancer-causing PM 2.5 microparticles often hit more than 300 micrograms per cubic metre, 20 times the World Health Organisation’s recommended daily maximum.
Monitors recorded 233 micrograms per cubic metre early on Thursday, about 15 times the limit.
The government’s Commission for Air Quality Management has predicted air quality to remain “poor” in the coming days.
A study in The Lancet Planetary Health in 2024 estimated that 3.8m deaths in India between 2009 and 2019 were linked to pollution that exceeded India’s own air quality guidelines.
Last year, pollution levels peaked at 846 micrograms per cubic metre, 56 times the WHO limit.
The UN children’s agency warns that polluted air puts children at heightened risk of acute respiratory infections.
Further restrictions take effect on November 1, including doubled parking fees and work-from-home arrangements for government office staff, aimed at reducing traffic emissions.
Tighter construction rules will also begin then, followed by a complete ban on construction and demolition from Dec 10 to Jan 20.
Last month, the authorities also imposed a construction ban that will run from Dec 10 to Jan 20 as part of a winter action plan to tackle pollution. It will include restrictions on vehicular traffic aimed at encouraging residents to use public transport.
LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Thursday summoned the Punjab home secretary and the superintendent of Kot Lakhpat jail in connection with a petition seeking the release of former prime minister Imran Khan’s three sisters.
Imran’s sisters — Aleema Khan, Noreen Niazi and Uzma Khan — were detained by authorities in September, under the Punjab Maintenance of Public Order Ordinance, 1960, as the PTI geared up for a planned protest march towards Islamabad. Their detention was ordered for 30 days.
A day earlier, Aleema’s son, Shahrez Khan, filed a fresh plea challenging their detention. It stated that Imran’s sisters remained at Lahore’s Kot Lakhpat jail despite the lapse of the 30-day period of their detention.
Justice Abher Gul Khan took up the petition on Thursday.
Advocate Rana Mudassar Umar appeared on behalf of the petitioner and submitted that the detention orders of the three sisters had expired on Oct 19 and 20, but they had not been released.
Justice Khan asked the counsel why he had not made the Lahore deputy commissioner a respondent in the petition.
The counsel replied that the deputy commissioner had not been impleaded because the detention notification issued by the official had expired.
Uzma’s husband, Ahad Khan, also approached the rostrum and requested the court to summon the deputy commissioner. The judge, however, observed that the official could not be summoned as he had not been made a party to the petition.
Subsequently, the court adjourned the hearing until Oct 28 and directed the home secretary and the jail superintendent to appear in person along with their reports on the matter.
In Wednesday’s petition, Shahrez contended that the detention period had expired, but the three sisters remained in custody. He asked the court to order their release.
It was argued that their detention was a consequence of their efforts for their brother’s release. It further contended that the preventive detention could not replace ordinary criminal law and that the order violated Article 10 as well as the safeguards of Section 3 of the MPO.
The petitioner requested the court to direct the jail superintendent to produce the detainees before the court and “set them at liberty, in the interest of justice, equity and fair play”.
The petitioner asked the court to declare the detention orders void and issue directives for the detainees’ release, while suspending the operation of the orders.
Young students attending their debut political gathering, longtime supporters coming since 2015, or curious onlookers witnessing a presidential spectacle, they all agree. As Donald Trump runs his final campaign, no one will be able to replace his rallies.
“There’s a lot of Americana. There’s a lot of, you know, happy people,” a Trump fan named Bart told AFP of Tuesday night’s outdoor campaign event in Greenville, North Carolina.
Trump has been barnstorming across multiple US states ahead of the November 3 midterm elections, with his party at serious risk of losing their majorities in Congress.
Attendees cheer as US President Donald Trump leaves after speaking at a campaign rally at T. Ed Garrison Arena in Pendleton, South Carolina on October 21, 2026. —Reuters
In this rural corner of the eastern United States, “we don’t have stuff like this happen very often,” said Bart, attending with his wife Courtney and their two children, ages 10 and 12.
Bart, who declined to give his last name, walked past a “MAGA” souvenir stand and rows of red, white and blue bunting before finding his seat on an airport tarmac where the rally was held.
It was a familiar feeling. He attended his first Trump campaign event in 2015.
Since then, millions of Americans have experienced this in-person ritual — a unique blend of provocative verbal attacks, consummate showmanship, and tireless enthusiasm, all from a president who has reached age 80.
Supporters wait for US President Donald Trump to speak during a campaign rally at T. Ed Garrison Arena in Pendleton, South Carolina on October 21, 2026. —AFP
Low-flying Air Force One
For 18-year-old Jaycie Bullard, dressed in Republican red, attending the rally was a no-brainer.
“When I heard that he was coming to Greenville, I knew I had to come,” said the nursing student enrolled at a nearby university.
“It’s pure joy, I feel like a little kid on Christmas.” After an hours-long wait, a plane flew low overhead: Trump had arrived. He strode onstage to the strains of “God Bless the USA,” which has become a core part of his political events.
US President Donald Trump gestures during a rally in support of Republican US Senate candidate Darline Graham ahead of the midterm elections in Pendleton, South Carolina, US, October 21, 2026. —Reuters
The president launched fierce attacks — sometimes tinged with racist overtones — against his opponents, claimed against all evidence that he won the 2020 election, and cracked oft-repeated jokes before he yielded the stage to a local Republican US Senate candidate.
His rambling, repetitive Greenville speech clocked in at 111 minutes. As always, he left the stage to the Village People’s “Y.M.C.A.” But these moments, celebrated by the “Make America Great Again” faithful, are the vestiges of a fading political traveling roadshow that only Trump has been able to pull off.
The crowds and venues are getting smaller. Trump, constitutionally barred from a third term, must step down in January 2029.
“I’m nervous for the future,” admitted retiree Patty Laronde, who was seeing Trump for the first time.
“Who’s going to take his place?” she told AFP. “I’m hopeful with JD Vance,” the vice president widely seen as a potential 2028 presidential candidate.
Turning politics into ‘entertainment’
Even if another such master of ceremonies emerges in American politics, David, a self-employed 51-year-old, vocalised what many attendees were likely thinking: “the copy is never as good as the original.” “He is an anomaly,” added Troy, 59, a manager who also did not give his last name. “There’s… never been a president like him,” he added, “and I don’t know there ever will be again.” Researchers contacted by AFP tended to agree.
By “turning political rallies into entertainment,” Trump “takes alleged negative emotions such as resentment, grievance and disappointment and transforms them into excitement, pride and positive anticipation,” explained Yagmur Karakaya, a sociology professor at Yale University.
Supporters attend a rally of US President Donald Trump in support of Republican US Senate candidate Darline Graham ahead of the midterm elections, at T. Ed Garrison Arena at Clemson University, in Pendleton, South Carolina, US, October 21, 2026. —Reuters
He relies on improvised comedy and culture-war jabs, sports metaphors, the ever-present “winning” philosophy, and business jargon, weaving it into a unique style.
“Can others do this? I am not so sure,” Karakaya said.
That is the million-dollar question, said speech communication professor Jacob Justice of the University of Mississippi, who likened a Trump rally’s atmosphere to that of “a Grateful Dead concert (or) a college football tailgate.” If anyone could inspire something similar, he or she “might come from the world of social media influencing or podcasting,” Justice said.
Should that person be JD Vance, rallygoer Bart said, “he would bring half of these people”.
Header image: US President Donald Trump gives a thumbs up as he walks past the audience at a rally in support of Republican US Senate candidate Darline Graham ahead of the midterm elections, at T. Ed Garrison Arena at Clemson University in Pendleton, South Carolina, US, October 21, 2026. —AFP
Early voting has been underway for weeks ahead of the November 3, 2026, midterm elections, when US voters will elect members of the House of Representatives and Senate and governors in states across the country.
Held in the middle of each four-year presidential term, the midterms by definition do not involve the president. But for anyone who thinks they lack drama or importance this year, consider these two statistics: More than 100 million people likely will cast ballots in this year’s midterm voting, if turnout is anything like the previous midterm in 2022; and as of October 12, a record $3.8 billion had been spent on political advertisements that have been aired so far.
Top spending is in battleground US Senate races in Texas, Ohio and Michigan, according to AdImpact, which tracks the activities.
Elon Musk alone has spent about $366m to support Republicans, according to campaign finance records.
Still, midterms generally attract fewer voters than the higher-profile presidential races. More than 155m votes were cast in the 2024 presidential election, for example.
Control of Congress at stake
Plenty is at stake in this midterm election as Democrats try to win majority control of the US Congress.
Currently, Republicans hold a 218-214 majority in the House, where there are two vacancies and one independent who caucuses with Republicans. Democrats must win a net gain of four seats to win control.
Democrats are also fighting to win the Senate, where Republicans hold a 53-47 majority. They must net four additional seats to get control. Ten races, including those in Maine, Ohio, North Carolina, Iowa and Georgia, could decide the outcome.
Can midterms affect the presidency?
Midterm elections generally are dangerous territory for the political party that holds the White House and/or Congress. For 2026, that means that President Donald Trump and his Republicans controlling the US Senate and House of Representatives are in perilous political positions.
The midterms can be an opportunity for voters to, in effect, grade the president’s performance, and possibly trigger White House course corrections if they receive low marks.
Midterm election results can also give aspiring presidential candidates hints on how to tailor their messages to voters in the next presidential campaign, which in this case will be in 2028.
What are polls showing?
Approval of Trump’s performance is at an all-time low of 32 per cent, according to a September Reuters/Ipsos poll.
Domestic issues like rising consumer prices are likely to have an impact on the outcome of many races and could erode support for Republicans.
At the same time, there is evidence that Democrats are more enthusiastic about voting this year than Republicans. If early voting trends continue, it could point to a Democratic win in November.
There are also signs that Latino voters who veered to Trump in 2024 might be returning to Democrats because of frustration over the economy and some of Trump’s immigration enforcement tactics.
However, a landslide for the Democrats is far from assured. Republicans could benefit from continued scepticism towards Democrats, a Republican spending advantage on campaigns, and fears from moderate voters over some primary wins by left-wingers.
Recent midterm history
Recent history tells the story of the shockwaves a midterm election can produce.
In the 2010 midterms, during the Democratic presidency of Barack Obama, Republicans scored major victories, winning 63 additional House seats amid an underperforming US economy and weak support for Obama’s landmark healthcare reform legislation. Democrats lost their majority. In the Senate, they held onto control despite losing six seats.
The Republican wave was a “shellacking,” Obama lamented at the time. He subsequently faced Republican demands for significant reductions to non-defence spending.
Democrats returned the favour in 2018, with Trump in the White House. They gained a net total of 40 House seats, but lost a net two Senate seats.
This year’s elections also have races for governors in 36 of the 50 states and voting in nearly every state for seats in their state-level legislative bodies. Currently, Republicans control 55pc of state legislative seats across the country, while Democrats hold 43.8pc, according to Ballotpedia.
Who will be speaker?
If Democrats manage to win the House, the next speaker second in line for the presidency after the vice president is likely to be Democratic Representative Hakeem Jeffries of New York. He is currently the House Democratic leader.
Jeffries, who would become the first Black American to hold the powerful office, would be in a position to direct House committees to launch investigations into a range of controversial activities by Trump and his associates. Jeffries repeatedly has said Democrats would look into what he has called “unprecedented levels of corruption” during the Trump administration.
Jeffries also would steer Democrats’ legislative priorities through the House. He has said Democrats would focus on making healthcare, groceries, housing, energy and other costs more affordable.
A Republican win, on the other hand, would ensure that the speaker’s gavel remains in that party’s hands, either with current speaker Mike Johnson or whichever Republican prevails if he is challenged for the job. Republican priorities are likely to be focused on additional tax cuts, huge increases in defence spending, and deeper social safety net reductions, building on Trump’s 2025 “One Big Beautiful Bill.”
Marquee races
Among the most-watched House races are Republican Representative Mike Lawler’s bid for reelection to a New York district that Democratic candidate Kamala Harris won in her 2024 presidential campaign and an open seat in a Nebraska swing district where farmers and truckers face sharply higher fuel prices as a result of the US war against Iran.
Also high on Democrats’ list of House seats they hope to take from Republicans are two in Pennsylvania and one in New Jersey.
Hovering over all of this are questions over whether Trump will try to meddle in the elections, which are administered by the 50 individual states.
Since 2020, he has repeatedly insisted there is widespread cheating in US elections, despite a lack of evidence. State election officials and Democrats in Congress have been preparing for possible legal challenges to any moves by his administration to try to intervene.
LAHORE: A special committee of the Punjab Assembly, chaired by MPA Samiullah Khan, came down hard on decades of government oversight failures after Lahore Gymkhana Club Chairman Salman Siddique conceded that the annual rent of Rs5,000 paid for over 100 acres of prime state land in the provincial capital was wholly inadequate.
Appearing before the committee alongside members of the club’s management, Mr Siddique expressed surprise at the nominal rate given the vast acreage involved and the club’s vastly improved financial footing. Contrasting the institution’s current financial standing with its constraints during the 1990s, he admitted that the club should be paying at least Rs10 million annually, while expressing willingness to cooperate with the ongoing inquiry and share records.
Committee members noted that this admission from the club’s own top leadership underscored the urgency of determining why successive state authorities allowed such a massive concession to persist without meaningful scrutiny. They stressed that the onus rested squarely on public institutions mandated to protect state land, enforce lease terms, and ensure transparent usage.
During the session, the member colonies of the board of revenue revealed that then chief minister Sardar Muhammad Arif Nakai, who was also a member of the club, had verbally directed the fixation of a token Rs5,000 annual rent for the lease extension in 1996, bypassing proper land valuation and relevant legal principles. Perturbed by how a mere verbal instruction could underpin such a major agreement, lawmakers demanded the complete documentary record detailing the legal authority and approval process behind the 1996 lease deed.
PA body constitutes fact-finding committee to frame specific queries, verify records, and present comprehensive report within 10 days
Emphasising that the land ultimately belongs to the people of Punjab, the committee was presented with estimates valuing the prime property between Rs76 billion and Rs218 billion. Members questioned the state’s failure to secure a fair public return on an asset of this scale and firmly rejected any notion that the club’s internal corporate governance shielded it from state oversight, maintaining that institutional autonomy cannot supersede accountability for public property.
Touching upon structural approvals, Mr Siddique affirmed that while the club fulfills its corporate and tax obligations under the Companies Act 2017, he has struggled to locate internal records regarding official building sanctions.
In response, lawmakers called for strict verification of sanctioned building plans, statutory permissions, and compliance with lease terms, raising safety concerns over structures lacking documented approvals.
On the issue of an independent state audit, Mr Siddique noted that the matter remains pending before the Supreme Court and assured adherence to its eventual verdict, a position echoed by management committee member Tasneem Noorani.
The panel also explored proposals aimed at broader public utility, such as opening the club’s cricket ground to the general public or relocating the facility near the Ring Road, while questioning why public funds were ever spent on an exclusive recreational club occupying state land.
To take the probe forward, the committee directed the Lahore Development Authority, Parks and Horticulture Authority, Federal Board of Revenue, and other relevant bodies to submit detailed jurisdictional reports.
Furthermore, a fact-finding committee headed by the Advocate General Punjab, comprising officials from the Board of Revenue, Metropolitan Corporation Lahore, Law department, Agriculture department, and the deputy commissioner, had been assigned to frame specific queries, verify records, and present a comprehensive report within ten days.
Concluding the session, the chairperson directed that legal questions stemming from the proceedings be forwarded to the high-powered Law Reforms Committee, headed by Speaker Malik Muhammad Ahmad Khan, for joint deliberations aimed at fixing responsibility for oversight lapses and ensuring the lawful use of public land.
Artificial intelligence has found critical security flaws in a major programming language called PHP, with many websites taken offline Thursday as organisations worldwide scramble to fend off would-be hackers.
As AI’s fast-advancing capabilities fuel concern over the increased risk of cyberattacks, here are some questions and answers about the situation: What is PHP and how widely used is it? Created in the early 1990s, PHP is a computer programming language that helps run an estimated 70 per cent of the world’s websites.
It is “a backbone of the web”, according to security firm Wiz Research, which says it used AI to find vulnerabilities hidden in PHP for more than a decade.
PHP — a name that originally stood for Personal Home Page — underpins popular web design platforms, meaning the flaws could allow hackers to break into various sites, from online stores to government services.
A screen displays the unavailable Dutch government website, mijn.overheid.nl, as cyber agencies warn that websites may be taken offline while PHP prepares a critical fix, in Berlin, Germany on October 21, 2026. —Reuters
A fix was released Wednesday, with the PHP Foundation telling the tech departments of companies and organisations around the world: “If you run PHP, it is imperative that you update now.”
That has resulted in a slew of apps and websites — from the Paris police website to a Pokemon sleep tracker — going dark as developers work to protect their underlying code from hacks.
How did AI find the flaws? Cutting-edge AI models, such as those from US giants OpenAI and Google, were used by Wiz and other groups to uncover PHP’s weak spots in August.
This was kept under wraps while a fix was developed.
A computer screen displays the website of Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management company, a Japanese investment management firm, which says that some services have been temporarily suspended to verify and ensure safety, after the disclosure of critical vulnerabilities in a widely used programming language sent website operators around the world scrambling to protect their systems, in Tokyo, Japan on October 22, 2026. —Reuters
OpenAI called the flaws “one of the most impactful vulnerabilities in recent memory”, adding that it “marks a new phase, where AI can find security bugs with internet-scale impact”.
Separately to Wiz, security firm Calif found the flaws as part of an OpenAI-funded audit of PHP’s code.
“The trouble with tools like AI is that the moment all the information’s out there, people can weaponise it very, very quickly,”
Steve Kerrison, senior lecturer in cybersecurity at the Singapore campus of James Cook University, told AFP.
“That’s why everybody’s acting with such urgency to respond to this issue.”
Have sites already been hacked? “Taking websites offline does not necessarily mean they have been hacked.”
“It can be a responsible measure to protect systems while security updates are applied,” said Dimitrios Salampasis from Australia’s Swinburne University of Technology.
So far “the evidence that security researchers are seeing is that nobody was actively performing attacks using the techniques available”, Kerrison said.
Larger institutions, from government agencies to news outlets, should be able to fix their websites relatively quickly — but others may be left vulnerable.
“There are sites, systems and people out there who will have no idea about this and still won’t for days, weeks and months,” Kerrison warned.
That may include user-run blogs that could be used to spread computer viruses, spam people or distribute malicious content.
Could there be other consequences? A data breach could affect customers in the future if their personal information is used in so-called “phishing” attacks, where someone is tricked into revealing their password to an online service.
An illustration picture taken on October 21, 2026 shows a padlock in front of binary code on a laptop screen in Frankfurt am Main, western Germany. —AFP
The complex and interlinked nature of online systems, which often use third-party interfaces, means some vulnerabilities could remain even after the problem is fixed.
If the third parties use PHP, “then even though you patched yourself… you’re still unsecure”, said Rahat Masood, senior lecturer in cyber security at the University of New South Wales, Sydney.
PHP isn’t everything, however — strong cybersecurity measures should include several layers of defences, Kerrison said.
Header image: Unplugged LAN network cables at a computer server, as cyber agencies warn that websites may be taken offline while PHP prepares a critical fix, in Berlin, Germany, on October 21, 2026. —Reuters
• Mental health experts explain how diseased mind perceives and rationalises the extreme act • Identify socio-economic distress, anguish, despair and mental health conditions as key factors • Stress that psychiatric conditions are treatable with therapy and medication
KARACHI: How could one spouse persuade the other to participate in a joint suicide and kill their own children?
Two recent incidents in Karachi, in which parents allegedly killed their own children and a household member before ending their own lives, make answering this troubling question particularly urgent.
In September, the decomposed bodies of a doctor, his wife and their three daughters were found in a locked apartment in Ahsanabad.
This month, five members of another family were found dead inside a locked portion in Gulshan-i-Hadeed. While investigations are still underway, police authorities treat both cases as suspected murder-suicides.
When mental health experts were asked to address this troubling question of how someone could persuade their spouse to participate in such an extreme act, they explained the psychiatric and psychological conditions that could lead up to such acts.
The experts also pointed to severe socio-economic distress, rising unemployment, and a lack of accessible crisis support systems.
Speaking to Dawn, senior psychiatrist and retired Brigadier Dr Shoaib Ahmed, Executive Director of Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan Institute of Behavioural Sciences of Dow University of Health Sciences, said: “When someone is moving towards suicide, their mind does not work the way a mentally healthy person’s mind does.
“In such cases, when couples find themselves completely overwhelmed by severe poverty and relentless socioeconomic issues, they often reach a breaking point,” he said, adding: “The amount of pressure and the multitude of issues become too much for them to deal with, which is why they move towards suicide.”
Addressing the specific nature of joint suicides, Dr Ahmed discussed suicide pacts — an agreement made between more than one individual facing extreme distress. He said that while such occurrences happen worldwide under severe circumstances, they stem from a profound sense of helplessness.
“In extreme cases, couples not only choose to end their own lives to escape a world of torment but also tragically decide to take their children’s lives as well, in what they perceive as an act of mercy killing,” the senior psychiatrist said.
Driven by despair, they rationalise that leaving their children behind without any parental support in a painful world would only expose them to further suffering, effectively viewing the devastating act through a distorted lens of mercy, Dr Ahmed added.
The senior psychiatrist warned that financial pressures, job drain among educated professionals, and escalating poverty are pushing individuals to the brink of hopelessness.
However, Dr Ahmed added that the psychiatric conditions are treatable with therapy and medication.
‘Susceptibility’
Psychiatrist and Psychotherapist Dr Usama Bin Zubair believes that brain chemistry can play a role in suicidal thoughts, but suicide is rarely explained by “brain chemistry alone”. Responding to Dawn queries on the telephone, the CEO of Pakistan Institute of Mental Health, Rawalpindi, explained biological, psychological and social factors behind such suicides.
“The issue spans biological, psychological, and social dimensions,” Dr Zubair said.
Shedding light on suicide pacts and cult suicides, in which even hundreds of people die by suicide together, he said that there is also the concept of rational suicide.
“In rational suicide, couples mutually decide that their life’s hardships have become far greater than death itself,” Dr Zubair explained.
It is a situation where a person believes, after thinking about their circumstances, that ending their life is a logical or reasonable choice. He said personality factors also play a critical role, including susceptibility, where one partner suggests the act and the other possesses a personality inclined to follow.
‘Contagious anxiety’
Responding to the question of why neither partner in a couple would stop the other from carrying out such an act, senior Clinical Psychologist and Counsellor Atia Fareed spoke about contagious anxiety and shared psychological distress, explaining the dynamics of joint suicide pacts.
“Anxiety is often considered a contagious, catching illness in our society. If someone is dealing with mental health issues in a household, its effects invariably bleed into the lives of everyone living there,” the psychologist warned.
“When both partners are suffering from extreme mental agony, neither is capable of pulling the other out of danger. Instead of offering hope, they can drag each other deeper into despair because both individuals become so profoundly incapacitated that neither is in a position to help the other.”
She said that growing hopelessness can compel a couple to validate each other’s destructive thoughts.
However, she added that the recent Karachi incidents constitute a “murder-suicide” by an individual rather than a collective “mass suicide”.
“True mass suicide requires mutual consensus among all participants,” the clinical psychologist stressed.
Dominant personality or mental illness
“There are two possibilities. Both individuals may be experiencing mental illness, though not necessarily to the same degree,” said senior Psychiatrist Dr Syed Abdurrehman.
Alternatively, one person’s mental illness may cause significant stress for the other family members, creating a shared psychological impact, added the managing director of the Karachi Psychiatric Hospital.
“The dominant personality in a family can also influence others. A husband can affect his wife, just as a mother can affect her children”.
He added that when parents decide that the entire family should die, it may be because both are experiencing mental illness, or because one person’s strong psychological influence affects the other.
“Brain chemical imbalances or any other cause, like genetic inheritance of a disease, are also very major causes,” Dr Abdurrehman added.
Social and economic pressures
Psychiatrist Dr Bilal Zafar also agreed with the experts’ views.
The director of Willing Ways, originally founded as Sadaqat Clinic, said severe financial crises, debt, profound loneliness, despair, and a sense of helplessness could drive people to take such drastic steps.
“A disturbed brain understands this as the only way out — to end life,” Dr Bilal Zafar added.
“Secondly, husbands and wives have a deep relationship. The thoughts of one can affect the other. If one is hopeless, the other automatically absorbs that hopelessness by watching them and also becomes hopeless.”
While financial pressures are significant stressors, reducing complex mental health crises strictly to economic factors is misleading and dangerous, the expert added.
The experts believe that in such cases, families and friends often overlook warning signs such as social withdrawal, isolation, and significant changes in behaviour. Families and friends bear a critical responsibility to monitor their loved ones for such symptoms, they added. They also stress the need to move past social stigmas, maintain open lines of communication with distressed loved ones, and ensure access to affordable, professional psychiatric help before minor psychological struggles escalate into crises.
IN the two days before writing this column, I had the pleasure of being immersed in a series of discussions in Islamabad on all things related to taxes in Pakistan.
Hosted by the finance ministry and the IMF, the discussions brought together senior practitioners, advisers, and stakeholders for a detailed, high-level debate on what all needs to change in Pakistan’s tax system for it to play a more enabling role in undergirding stability for the private sector and promoting growth rather than being a drag on it.
What struck me during the discussions was the large gulf between the community of experts the IFIs bring to the tax conversation and the people who legislate and oversee the making and implementation of tax policy in Pakistan. The gulf is evident in how they approach the question of tax, the priorities they bring to the table, how they measure success, and the language they use to talk about taxes.
The experts present — sadly, the content of the discussions was “off the record”, so only broad themes can be discussed here — emphasised sustained commitment, balanced compliance, and measuring outcomes, “not activity”. Special emphasis was put on the harmonisation of GST, predictability of policy, and the mutually reinforcing dynamic between various tax heads — for example, how a properly administered GST can help strengthen income tax as well. FBR representatives underlined their tax reform efforts. However, participants still pointed out that the base remains narrow, that withholding plays an outsize role — one of the charts showed how 90 per cent of withholding taxes are collected under 10 heads only — and that this role is increasing. There was broad consensus that Pakistan’s tax system remains inequitable, riddled with “distortions”, and serves more as a drag on growth and investment than as their promoter.
It is surprising how underdeveloped the template governing data disclosure on revenues is.
There is a reason why this is so. The priorities that have shaped Pakistan’s tax system over the years differ from what tax experts suggest it should serve. In Pakistan, raw revenue is the metric of success — and not efficiency, buoyancy, or the self-reinforcing elements of tax administration. Tax policy responds heavily to voice in the system. Over the years, it has evolved along the path of least resistance, so to speak, causing the bulk of the burden of generating new revenue to fall on those with no voice, or the least organised voice, in the system. Even in the section of industry that likes to highlight the quantum of its contribution to the revenue effort, it is highly probable that the bulk of the taxes are passed through to their consumer base rather than being borne by the owners and controllers of capital. Over the years, this course has led to a tax system that is highly regressive, very concentrated, barely buoyant, and heavily reliant on withholding as the basis for its collection.
As participants grappled with the vexing question of tax reform in Pakistan, I felt one modest but concrete proposal might help refocus the conversation on evidence rather than emotion. Given how central the question is to Pakistan’s economic future, it is surprising how underdeveloped the template governing data disclosure on revenues is. The monthly revenue collection data we all see reported in the newspapers is informally taken by reporters from unnamed FBR sources and is often inconsistent.
We only see revenue-collection data when the Fiscal Operations data is released every quarter, but even then it provides only headline numbers, and its release frequency is too low to be useful. One thing that is sorely needed in Pakistan is a more robust, mandatory data release template for the FBR, with monthly frequency at the very least, if not more often.
The IMF should use its access to the highest levels of government to urge that monthly data releases on revenue collection become mandatory for the FBR. The World Bank should offer its expertise to help develop this template, with uniform accounting conventions governing matters such as how to treat withheld refunds and how to break down the releases. Hence, they serve as a meaningful source for discerning the direction of the fiscal outlook during the fiscal year. The government should legislate this requirement and make any necessary modifications to FBR rules to ensure that a dedicated team is always at work within the tax authority, gathering, compiling, and preparing the next data release as per a predetermined schedule.
While we’re at it, let’s also mandate a similar release requirement on the finance ministry on expenditures. Q Block already submits a monthly statement of all expenditures to the IMF, as per the accounting treatment given by the IMF itself. It would be relatively simple to make this public. There is no good reason not to do so. And many participants at the conference did point out that the question of revenue is connected to that of expenditure.
The bad practices that characterise much of Pakistan’s tax system are a symptom of the environment in which tax policy is administered. That environment is riddled with discretionary powers whose sway in the tax bureaucracy is at the root of a lot of what ails the tax effort. The best antidote to discretionary powers is daylight, or transparency. Open a window. Let the light of day shine in the otherwise dark rooms in which the tax machinery is used to operating. Let them grow accustomed to the discipline a regular data-release template brings. Let them answer the questions that will naturally arise once the data starts to flow. And watch the tax conversation find the rails it needs to ride into the future.
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