Category Archives: Pakistan

Thursday briefing: How Khan’s controversial arrest threatens stability in Pakistan – and what’s next

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In today’s newsletter: Protests could mark the start of a violent showdown that threatens the country’s fragile political system

Good morning.

On Tuesday, the former prime minister of Pakistan Imran Khan was arrested on charges of corruption. The extraordinary scene was caught on video, with Khan at the centre of a gaggle of agents, all dressed in black riot gear who are pulling him into an armoured truck outside the high court in the capital, Islamabad.

US news | Donald Trump made a chaotic appearance at a CNN town hall last night, digging in on lies about the 2020 election and E Jean Carroll’s lawsuit, a day after a New York jury found the former president liable for sexual abuse and defamation.

Wales | Adam Price, the leader of Plaid Cymru since 2018, is resigning from his position after a damning review said his party had failed to “detoxify” its culture and found evidence of misogyny, harassment and bullying. A new leader is expected to be in place for the summer.

Health | The Guardian has found that some online pharmacies operating in the UK are approving and dispatching prescriptions of controversial slimming jabs for people of a healthy weight. Campaigners are urging pharmacies to deploy stronger health checks and screening for eating disorders.

Politics | The Conservative chair of the foreign affairs select committee heavily criticised Liz Truss over her planned trip to Taiwan, calling it “the worst kind of Instagram diplomacy”. Alicia Kearns went on, describing the trip as little more than a vanity project aimed at keeping her profile high after her brief time as prime minister last year.

Housing | Almost 1.5 million homeowners with fixed-rate mortgages face higher borrowing costs as the Bank of England is expected to push up interest rates to 4.5%. Many will see their annual bills increase by an average of £3,000 when they refinance their loans this year.

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Conflict and climate disasters combine to create record rise in displaced people

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War in Ukraine and Pakistan’s ‘monsoon on steroids’ among events driving surge on ‘scale never seen before’ as 71m people displaced

The number of people around the world who were forced to flee their homes leapt by a fifth last year, as a “perfect storm” of Russia’s assault on Ukraine and climate disasters brought displacement on an unprecedented scale.

By the end of 2022 the number of internally displaced people (IDPs) – those forced from their homes but remaining within their country of residence – reached 71 million, according to figures published by the Norwegian Refugee Council’s Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC), up from 59.1 million in 2021.

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Former PM Imran Khan appears before judge amid uproar in Pakistan

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At least five people have died and 84 have been injured as protests spread across country and army deployed

Pakistan’s former prime minister Imran Khan has been presented before a judge at a police station in Islamabad, 24 hours after his arrest by scores of paramilitary officers that led to countrywide uproar.

Khan was also indicted on Wednesday by the Islamabad high court in a separate corruption case in which he is accused of selling millions of dollars worth of state gifts presented by the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman.

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Pakistan internet cut as violence erupts after arrest of ex-PM Imran Khan

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Khan, ousted from power last year, was appearing in court to face corruption charges

Internet services have been suspended across Pakistan after violence erupted when the former prime minister, Imran Khan, was arrested at a court appearance in Islamabad and dragged into an armoured vehicle by scores of security forces in riot gear.

The arrest of Khan – who was ousted from power last year and has evaded arrest several times since – came hours after he released a video message reiterating his allegations that Pakistan’s powerful military establishment had tried to assassinate him twice.

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Calls grow for Pakistan’s zoos to close after death of 17-year-old elephant

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Case of Noor Jehan in Karachi draws criticism of conditions and renewed accusations of neglect at country’s facilities

Pakistan’s zoos have faced criticism and calls for their closure after the death of a 17-year-old elephant in Karachi.

Noor Jehan, an African elephant, which have an average lifespan of 60 to 70 years, was already in poor health when she fell into a pond last month and was unable to get up. She later died.

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Pakistani minister flies to India for first visit by a senior official in 12 years

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Foreign minister plays down any prospect of reconciliation effort as he stresses trip to Goa is purely for regional summit

Pakistan’s foreign minister, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, arrived in Goa on Thursday, the first visit to India by a senior Pakistani official in 12 years.

Yet few held out hope that the trip signalled efforts for reconciliation between the two neighbours and rivals. Speaking as he boarded the plane to Goa, where India is chairing the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) council of foreign ministers on Friday morning, Bhutto Zardari emphasised that his presence would be “focused exclusively on SCO” and avoided any mention of India.

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Pakistan’s Punjab elections to go ahead as court confirms ruling

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Supreme court stands by decision to order elections next month in move that seemingly pits judiciary against government

The chief justice of Pakistan’s supreme court has stood by its decision to order elections next month in its most populous province, a move that seemingly pits the judiciary against the country’s government and the military establishment.

The court has announced elections in Punjab for 14 May after declaring a delay to the vote unconstitutional and rejecting a petition from the defence ministry to instead hold elections simultaneously across the country later, amid deteriorating security and economic conditions.

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Australian man’s jail sentence for writing critical letter to Pakistan military a ‘torment’ for family

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Family of Hasan Askree, 53, who was jailed for five years in 2020, say case is a grave miscarriage of justice

The incarceration of a Pakistani-Australian man in a high security Pakistani prison has been a “torment” for his ageing parents, his family says.

Hasan Askree, 53, was sentenced to five years in prison in 2020 for writing a critical letter to a military official, a case his family says is opaque and constitutes a grave miscarriage of justice.

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Eight arrested in Pakistan after crush at free food point kills 12

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Police in Karachi say nine women and three children dead after crush outside factory during Ramadan alms-giving

Pakistani police have arrested eight people in the southern port city of Karachi after a crush killed 12 people at a Ramadan food and cash distribution point a day earlier.

Hundreds of women and children rushed to collect free food and cash outside a factory in an industrial area of the city on Friday. Business-owners during the Islamic holy month often hand out cash and food, especially to poorer people. An initial report from the police said nine women, aged between 40 and 80, and three children, aged between 10 and 15, had died in the crush.

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Pakistan delays Punjab election despite supreme court ruling

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Former prime minister Imran Khan says election commission’s move is violation of Pakistan’s constitution

Pakistan has postponed elections in Punjab, the country’s most populated province, in a move that spurns a recent supreme court ruling and is likely to cause more sparks between supporters of former prime minister Imran Khan and the government.

In an eight-page order seen by the Guardian, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) claimed that “it is not possible to hold and organise the elections honestly, justly, fairly, in a peaceful manner”, blaming security threats and financial problems. It said it would be unable to provide a “level playing field” to all political parties as a result.

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Earthquake hits Pakistan, Afghanistan and India with at least 11 dead

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Nine die in Pakistan and two in Afghanistan from magnitude 6.5 event, with more than 200 people injured

A magnitude 6.5 earthquake has rattled much of Pakistan and Afghanistan, sending panicked residents fleeing from homes and offices, and frightening people even in remote villages. At least nine people died in Pakistan and two in Afghanistan, officials said on Wednesday

More than 200 people were brought to hospitals in the Swat valley region of Pakistan’s north-western Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in a state of shock, said Bilal Faizi, a spokesperson for Pakistan’s emergency services.

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Court cancels Imran Khan’s arrest warrant after clashes in Pakistan capital

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Supporters of ex-prime minister and police fight outside court where he was addressing charges of unlawfully selling state gifts

A court in Islamabad has cancelled Imran Khan’s arrest warrant after intense clashes between police and the former prime minister’s supporters outside the judicial complex.

Khan officially appeared before the court in Pakistan’s capital on Saturday, complying with a judicial order that led to a failed attempt to arrest him on Tuesday. He is facing various legal challenges including unlawfully selling state gifts given to him by foreign dignitaries while in office from 2018 to 2022. Khan says he followed legal procedures in acquiring the gifts.

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Pakistan court orders police to halt efforts to arrest Imran Khan

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High court move follows violent clashes between police and supporters outside former PM’s house in Lahore

A court in Pakistan has ordered police to suspend an operation to arrest Imran Khan, after violent clashes between the former prime minister’s supporters and law enforcement outside his house.

The vicinity of Khan’s residence became a battleground on Tuesday, when police arrived after a lower court in Islamabad issued a non-bailable arrest warrant for not appearing before it despite several summonses.

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Pakistan: riot police fire teargas on crowds trying to prevent arrest of Imran Khan

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It is the second time in recent weeks that police have been dispatched to serve an arrest warrant to the former prime minister

Pakistan riot police have used water cannon and teargas to push back supporters of former prime minister Imran Khan who gathered outside his house to prevent officers from arresting him.

Khan was ousted from office by a no confidence vote last year, and has been snarled in a series of legal cases as he campaigns for early elections and his return to office.

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Kashmir letters cast doubt on claims Nehru blundered by agreeing ceasefire

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Exclusive: papers kept classified for decades reveal India’s first PM acted on advice from most senior general

India’s first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, was urged by his most senior general to agree to a ceasefire with Pakistan in 1948, the Guardian can reveal after viewing letters on Kashmir that have been kept classified in India for decades.

The correspondence from the then commander-in-chief, Gen Sir Francis Robert Roy Bucher, will have significant political ramifications for the current nationalist government in Delhi, which has discredited Nehru’s decision to come to a compromise on the status of disputed Kashmir as an ill-informed “blunder”.

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Pakistan police serve arrest warrants to Imran Khan to ensure court appearance

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Ex-PM and former international cricketer is facing charges of misusing his office to sell state gifts

Pakistani police served arrest warrants to the former prime minister Imran Khan to ensure his appearance in court on charges of misusing his office to sell state gifts, authorities have said, after Khan’s supporters tried to prevent police entry into his home.

The election commission of Pakistan in October found the 70-year-old cricketer-turned-politician guilty of unlawfully selling gifts from foreign dignitaries.

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Anger grows over Afghan journalists still stranded by Home Office inaction

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Press members living under the Taliban, and living uncertain lives in Pakistan, must be given clarity say campaign groups

Hundreds of Afghan journalists remain stranded in increasingly “dire” circumstances as frustration mounts over the UK government’s refusal to share the latest entry criteria for its flagship resettlement programme.

This weekend, a coalition of press freedom and free expression organisations, including Index on Censorship, the National Union of Journalists, PEN International and English PEN, have written to home secretary Suella Braverman asking why details of the next phase of the Afghan citizens’ resettlement scheme (ACRS) have yet to be revealed.

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Pakistan crackdown on Afghan refugees leaves ‘four dead’ and thousands in cells

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Asylum seekers in Karachi tell of terror of being sent back to the Taliban and despair at being shackled and held in Pakistani jails

Refugees are reportedly dying in Pakistani prisons, and children are being arrested and tied together with ropes, as a wave of detentions and deportations spreads fearamong the hundreds of thousands of Afghans who have crossed the border since the Taliban took power.

According to lawyers representing Afghans in detention, at least four people have died in custody, and thousands more, including children, are being held in prisons as Pakistan hardens its stance against Afghan citizens.

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Pakistan’s fresh £580m loan from China intensifies debt burden fears

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Loan is on top of £25bn that cash-strapped Islamabad already owes Beijing and Chinese commercial banks

China has agreed to loan Pakistan $700m (£580m) to help it weather its worst economic crisis in a generation, in a development that will intensify concern among western countries about cash-strapped Islamabad’s debt burden to Beijing.

The loan comes on top of $30bn (£25bn) that Pakistan already owes China and Chinese commercial banks. Securing the financing will help to unlock bailout cash from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

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At least four killed as Pakistani Taliban militants storm police HQ in Karachi

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Officials say three attackers also dead as police and paramilitary forces clear building in gun battle

Militants launched a deadly suicide attack on the police headquarters of Pakistan’s largest city on Friday, with the sound of gunfire and explosions rocking the heart of Karachi for several hours.

Two police officers, a ranger and a civilian were killed and 14 others wounded, said Murtaza Wahab, a government spokesman in Sindh province, where Karachi is located. Two suicide bombers were killed and at least one blew himself up after entering the police building, officials said.

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