Militants have Pakistan's police in their crosshairs 

A police officer looks outside the window of a gate at Achini's outpost, in the outskirts of Peshawar, Pakistan, February 9, 2023. (Photo courtesy: REUTERS)
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Updated 27 February 2023
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Militants have Pakistan's police in their crosshairs 

  • Killings of policemen in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa rose to 119 last year, from 54 in 2021 and 21 in 2020
  • Some 102 have been slain already this year, most in a mosque bombing but some in other attacks

BARA, Pakistan: Atop a police outpost in northwest Pakistan, Faizanullah Khan stands behind a stack of sandbags and peers through the sight of an anti-aircraft gun, scanning the terrain along the unofficial boundary with the country's restive former tribal areas. 

On this cold and rainy February morning, he was looking not for aircraft but for fighters behind attacks against his force, the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa provincial police. 

It was daytime, so he could relax a bit, said Khan, an assistant sub-inspector, as he sat down on a traditional woven bed. But night was a different story, he said, pointing to pock marks left by bullets fired at the outpost, named Manzoor Shaheed, or Manzoor the Martyr, after a colleague felled by insurgents years ago. 

The outpost is one of dozens that provide defence against militants waging a fresh assault on Pakistan's police from hideouts in the border region adjoining Taliban-controlled Afghanistan. The area, part of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province, is a hotbed for fighters of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), an umbrella organisation of militant groups.

The threat the insurgency poses to nuclear-armed Pakistan was illustrated last month when the bombing of a mosque in Peshawar killed more than 80 police personnel. A faction of the TTP, Jamat-ul-Ahrar, claimed responsibility. 

Visiting northwest Pakistan this month, Reuters gained access to police outposts and spoke to more than a dozen people, including senior police officials, many of whom described how the force is suffering increasing losses as it bears the brunt of insurgent attacks while contending with resourcing and logistical constraints. 

Pakistani officials acknowledge these challenges but say they are trying to improve the force's capability amid adverse economic circumstances. 




A police officer rappels off a building during a practice session at the Elite Police Training Centre in Nowshera, Pakistan, February 10, 2023. (Photo courtesy: REUTERS)

'Stopped their way' 

Police here have fought militants for years -- more than 2,100 personnel have been killed and 7,000 injured since 2001 -- but never have they been the focus of militants' operations as they are today. 

"We've stopped their way to Peshawar," assistant sub-inspector Jameel Shah of Sarband station, which controls the Manzoor Shaheed outpost, said of the militants. 

Sarband and its eight outposts have suffered four major attacks in recent months and faced sniper fire with unprecedented frequency, according to police based there. 

Killings of police in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa rose to 119 last year, from 54 in 2021 and 21 in 2020. Some 102 have been slain already this year, most in the mosque bombing but some in other attacks. Elsewhere, militants stormed a police office in Karachi on Feb. 17, killing four before security forces retook the premises and killed three assailants. 

The TTP, known as the Pakistani Taliban, pledges allegiance to the Afghan Taliban but is not directly a part of the group that rules in Kabul. Its stated aim is to impose Islamic religious law in Pakistan. 

A TTP spokesman, Muhammad Khurasani, told Reuters its main target was Pakistan's military, but the police were standing in the way. 

"The police have been told many times not to obstruct our way, and instead of paying heed to this the police have started martyring our comrades," he said. "This is why we are targeting them." 

The military has conducted operations alongside the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa police and faced TTP attacks, with one soldier confirmed dead in the province this year, according to data released by the military's public relations wing, which did not address questions from Reuters about military casualties. 

In December, the TTP released a video purportedly recorded by one of its fighters from mountains around the capital, Islamabad, showing Pakistan's parliament building. "We are coming," said a note held by the unidentified fighter. 

The TTP wants to show that its fighters can strike outside their current areas of influence, said Amir Rana, director of the Pak Institute for Peace Studies, an Islamabad-based think tank. While their ability may be limited, he said, "propaganda is a big part of this war and the TTP are getting good at it". 




Police officers hold their weapons during a training session at the Elite Police Training Centre in Nowshera, Pakistan, February 10, 2023. (Photo courtesy: REUTERS)

'Sitting ducks' 

The police in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, which neighbours Islamabad, say they are up for the fight, but point to a lack of resources. 

"The biggest problem is the number of personnel, which is a little low," said Shah, of Sarband station, which has 55 people -- including drivers and clerks -- for the station and eight affiliated outposts. "This is a target area, and we're absolutely face-to-face with (the militants)." 

Days before Reuters visited Sarband, a senior police official was ambushed and killed outside the station during a firefight with militants. The attack demonstrated the firepower of the insurgents, who, according to Shah, used thermal goggles to target the officer in darkness. 

It wasn't the first time. About a year ago, the TTP released a video of its snipers using thermal imaging to take out unsuspecting security personnel. 

Pakistan Defence Minister Khawaja Asif, who did not respond to a request for comment from Reuters about the insurgency, told local TV this month that militants saw the police as "soft targets" because their public-facing role made it easier to penetrate their facilities. 

Zahid Hussain, a journalist and author of books on militancy, said the police were more vulnerable than the military, given their resources and training. 

"I mean, they're sitting ducks there," Hussain said. 




People pray for the victims who were killed in a suicide bombing in January, in a mosque that was partially damaged during the attack in the Police Lines area in Peshawar, Pakistan, February 9, 2023. (Photo courtesy: REUTERS)

'Lethal weapons' 

Moazzam Jah Ansari, who was chief of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa's police when he spoke to Reuters this month but has since been replaced, said militant strategies had been evolving.

"They try and find more effective ways to conduct military operations, more lethal weapons," he said. 

Militants have procured U.S.-made M4 rifles and other sophisticated weapons from stocks left by Western forces that exited Afghanistan in 2021, police officials said. Some police guards told Reuters they had seen small reconnaissance drones flying over their outposts. 

Khurasani, the TTP spokesman, confirmed that the group was using drones for surveillance. 

Several police officials at Sarband station said the provincial government and military provided them and other outposts with thermal goggles in late January to aid the fight. But they encountered another problem. 

"About 22 hours of the day we have power outages... there's no electricity to charge our goggles," Shah told Reuters at Sarband. 

The station has one rooftop solar panel, which officers paid out of their own pockets to install, according to station chief Qayyum Khan. One policeman, who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of disciplinary action, said police use their vehicles or go to a petrol station equipped with a back-up generator to charge their goggles. 

Police said they had taken other protection measures, including erecting rudimentary walls to guard against sniper fire, and procuring bulletproof glass from a market that sells equipment left behind by U.S.-led forces. 




Imam Noor ul Ameen, 35, who is also a police employee, holds his palms as he leads a prayer for the victims who were killed in a suicide bombing in January, in a mosque that was partially damaged during the attack in the Police Lines area, in Peshawar, Pakistan, February 9, 2023. (Photo courtesy: REUTERS)

Economic conditions 

Reuters spoke to four other senior officials and more than a dozen lower-ranking officers, all of whom said the provincial force was neglected despite its key role. They spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of disciplinary action. 

Required resources were not forthcoming, and their pay and perks were inferior to that of counterparts elsewhere in Pakistan, let alone the military, these officials told Reuters. 

"Do the police need more resources? They absolutely do," said Taimur Jhagra, who was provincial finance minister until January, when a caretaker administration took over ahead of elections. 

Jhagra said his government helped the police as much as it could with pay raises and procuring equipment such as goggles, despite fiscal constraints. Pakistan's debt-ridden economy has been in a tailspin for over a year, and the country is trying to slash spending to avoid default. 

"Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa pays a greater price for that" because of its exposure to the militants, he said. 

Ansari, the former police chief, said resources had improved, but tended to come reactively when a threat emerged, rather than as sustained support. He, too, attributed this to economic circumstances, but added that things were not as bad as some suggested. 

'Seething anger' 

After Western forces left Afghanistan in August 2021, Pakistan sought a truce with the TTP, resulting in a months-long ceasefire and negotiations brokered by the Afghan Taliban. As part of the effort, many militants from Afghanistan were resettled in Pakistan. 

The TTP ended the ceasefire in November 2022, and regrouped militants restarted attacks in Pakistan soon after. 

Following the Peshawar bombing, police personnel held public protests where some voiced anger against their leadership, the provincial and national governments, and even the military, calling for more resources and clarity on the policy of fighting the militants. Ansari acknowledged a "deep sense of loss" and "seething anger" in the force in the wake of the attack. 

At the site of the blast, police personnel gathered on a recent day to remember their fallen comrades. The imam, a police employee who lost his brother in the attack, prayed for the success of the force. 

Behind the mosque, Daulat Khan, an assistant sub-inspector, and eight relatives live in cramped police quarters comprising a 25-square-metre space with only one room. Around him are crumbling, blast-damaged walls. 

"Everyone can see the sacrifices of the police, but nothing is done for us," he said, pointing to rows of century-old, British-colonial era quarters. "You see the conditions in front of you." 

Outside, open sewage canals lined the alleyways. 




A billboard with photos of police officers who died in the line of duty is seen in the Police Lines area, Peshawar, Pakistan, February 9, 2023. (Photo courtesy: REUTERS)

Different battle 

Pakistan's military effectively dismantled the TTP and killed most of its top leadership in a string of operations from 2014 onwards, driving most of the fighters into Afghanistan, where they regrouped. 

But the nature of the fight has changed in recent months, which partly shows why the police, not the military, are at the forefront. The militants were now spread in smaller groups across the country and among the civilian population, instead of operating from bases in former tribal areas, analysts said.  

The military has also been stretched by another insurgency in the southwestern province of Balochistan, where separatists are targeting state infrastructure and Chinese investments. 

The defence ministry did not respond to requests for comment about the armed forces' role in resisting militants in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. 

Miles from the flashpoints, meanwhile, police graduates receive six-month crash courses in anti-militant operations at the vast Elite Police Training Centre in Nowshera. 

The personnel, including women, learn how to conduct raids, rappel from buildings and use rocket-propelled grenades and anti-aircraft guns, which they unleash on a model of a militant training camp. 

But beyond the training school's walls, there is no stationary militant camp, attacks come at night, and police are often on their own. 

Faizanullah Khan said that, on some nights at his outpost, militants call out to him or his fellow guards. "They say 'we see you; lay down your arms'," he said. 

The guards sometimes reply, he said, by firing their guns into the darkness.


Once a haven for reform, then neglect: Hyderabad’s Besant Hall rises again

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Once a haven for reform, then neglect: Hyderabad’s Besant Hall rises again

  • Built in 1917 and inaugurated by Annie Besant, the colonial-era landmark was once a hub for reformist debate and the Home Rule Movement
  • After decades of decline and abandonment, the hall has been restored by Sindh’s Endowment Fund Trust and now hosts libraries and cultural events

HYDERABAD, Pakistan: On a busy street in Pakistan’s southern city of Hyderabad, the red-brick façade of Besant Hall now stands with quiet dignity, its symmetry and arches evoking a bygone era.

For much of the last century, the colonial-era landmark embodied the city’s intellectual and political energy. But in recent decades, the building fell into despair, its walls cracked, doors eaten by termites and halls used as a den by addicts.

Named after British socialist and theosophist Annie Besant, the hall was inaugurated by her in 1917 during the height of the Indian independence movement. For decades it remained a space for reformist gatherings, but its fortunes declined after the partition of the Subcontinent in 1947. By the 1980s, it was reduced to a marriage hall before being abandoned entirely.

In 2019, the Endowment Fund Trust (EFT) of the Sindh provincial government stepped in, launching an ambitious restoration project. The task was painstaking: red bricks were brought from Lahore to replicate its original look, layers of lime and cement that had dulled its character were replaced, and termite-infested windows rebuilt. Archivists salvaged fragile materials, some so badly infested they caused skin reactions in handlers.

Today, Besant Hall has been returned to life. Its rooms once again ring with the voices of students, scholars, and artists. The restored structure now houses the Jehangir Siddiqui Children’s Library and the Syed Abdullah Shah Scholar Library, and regularly hosts book readings, exhibitions, and cultural programs.

“This building, Besant Hall, was given to Annie Besant on lease in 1901 by Col. Alcot,” said Sobhia Ali, the director who now oversees the revived cultural center. She did not provide Alcot’s full name, but records show a Col. Henry Steel Olcott, co-founder of the Theosophical Society, of which Besant was a member. He died in 1907.

“When we received the building in 2019, it was full of cracks and in a very poor state… It had become a haven for drug addicts. We wiped everything out, restored it, not only restored the architecture but also its cultural and traditional value.”

The building, with its Roman-inspired entrance and Tudor-style windows, is one of Hyderabad’s most significant surviving colonial relics, and a lasting reminder of the woman it was named after.

SOCIALIST, THEOSOPHIST, WOMEN RIGHT’S ACTIVIST

Besant’s influence in South Asia was profound.

A British socialist, theosophist, and women’s rights activist, she became the first woman to preside over the Indian National Congress in 1917 and was a leading figure in the Home Rule Movement. The campaign sought self-governance for India, inspired by similar struggles in Ireland and other British colonies.

According to historian Dr. Kaleemullah Lashari, theosophy — an occult movement originating in the 19th century with roots that can be traced to ancient Gnosticism and Neoplatonism — took root in the Subcontinent by the early 1900s, after Helena Blavatsky and Henry Steel Olcott founded the Theosophical Society in 1875. Besant’s arrival in 1893 gave the movement new vigor.

“Many of its offices were established in various cities, with people showing great cooperation. In Karachi, our Theosophical Hall, located in front of Radio Pakistan, is quite well-known,” Lashari said. “Similarly, it also started in Hyderabad, where there was already a movement related to women. Our Hindu women in Hyderabad were very active, socially engaged.”

Author and historian Dr. Zaffar Junejo, whose book Hyderabad and Beyond was published earlier this year, said the hall’s history is entwined with the city’s colonial rise.

“The defeat of Sindh’s Talpur Mirs in 1843 sealed its future within the British Empire. By the 1920s, wealthy Sindhi Hindu merchants, known as Sindhworkies, had transformed Hyderabad into a commercial hub,” Junejo said.

“It is no wonder that [Indian polymath] Rabindranath Tagore called Hyderabad the most fashionable city in all of India.”

Besant Hall, alongside Homestead Hall, also became a vital stage for reformist debate. Its significance deepened when Besant herself launched the Home Rule Movement from its platform. The space was also remarkable for its inclusivity: Muslim leaders such as G.M. Syed and Hyder Baksh Jatoi joined Hindu intellectuals in theosophical sessions, making it a rare non-denominational forum.

“One could say that Besant Hall became an ideal place for educational, social, cultural and political activities,” Junejo said.

But the hall did not survive unscathed through the decades. In the 1990s, ethnic violence between Sindhis and Urdu-speaking migrants reduced its library and reading hall to ashes. Later, land mafias attempted to seize the property.

The EFT’s 2019 intervention, under a 10-year agreement with the Hyderabad district government and the Theosophical Society, marked a turning point.

Today, the hall’s legacy has been reclaimed. Children study in its libraries, community groups gather for cultural events, and Hyderabadis once again see the red-brick landmark as a living part of their city’s story.

“We have not only restored its architecture but also revived the tradition and the original purpose for which Annie Besant had this building constructed: intellectual gatherings, academic and cultural activities and cultural reforms,” Ali said.


Pakistan commerce minister visits Bangladesh to boost trade amid thaw in ties

Updated 11 min 31 sec ago
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Pakistan commerce minister visits Bangladesh to boost trade amid thaw in ties

  • Jam Kamal’s visit follows Sheikh Hasina’s ouster last year, which strained Bangladesh’s ties with India
  • The Pakistan minister will meet senior officials and business leaders to boost economic collaboration

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Commerce Minister Jam Kamal arrived in Bangladesh on Wednesday for a four-day visit aimed at expanding trade ties after years of strained relations, with meetings planned with senior officials and business leaders.

Kamal’s trip comes in the wake of the ouster of former Bangladeshi prime minister Sheikh Hasina in a popular uprising last year.

Hasina, long seen as close to India and critical of Pakistan, fled to New Delhi after her fall, putting pressure on Dhaka’s ties with India. The political shift opened space for Pakistan and Bangladesh — one nation until the bloody 1971 war of independence — to edge closer again, with senior officials from both sides holding meetings at global forums.

“Federal Minister for Commerce, H.E. Jam Kamal Khan, arrived in Bangladesh on Wednesday to begin a four-day official visit, scheduled from August 21 to 24, 2025,” the commerce ministry said in a statement.

“The visit is aimed at strengthening bilateral trade ties and enhancing economic cooperation between Pakistan and Bangladesh,” it added.

“During his stay, the Commerce Minister will hold high-level meetings with his Bangladeshi counterpart, senior government officials, and leading business representatives to explore new avenues of collaboration in trade and investment.”

Earlier this month, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif met Bangladeshi High Commissioner Md. Iqbal Hussain Khan in Islamabad, expressing satisfaction at the revival of bilateral mechanisms to rebuild ties.

Sharif recalled his “warm and productive” exchanges with Bangladesh’s Chief Adviser Mohammad Yunus, most recently at the D-8 summit in Cairo last December, and said Pakistan was eager to broaden cooperation in political, economic and cultural areas while boosting trade and people-to-people contact.

The Bangladeshi envoy, according to Sharif’s office, briefed him on steps being taken by both countries to ease travel, trade and connectivity and voiced his intent to “further strengthen the historic bonds of friendship.”


Pakistan slams Muslim-only UN terror list, flags global rise of right-wing extremism

Updated 21 August 2025
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Pakistan slams Muslim-only UN terror list, flags global rise of right-wing extremism

  • Pakistan says UN terror list contradicts the world body’s own stance that terrorism is not tied to any religion
  • Its envoy maintains TTP, BLA and Majeed Brigade are collaborating in cross-border attacks against Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Wednesday highlighted a global policy blindspot at the United Nations Security Council that was allowing right-wing and fascist movements to fuel extremist violence without attracting the same level of scrutiny as Muslim groups, despite posing serious threats in various parts of the world.

In remarks at a high-level Security Council briefing on threats to international peace, Pakistan’s UN envoy Asim Iftikhar Ahmad said his country had suffered deeply from militancy and condemned terrorism in all its forms. However, he urged the international community to revisit the global counterterrorism discourse, calling for a uniform application of the term “terrorism.”

“There has been a surge in the emergence of right-wing, extremist and fascist movements in several countries and regions of the world leading to terrorist violence,” he told the Council. “Yet, we see a strong inclination to see acts by non-Muslims not as terrorism, but often described just as violent crime.”

“It is not understandable, and is indeed unacceptable, that every name on the Security Council’s terrorism lists is Muslim, while terrorists and violent extremists elsewhere escape scrutiny,” he said. “There is no non-Muslim in the lists. This must change.”

Ahmad pointed out this approach ran counter to the UN’s own position that terrorism should not be associated with any religion, nationality, civilization or ethnic group.

The Pakistani envoy also reiterated his country’s concern over the challenge of militant violence emanating from Afghanistan, calling it “the single most potent threat” to the region and the world.

He cited the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) as the largest UN-designated militant outfit operating from Afghan soil, with nearly 6,000 fighters posing a direct threat to Pakistan’s national security.

“With safe havens close to our borders, it directly threatens our national security,” Ahmad continued, adding there was “credible evidence of collaboration” between the TTP and the separatist Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) and Majeed Brigade.

These groups, he noted, had jointly targeted Pakistan’s strategic infrastructure, economic projects and civilians.

He recounted recent attacks including the hijacking of a passenger train in Balochistan earlier this year in March and a school bus attack in Khuzdar in May that left 10 people dead, eight of them children, pointing out that these acts were carried out by the same groups.

Ahmad accused Pakistan’s “principal adversary in the region” of sponsoring militant violence on its soil without naming India, saying it was also carrying out “extra-territorial assassinations that have gone global.”

He also condemned a cross-border strike by New Delhi in May that killed 54 Pakistani civilians, including 15 children, and led to an intense four-day war between the two nuclear-armed neighbors.


Pakistan to continue accepting Hajj applications for remaining 1,640 seats under government scheme

Updated 21 August 2025
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Pakistan to continue accepting Hajj applications for remaining 1,640 seats under government scheme

  • Hajj applicants facing difficulties due to torrential rains and emergency situations, says religion ministry
  • Heavy rains and floods have killed over 400 people in several parts of the country since last week

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan will continue accepting Hajj applications for the remaining 1,640 seats under the government scheme on Thursday, the religious affairs ministry said, noting that torrential rains were causing difficulties for people in applying for the Islamic pilgrimage. 

Pakistan’s religion ministry announced earlier this month that it has been allocated a quota of 179,210 pilgrims for this year’s Hajj. Out of these, the ministry said around 118,000 seats have been allocated under the government scheme and the rest to private tour operators.

The religious affairs ministry said on Monday it has received 114,500 applications under the government scheme since Aug. 4 and will continue to accept applications for the remaining ones. In a statement on Wednesday, the ministry said only 1,640 seats remain under the government Hajj scheme.

“It has been decided to continue accepting applications for the vacant seats tomorrow (Thursday), Aug. 21,” the ministry said. “Applicants are facing difficulties due to rains and emergency conditions.”

Heavy rains and floods in several parts of the country have killed over 400 people since Aug. 15. In Pakistan’s northern Gilgit-Baltistan and northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province, torrential rains since last week have killed over 400 people. In Pakistan’s southern port city of Karachi, heavy rains have killed at least 17 people since Aug. 19. 

Pakistan has designated 14 banks to receive Hajj applications. 

“Once all seats are filled, the designated banks will immediately stop accepting Hajj applications,” the ministry clarified. 

Under the government scheme, pilgrims can choose between a long package (38-42 days) and a short package (20-25 days), with costs ranging between Rs1,150,000 and Rs1,250,000 ($4,050–4,236).

Applicants are required to deposit a first installment of Rs500,000 [$1764] or Rs550,000 [$1941] depending on the package, while the remaining dues will be collected in November.

Saudi Arabia had approved the same quota for Pakistan in 2025, though private tour operators last year struggled to utilize their share, saying they faced technical and financial delays, even as the government filled its quota of over 88,000 pilgrims.


Pakistan gear up for AFC U23 Asian Cup qualifiers in Saudi Arabia with training camp

Updated 20 August 2025
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Pakistan gear up for AFC U23 Asian Cup qualifiers in Saudi Arabia with training camp

  • Qualifiers will take place from Sept. 1-9, feature 44 teams in total in groups of 11
  • Pakistan have been placed with hosts Cambodia, Iraq and Oman in Group G

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan are gearing up for the qualifiers of the Saudi Arabia-hosted AFC Asian Cup 2026, with a training camp in Islamabad, the Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) said on Wednesday.

The qualifiers will feature 44 sides each drawn into 11 groups, which will be contested from Sept. 1-9. The 11 group winners and the four best-ranked runners-up will join Saudi Arabia, who are hosting the tournament for the first time, in January’s finals.

Pakistan has been placed in Group G with Iraq, Cambodia and Oman. While the tournament will be hosted in Saudi Arabia, one member of the group will host all qualifier matches. Cambodia has been picked as the host for all Group G AFC Asian Cup qualifier matches.

“Initially, 50 players selected through tryouts are participating in the camp,” the PFF said in a statement on Wednesday. “The final 23-member squad will be announced later.”

Pakistan Head Coach Nolberto Solano joined the U23 team at the Jinnah Sports Complex in Islamabad for the training camp, the PFF said.

Pakistan will play its first match against Iraq on Sept. 3, followed by its second one against hosts Cambodia on Sept. 6. The Green Shirts play their final group stage match against Oman on Sept. 9.