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Ex-PM Khan’s lawyers accuse officials of flouting court order, limiting media access at state secrets trial

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Updated 02 December 2023
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Ex-PM Khan’s lawyers accuse officials of flouting court order, limiting media access at state secrets trial

  • Khan’s lawyers say three journalists were allowed to witness the trial after the legal team boycotted the proceedings
  • The former prime minister was said to be in high spirits, waiting for the hearing to start and media to move in
Updated 02 December 2023
Fatimah Amjad

RAWALPINDI: Former prime minister Imran Khan’s legal team on Saturday accused the officials of a high-security prison in Rawalpindi for flouting court orders by not ensuring adequate media presence during his jail trial on charges of divulging state secrets, saying today’s proceedings could not be called an “open trial.”

A special court established to hear what has popularly come to be called the cipher case has been conducting the trial inside the Adiala prison in Rawalpindi since Khan was indicted under the Official Secrets Act last month after the government said he could not be moved to a courtroom for security reasons.

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) ruled last week, however, such hearings were illegal and ordered an open trial with media access.

A large number of journalists were present to attend the special court proceedings at the prison facility Saturday morning, though most of them were disappointed after the authorities only called three local journalists in to witness the trial.

“It was directed by the Islamabad High Court that an open trial in the cipher case will be given to Imran Khan,” the ex-PM’s lawyer, Intazar Hussain Panjutha, told Arab News. “But unfortunately, today’s hearing was in the violation of the order of IHC.”




A lawyer is seen walking out of the gate of Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, on December 2, 2023. (AN Photo)

“The proceedings were held in a similar manner as they were being held prior to the declaration of IHC,” he continued. “We protested this, we resisted it before the court. It was not an open trial.”

Asked about Khan’s morale, he said the former prime minister was in high spirits and looked confident.

“He was waiting for the hearing to start and he was waiting for the media to come in,” he added.

Khan’s spokesperson on legal affairs, Naeem Haider Panjutha, also weighed in, saying the cipher case hearings could not be described as part of fair trial.

He informed the three journalists were allowed to witness the trial only after Khan’s legal team boycotted the hearing.

“Khan said this is not a fair trial,” he added. “Fair trial means giving access to the media. Media is public. Media should be given permission [to cover the proceedings].”

According to Yasir Hakeem, a journalist working for Samaa TV who was allowed to witness the trial, the ex-premier objected to his treatment, saying he was made to feel like an animal while his rival, Nawaz Sharif, was “brought back” from exile in London after being convicted in a corruption reference.

“We are not even allowed to speak,” Hakeem quoted him as saying.

The former prime minister, who is the chairman of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, is being held at Adiala jail where he is serving a three-year sentence in a separate case in which he was convicted in August of failing to disclose assets earned from the sale of state gifts while he was PM from 2018-2022.

Khan is also accused in a number of other cases, including the cipher case, which relates to an alleged diplomatic correspondence between Washington and Islamabad that Khan says was proof that his ouster as PM in a parliamentary vote of no-confidence in April 2022 was part of a US conspiracy to remove him. Washington has repeatedly denied Khan’s accusations.

Khan, arguably the most popular politician in the country, has not been seen in public since he was arrested in August. Prior to that, he regularly addressed his millions of followers via social media and held massive public rallies and protest marches.

The court adjourned its hearings until Monday.

Topics: Ex-PM Imran Khan cipher case

Suicide behind one in every 100 deaths globally — WHO

Updated 12 sec ago
AFP
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Suicide behind one in every 100 deaths globally — WHO

  • In 2021, last year data was available, there were an estimated 727,000 suicides worldwide
  • Sicide leading cause of death among young people across geographies, socioeconomics
Updated 12 sec ago
AFP

GENEVA: More than one in every 100 deaths globally is due to suicide, the World Health Organization said Tuesday, calling for urgent action to stem a mounting mental health crisis among young people especially.

The WHO said that, while global suicide rates had fallen somewhat in recent years, progress in combating the issue was far too slow.

In 2021 — the last year for which data was available — there were an estimated 727,000 suicides worldwide, the United Nations’ health agency said.

“Globally, suicide accounts for more than one in every 100 deaths, and for each death, there are 20 suicide attempts,” said Devora Kestel, the interim head of the WHO’s non-communicable disease and mental health department.

Those suicides “affected countless more lives and livelihoods, as friends, carers and loved ones were forced to grapple with unimaginable hardship,” she told reporters.

The WHO’s World Mental Health Today report highlighted that suicide remains a leading cause of death among young people across geographies and socioeconomic contexts.

In 2021, it was the second leading cause of death for girls and women aged 15 to 29, and the third leading cause for males in the same age category, it found.

Despite a 35-percent global decline in the age-adjusted suicide rate between 2000 and 2021, the world is still falling short of its goal: instead of the targeted one-third reduction in suicide rates between 2015 and 2030, current progress suggests only a 12 percent decrease will be achieved, according to the WHO.

Decreases were seen in every region — except in the Americas, where the suicide rate increased by 17 percent in the same period.

Nearly three-quarters of all suicides take place in lower-income countries, where most of the global population lives.

Although wealthier countries have a higher suicide rate, as a proportion of population, it is difficult to compare since they also tend to have better data available than lower-income countries, the WHO pointed out.

The agency cautioned that, while suicide rates have been slowly declining, the prevalence of mental disorders like anxiety and depression has been swelling.

“Between 2011 and 2021, the number of people living with mental disorders increased faster than the global population,” the report said.

According to the latest findings, more than one billion people are living with mental health disorders.

The WHO voiced particular concern about growing mental health distress among young people.

While there are likely a long line of drivers behind the increase, Mark van Ommeren, head of the WHO mental health unit, said “the two main hypotheses are social media and the impact of the Covid pandemic.”

In this context, WHO voiced alarm at a “stagnation” in mental health investment around the world, with median government spending on mental health remaining at just two percent of total health budgets — unchanged since 2017.

Globally, only nine percent of people with depression get treatment, it found.
“Transforming mental health services is one of the most pressing public health challenges,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a statement.

Topics: suicide

Earthquakes have frequently hit Afghanistan, Pakistan in recent years

Updated 02 September 2025
Reuters
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Earthquakes have frequently hit Afghanistan, Pakistan in recent years

  • Over 1,100 people died, thousands were injured in magnitude 6 earthquake that struck eastern Afghanistan on Sunday
  • The Afghanistan-Pakistan region, suffers frequent earthquakes as it lies at intersection of Indian, Eurasian tectonic plates
Updated 02 September 2025
Reuters

More than 1,100 people died and thousands were injured after an earthquake of magnitude 6 struck the rugged eastern region of Afghanistan, the latest such event following an increase in seismic activity.

Here are previous similar disasters of recent years in the Afghanistan-Pakistan region, which lies at the intersection of the Indian and Eurasian tectonic plates.

2025

  • A magnitude 5.6 quake hit Afghanistan’s Hindu Kush region on August 27.
  • A magnitude 5.2 earthquake hit Afghanistan’s Hindu Kush region on August 19, at a depth of 186 km (115 miles).
  • A magnitude 5.5 earthquake struck central Pakistan on June 29, with its epicenter at a depth of 149 km (93 miles).
  • A magnitude 5.7 earthquake struck Pakistan on May 10, the European Mediterranean Seismological Center said.
  • Quakes of magnitude 5.6 and 5.8 hit the Hindu Kush and Afghanistan-Tajikistan border regions, on April 16 and 19, respectively.
  • A magnitude 5 earthquake struck Pakistan on April 12, at a depth of 39 km (25 miles).
  • Pakistan’s southern port city of Karachi has been hit by several moderate or minor tremors in March and June.

2024

  • A magnitude 5.5 earthquake hit the Hindu Kush region in Afghanistan on October 17.
  • An earthquake of magnitude 5.75 struck Pakistan at a depth of 10 km (6 miles) on September 11.
  • Earthquakes of magnitude 5.5 and 5.8 struck Pakistan between March 19 and March 20.
  • An earthquake of magnitude 5.5 hit northwestern Kashmir on February 19.
  • A magnitude 6.3 earthquake hit the Hindu Kush region in Afghanistan on January 11.
  • A magnitude 5 earthquake hit the Afghanistan-Tajikistan border region on January 5.

2023

  • An earthquake of magnitude 5.3 hit the Afghanistan-Tajikistan border region on November 15.
  • At least four earthquakes hit Afghanistan between October 7 and 15, the two deadliest in the western province of Herat, killing about 1,000 people and destroying entire villages.
  • On August 6, an earthquake of magnitude 5.1 hit the Afghanistan-Tajikistan border.
  • Earthquakes of magnitude 5.6 and 5.7 hit the Hindu Kush region in Afghanistan on May 3 and on August 5, respectively.
  • An earthquake of magnitude 6.5 hit northern Afghanistan in late March, killing at least 13.
  • A magnitude 5.8 earthquake hit the Hindu Kush region in Afghanistan on January 5.

2022

  • An earthquake of magnitude 4.3 hit southeastern Afghanistan on December 16.
  • Over September 5 and 6, at least two earthquakes struck Afghanistan, with one killing at least eight.
  • A magnitude 5.6 quake struck Pakistan’s southwestern region on August 1.
  • A magnitude 6 earthquake in Afghanistan killed more than 1,000 people in June.
  • A magnitude 5.7 earthquake struck the Hindu Kush region in Afghanistan on February 5.
  • An earthquake of magnitude 5.6, at a depth of 30 km (19 miles), hit western Afghanistan on January 17.

2021

  • At least 15 people were killed after an earthquake struck southern Pakistan on October 7.
  • A magnitude 4.6 earthquake, at a depth of 17.6 km (11 miles), shook Afghanistan on May 19.
Topics: Afghanistan Pakistan earthquake

Pakistan, Kazakhstan discuss joint ventures to increase trade via Karachi, Gwadar ports

Updated 02 September 2025
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Pakistan, Kazakhstan discuss joint ventures to increase trade via Karachi, Gwadar ports

  • Pakistan has sought to leverage its position to connect landlocked Central Asian states to markets in Asia, Arabian Gulf, Africa
  • Pakistan’s maritime affairs minister highlights potential partnerships within Gwadar’s free zones in meeting with Kazakh envoy
Updated 02 September 2025
Ismail Dilawar

KARACHI: Officials from Pakistan and Kazakhstan discussed joint venture opportunities to enhance bilateral trade through the Karachi and Gwadar seaports, Pakistan’s maritime affairs ministry said on Tuesday amid Islamabad’s push to enhance its role as a regional transit hub. 

Pakistan has recently sought to leverage its strategic location to connect landlocked Central Asian states to Asia. Islamabad is pursuing a “Vision Central Asia” policy based on improving bilateral cooperation in politics, trade, investment, energy and connectivity, security and people-to-people contact with Central Asian Republics. 

Pakistan’s Maritime Affairs Minister Muhammad Junaid Anwar Chaudhry met Kazakh Ambassador Yerzhan Kistafin in Islamabad, with the two sides expressing interest in promoting bilateral cooperation, the Pakistani ministry said.

“Minister Chaudhry suggested initiating joint ventures at the Karachi and Gwadar ports, highlighting potential partnerships within Gwadar’s free zones,” the maritime affairs ministry said in a statement. “These efforts are intended to utilize Pakistan’s strategic port infrastructure to enhance trade access for Kazakhstan, a landlocked nation seeking wider maritime connectivity.”

Kistafin said Kazakhstan wanted to use Pakistan’s seaports as transit hubs for the Central Asian region, the statement said. The Kazakh official said a ministerial-level delegation led by his country’s communication minister, is scheduled to visit Pakistan “soon.” 

The delegation would conduct in-depth discussions with Chaudhry to explore further cooperation in maritime trade and logistics, the Pakistani ministry said. 

Chaudhry highlighted the role of Pakistani ports as “gateways” providing direct access to Central Asian countries to the Arabian Gulf, African and Southeast Asian markets.

He said these efforts would boost trade connectivity across the continent, underscoring Pakistan’s commitment to deepening economic ties through maritime channels.

Karachi and Gwadar are Pakistan’s most vital seaports, which Islamabad hopes can serve as gateways for international trade and regional connectivity. 

The southern Karachi city handles the majority of Pakistan’s imports and exports while Gwadar, located near the strategic Strait of Hormuz, offers traders direct access to the Arabian Sea. It is central to regional trade routes, including the multi-billion-dollar China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. 

Pakistan seeks to enhance the performance of the two crucial ports in its bid to boost its fragile $350 billion economy. 

Topics: Pakistan Kazakhstan ties Pakistan Maritime Affairs Karachi Port Authority

Pakistan vaccinates over 7 million children on first day of anti-polio drive 

Updated 02 September 2025
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Pakistan vaccinates over 7 million children on first day of anti-polio drive 

  • Pakistan kicked off week-long vaccination drive across 99 high-risk districts on Monday 
  • Pakistan, struggling to stem the spread of poliovirus, has reported 24 cases so far this year
Updated 02 September 2025
NAIMAT KHAN

KARACHI: Pakistani health authorities vaccinated over seven million, or 24.9% of the targeted 28.7 million children against poliovirus during the first day of an ongoing countrywide drive against the disease this week, the National Emergency Operations Center (NEOC) said on Tuesday. 

Pakistan kicked off the week-long vaccination campaign on Monday in 99 high-risk districts across the country. Pakistani health authorities said their target was to vaccinate 28.7 million children under the age of five against poliovirus, with the campaign set to conclude on Sept. 7. 

Polio is a highly infectious and incurable disease that can cause lifelong paralysis. The only protection is repeated doses of oral vaccine for every child under five, along with timely routine immunizations. Pakistan has reported 24 polio cases so far this year including 16 from the northwestern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), six from the southern Sindh province and one each from Punjab and northern Gilgit Baltistan (GB).

“On the first day, vaccination of 24.9% of children across the country was completed,” the NEOC said. “The polio campaign is being conducted simultaneously in Pakistan and Afghanistan.”

The NEOC said 30% of children were vaccinated in Punjab, 22% in Sindh, 29% in KP, 20% in Balochistan, 18% in Islamabad, 21% in GB and 31% in Azad Kashmir on Monday.

The authority urged parents to cooperate with polio teams and complete the immunization timely to stem the spread of the infection.

Pakistan and Afghanistan are the only two countries where polio remains endemic. Pakistan has made significant progress in curbing the virus in the past, with annual cases dropping from around 20,000 in the early 1990s to just eight in 2018. 

Pakistan reported six cases in 2023 and only one in 2021, but the country saw a sharp resurgence in 2024 with 74 cases recorded.

Pakistan’s polio program began in 1994, but efforts to eradicate the virus have been repeatedly undermined by vaccine misinformation and resistance from some religious hard-liners who claim that immunization is a foreign plot to sterilize Muslim children or a cover for Western espionage.

Militant groups have also frequently targeted polio vaccination teams and the security personnel assigned to protect them, often resulting in deadly attacks, particularly in KP and Balochistan.
 

Topics: Polio Polio cases Pakistan anti-polio drive 

Pakistan’s Balochistan launches foreign jobs drive, 180 youth secure Gulf jobs within a year

Updated 53 min 17 sec ago
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Pakistan’s Balochistan launches foreign jobs drive, 180 youth secure Gulf jobs within a year

  • Launched in October 2024, B-TEVTA regulates and finances technical, vocational education and training sector in Balochistan
  • Successful candidates say lack of work opportunities in Balochistan forced them to apply for B-TEVTA’s foreign jobs initiative
Updated 53 min 17 sec ago
Saadullah Akhtar

QUETTA: Pakistan’s impoverished Balochistan province has helped 180 youths secure jobs in Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries in less than a year through a fresh skills development and jobs initiative, the program’s managing director confirmed recently.

The Balochistan Technical Education & Vocational Training Authority (B-TEVTA) is an apex provincial body that regulates, promotes and finances the technical and vocational education and training (TVET) sector in the province. 

Balochistan is Pakistan’s largest province by land yet its most backward by almost all social and economic indicators. The province has been reeling from a low-level insurgency for decades, launched by separatist militants who accuse the center of depriving locals of a share of Balochistan’s mineral resources. Islamabad denies the allegations. 

B-TEVTA launched a jobs program in October 2024 to help skilled, young candidates secure jobs in foreign countries, mainly Saudi Arabia. Tariq Javed Mengal, B-TEVTA’s managing director, told Arab News the body received 12,826 applications on its online portal when the foreign jobs initiative was announced last year. Only 6,000 candidates were screened and selected by B-TEVTA for various skills development courses. 

“Presently, we have placed 180 candidates in Gulf countries,” Mengal said on Saturday. “Among [them] 150 are now working in Saudi Arabia.” 

Gulf countries such as Saudi Arabia and the UAE remain among the top preferred destinations for Pakistan’s labor force, who travel abroad in search of better work opportunities. 

A picture of B-TEVTA office in Quetta Pakistan. Picture taken on August 29, 2025. (AN Photo)

According to Pakistan’s Bureau of Emigration and Overseas Employment, Saudi Arabia remained the leading destination for Pakistani migrant workers in 2025. Around 284,532 Pakistanis registered for employment in the Kingdom during the first seven months of this year.

Mengal, who visited Saudi Arabia from Aug. 5-20, was confident that due to the rapid development undertaken under Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s Vision 2030 program, the Kingdom would emerge as the “leader” of the Middle East. 

“At the moment, there are ample job opportunities in Saudi Arabia, and we should be ready to support them with skilled human resources,” Mengal said. “Starting from blue-collar jobs to white-collar jobs.”

‘UNIQUE OPPORTUNITY’

Pakistani workers send billions of dollars in remittances from abroad every year. These remittances serve as a vital lifeline for the cash-strapped country’s economy that frequently relies on the International Monetary Fund’s financial bailouts. 

Pakistan received $3.2 billion in remittances during July, with Saudi Arabia remaining the top contributor with $823.7 million.

Muhammad Faris, 29, worked as a laborer since he was a child in Balochistan’s remote Kech district bordering Iran. 

Now, he is preparing to leave for Qatar after getting selected under B-TEVTA’s foreign jobs initiative under the “general labor” category.

Faris says the lack of work opportunities in Balochistan pushed him to apply for B-TEVTA’s program.

“This is a unique opportunity if we take advantage of this initiative,” he told Arab News. “Arab countries have similar religion and culture to ours, the way we dress and eat.

“Thus, the majority of the youth in Balochistan focus on working there,” he added. 

Muhammad Haroon, 25, is another youth from Balochistan’s Chaman town bordering Afghanistan, secured a job in a Dubai restaurant.

Haroon, who worked as a water in Chaman and Quetta previously, termed the initiative as “suitable” for middle-class and lower-middle-class youths of Balochistan.

“If we had gone abroad on our own expense, it would have cost us lots of money,” Haroon told Arab News. 

He said the B-TEVTA training program proved useful in teaching the trainees the basics of the Arabic language.

“We were also taught how to introduce ourselves in Arabic, how to count,” Haroon said. “We were thoroughly guided on everything, including how to maintain conduct with people there.”

Mengal said Saudi companies were interested in hiring Pakistani skilled workers, especially those from Balochistan. He said some of the candidates selected through B-TEVTA’s program had secured jobs in the hospitality sector, while others secured employment in Aramco’s subsidiary companies. 

“Now, we are entering the second phase of this program,” Mengal said. “And we want the maximum number of youth to participate in this initiative.”

Mengal said the second phase of the program would involve the provincial government finding jobs in the US, UK, Japan and Korea for the youth of Balochistan. He said B-TEVTA has received proposals from different firms based in these countries, who are looking for skilled laborers from Pakistan. 

Topics: Balochistan youth Pakistan Gulf Ties Technical education

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