Ex-PM Khan summoned by police today to join investigation in attack on military properties

Security officers escort Pakistan's former Prime Minister Imran Khan, as he appeared in Islamabad High Court, Islamabad, Pakistan on May 12, 2023. (REUTERS)
Short Url
Updated 29 May 2023
Follow

Ex-PM Khan summoned by police today to join investigation in attack on military properties

  • Notice from Lahore’s Police DIG’s office says Khan “required to join the investigation proceedings” at DIG’s office at 4pm Tuesday
  • Rawalpindi anti-terrorism court accepts request by the military to hand over 8 suspects to be tried under the Pakistan Army Act

ISLAMABAD: An anti-terrorism court (ATC) in the city of Rawalpindi on Monday accepted a request by the military to hand over 8 suspects to be tried under the Pakistan Army Act on charges of attacking armed forces' installations earlier this month, as former Prime Minister Imran Khan was summoned by police to be join the investigation today, Tuesday.

Authorities began a crackdown on close associates and supporters of Khan after his followers attacked security forces and torched government and military properties, including the home of the Corps Commander in Lahore, following the popular opposition politician’s arrest on corruption charges on May 9.

Troops were deployed to contain the violence, which subsided only after Khan was released on bail on May 12. Thousands of supporters of the popular opposition politician have since been arrested, including the most senior leaders of Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party. Many top aides have also since announced leaving the party.

A notice from the office of Lahore’s deputy inspector general (DIG) of police (investigation) said the PTI chief was “required to join the investigation proceedings,” summoning him to the DIG’s office at 4pm.

Meanwhile, Judge Hamid Hussain at the Rawalpindi ATC issued the order to the Superintendent of Adiala Jail to hand over eight suspects to the military for trials under the Army Act. A total of 105 accused have been imprisoned in different cases at the jail in connection with the May 9 violence.

The commanding officer told the court the suspects had been found guilty under sections 9, 3, 7 and 9 of the Official Secrets Act, which relate to incitement to violence, spying and interfering with the work of police or army officers respectively. The suspects would now be tried under the Army Act 1952.

Last week, an anti-terrorism court in Lahore approved a request by the military to hand over 16 suspects to be tried under the Pakistan Army Act. Separately, Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah told reporters on Friday 33 pro-Khan protesters had been handed over to the army to face trial in military courts on charges of attacking army properties.

"The accused who are being handed over to the military are those who trespassed and entered very sensitive defence installations," Sanaullah told a press conference in Islamabad.

He said only those involved in breaching out-of-bounds areas would face trial under army laws, suggesting there would not be mass trials in military courts.

But in response to a question, he also suggested that Khan could also be tried in a military court, saying: "as far as my own assessment and the evidence we have... this man is the architect of all this mess and planning, so yes he comes under this category."




Police officers throw stones towards supporters of Pakistan's former Prime Minister Imran Khan during clashes, in Islamabad, Pakistan, on May 10, 2023. (AP)

The Pakistan Army Act of 1952 established military courts primarily to try members of the military or enemies of the state. Civilians accused of offenses such as waging war against the armed forces or law enforcement agencies, or attacking military installations or inciting mutiny, can be tried by military courts under a federal government order.

Military courts operate under a separate system from the civilian legal system and are run by military officers. The judges are also military personnel and cases are tried at military installations. Trials are closed to outsiders, and no media presence is allowed.

The courts have faced widespread criticism from within Pakistan and rights organisations globally because of their secretive nature and their existence alongside a functioning civilian legal system.

The army has said in the past trials held at military courts are fair and guarantee human and legal rights.

Khan's PTI last week filed a petition before the country’s top court, calling on it to intervene against the use of military laws to try suspects accused of attacking army installations during the recent protests.

"On the pretext of arson on 9th may (condemned by the entire PTI leadership) the state is trying to dismantle the party ... and trying PTI members in military courts." Khan wrote on Twitter. "This is not dismantling PTI but our democracy i.e. our freedom."

 

 


Pakistan to compensate survivors for losses after floods kill 312 in northwest since Aug. 15

Updated 46 min 53 sec ago
Follow

Pakistan to compensate survivors for losses after floods kill 312 in northwest since Aug. 15

  • The cumulative death toll from rain-related incidents in the country has surged to 645 since late June
  • Authorities have warned of more deluges, landslides till Tuesday, amid fears of a repeat of 2022 floods

ISLAMABAD: The government in Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province will compensate survivors of this week’s deadly floods, Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur announced on Sunday, urging residents of disaster-prone areas to relocate from there.

Monsoon rains have wreaked havoc in Pakistan’s northern areas, especially its Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province, where floods and landslides have killed over 312 people since Aug. 15, according to the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA).

The cumulative death toll from rain-related incidents in Pakistan, which ranks among the countries most vulnerable to climate change, has surged to 645 since Jun. 26. Apart from KP, 164 deaths have been reported in Punjab, 29 in Balochistan, 14 in Azad Kashmir, eight in Islamabad, and 28 each in Gilgit-Baltistan and Sindh.

Raging hill torrents flattened several homes and swept away dozens of people and in KP’s Swat, Buner, Bajaur, Torghar, Mansehra, Shangla and Battagram districts on Friday. Officials says around 54 bodies were found on Sunday in the worst-hit Buner district where cloudbursts triggered massive flooding.

“The data of all the losses is being compiled,” CM Gandapur told reporters in Buner. “It is beyond our power to compensate the loss of lives, but we will compensate financial losses, damages to private property.”

Residents in Buner have accused officials of failing to warn them to evacuate after torrential rain and cloudbursts triggered deadly flooding and landslides.

Mohammad Iqbal, a schoolteacher in Pir Baba village, said the lack of a timely warning system caused casualties and forced many to flee their homes at the last moment.

“Survivors escaped with nothing,” he said. “If people had been informed earlier, lives could have been saved and residents could have moved to safer places.”

The government said that while an early warning system was in place, the sudden downpour in Buner was so intense that the deluge struck before residents could be alerted.

Asfandyar Khan Khattak, director-general of the Provincial Disaster Management Authority, said there was “no forecasting system anywhere in the world” that could predict the exact time and location of a cloudburst.

Several people are still missing and search efforts are focused on areas where homes were flattened by water torrents that swept down from the mountains, carrying massive boulders that smashed into houses like explosions.

Authorities have warned of more deluges and possible landslides till Tuesday.

Speaking to reporters, CM Gandapur vowed the government infrastructure relating to health, water, road or education would be fully restored. He, however, noted that some of the villages were located in such areas where any calamities like cloudbursts and floods could hit any time.

“So, we want to resettle residents of those small villages at another place and we will build houses for them, but they should evacuate these dangerous areas,” Gandapur said.


Iran forces kill seven militants in restive province bordering Pakistan

Updated 17 August 2025
Follow

Iran forces kill seven militants in restive province bordering Pakistan

  • The militants ‘intended to attack sensitive centers and military and law enforcement bases,’ governor says
  • The province which borders Pakistan and Afghanistan is one of Iran’s poorest, and a frequent scene of clashes

Tehran: Iranian security forces on Sunday killed seven members of a militant group in the southeastern province of Sistan-Baluchistan, state media reported.

Deputy provincial governor Ali Velayatipour said the gunmen, all members of the Ansar Al-Furqan group, were killed in the early hours of Sunday, according to official news agency IRNA.

The militants “intended to attack sensitive centers and military and law enforcement bases,” Velayatipour said.

Iran has designated Ansar Al-Furqan a “terrorist” organization. Last year, the group claimed a suicide attack that killed a police officer, also in Sistan-Baluchistan.

The province which borders Pakistan and Afghanistan is one of Iran’s poorest, and a frequent scene of clashes between security forces and Baloch minority rebels.

It is home to a large ethnic Baloch population, most of whom are Sunni Muslims, in contrast to Iran’s Shiite majority.

On Saturday, gunmen killed a police officer in a shootout in the province, with the militant group Jaish Al-Adl (Arabic for ‘Army of Justice’) claiming responsibility.

The group, which operates from the borderlands between Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan, mainly the Sistan-Baluchestan triangle, but has been active mainly inside Iran, has claimed multiple attacks in recent years, including an assault on a courthouse last month that left at least six people dead.


Hopes for survivors wane as landslides, flooding bury Pakistan villages

Updated 17 August 2025
Follow

Hopes for survivors wane as landslides, flooding bury Pakistan villages

  • More than 150 people are missing in hardest-hit Buner district, where at least 208 people were killed
  • Around 2,000 rescue workers were involved across nine districts, where rain was still hampering efforts

BUNER: Pakistani rescuers dug homes out from under massive boulders on Sunday as they searched for survivors of flash floods that killed at least 344 people, with more than 150 still missing.

Since Thursday, torrential rains across the country have caused flooding, rising waters and landslides that have swept away entire villages and left many residents trapped in the rubble.

Most of the deaths, 317, were reported in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, where monsoon rains that are only expected to intensify in the days ahead drove flooding and landslides that collapsed houses.

More than 150 people are missing in hardest-hit Buner district, where at least 208 people were killed and “10 to 12 entire villages” were partially buried, officials told AFP.

“They could be trapped under the rubble of their homes or swept away by floodwaters,” said Asfandyar Khattak, head of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Provincial Disaster Management Authority.

“Separately, in Shangla district, dozens of people are also reported missing,” Khattak added.

“There is no electricity or mobile signal in Buner, as power lines and mobile towers were damaged,” he added.

Local residents sit beside the damaged homes following Friday's flash flooding at a neighborhood of Pir Baba, an area of Buner district, in Pakistan's northwest on Aug 17, 2025. (AP)

The spokesman for the province’s rescue agency told AFP that around 2,000 rescue workers were involved across nine districts, where rain was still hampering efforts.

“The operation to rescue people trapped under debris is ongoing,” said Bilal Ahmad Faizi.

“The chances of those buried under the debris surviving are very slim,” he added.

AFP journalists in Buner saw half-buried vehicles and belongings lying strewn in the sludge, with mud covering houses and shops.

A grave digger, Qaiser Ali Shah, told AFP he dug 29 burial places in the last two days.

“I have also dug six graves for children. With each grave, it felt as though I was digging it for my own child,” he told AFP.

“For the first time, my body simply refused to carry me through. That’s why today I apologized and said I cannot do this work anymore.”

Flooded roads hampered the movement of rescue vehicles, as a few villagers worked to cut fallen trees to clear the way after the water receded.

“Our belongings are scattered, ruined and are in bad shape,” shopkeeper Noor Muhammad told AFP as he used a shovel to remove mud.

“The shops have been destroyed along with everything else. Even the little money people had has been washed away,” he added.

The provincial government has declared the severely affected mountainous districts of Buner, Bajaur, Swat, Shangla, Mansehra and Battagram as disaster-hit areas.

“We were trapped in our homes and could not get out,” another Buner resident, Syed Wahab Bacha, told AFP.

“Our entire poor community has been affected... This road was our only path, and it too has been washed away,” he added.

On Saturday, hundreds gathered for mass funerals, where bodies wrapped in blood-stained white shawls were laid out on the village ground.

Fallen trees and straw debris were scattered across nearby fields, while residents shovelled mud out of their homes.

Pakistan’s meteorological department has forecast “torrential rains” with monsoon activity “likely to intensify” from Sunday onwards.

The monsoon season brings South Asia about three-quarters of its annual rainfall, vital for agriculture and food security, but also brings destruction.

“The intensity of this year’s monsoon is around 50 to 60 percent more than last year,” said Lt. Gen. Inam Haider, chairman of the national disaster agency.

“Two to three more monsoon spells are expected until the first weeks of September,” he told journalists in Islamabad.

Landslides and flash floods are common during the season, which usually begins in June and eases by the end of September.

The torrential rains that have pounded Pakistan since the start of the summer monsoon have killed more than 650 people, with more than 920 injured.

Pakistan is one of the world’s most vulnerable countries to the effects of climate change and is contending with extreme weather events with increasing frequency.

Monsoon floods in 2022 submerged a third of the country and killed around 1,700 people.

Another villager in Buner told AFP on Saturday that residents had spent the night searching through the rubble of their former homes.

“The entire area is reeling from profound trauma,” said 32-year-old schoolteacher Saifullah Khan.

“I helped retrieve the bodies of the children I taught. I keep wondering what kind of trial nature has imposed on these kids,” he said.


Pakistan participates in regional commodity fair in China’s Kashgar amid investment push

Updated 17 August 2025
Follow

Pakistan participates in regional commodity fair in China’s Kashgar amid investment push

  • Five-day commodity fair has attracted over 1,100 Chinese companies,181 enterprises from 40 countries 
  • Event focuses on business matchmaking in biomedicine, cultural tourism, textile , agriculture sectors

ISLAMABAD: Pakistani companies are taking part in a five-day regional commodity fair, which has attracted enterprises from around 40 countries and regions, in its push to attract international trade and investment, state-run Associated Press of Pakistan (APP) reported this week. 

The ‘15th Kashgar-Central and South Asia Commodity Fair’ kicked off in Kashgar, an ancient Silk Road town in northwest China’s Xinjiang region, on Friday. 

The five-day fair, which will run till Aug. 19, has attracted 181 enterprises from 40 countries and regions including Pakistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and Ghana, as per the APP. Around 1,120 Chinese companies and 26 overseas business associations are also taking part in the event.

“This year’s fair has a 40,000-square-meter exhibition space that is divided into three key sections: investment cooperation, international trade and domestic trade,” APP reported on Saturday.

“The event focuses on business matchmaking in sectors such as biomedicine, cultural tourism, agriculture, cotton and textiles industries.”

The report said the regional fair was first held in 2005 and has to date seen the participation of 38,000 enterprises from 56 countries and regions, generating cumulative trade deals exceeding 480 billion yuan ($67.25 billion).

Pakistan’s participation in the fair takes place as the country pushes for sustainable economic growth, driven by foreign investment, bilateral trade and economic cooperation, and exports. 

The South Asian country has signed trade deals worth billions of dollars with Saudi Arabia, UAE, Central Asian countries, China and other allies to bolster its fragile economy. 

Pakistan formed the Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC), a hybrid government body comprising civilian and military officials, in June 2023 to fast-track decisions related to investment in key economic sectors.

The SIFC was formed to attract international investment in mining, agriculture, tourism, livestock, energy and other economic sectors as Pakistan came to the brink of a sovereign default in 2023. 


Pakistan fears repeat of 2022 flood disaster as rains kill over 300 in three days 

Updated 17 August 2025
Follow

Pakistan fears repeat of 2022 flood disaster as rains kill over 300 in three days 

  • Monsoon rains and flash floods have killed 645 people since June 26, including 312 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa since Aug. 15
  • Pakistan’s disaster management authority says country likely to witness two to three more monsoon spells till Sept. 10

ISLAMABAD: An official of the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) warned on Sunday that Pakistan may face floods “of the same scale” as those witnessed in 2022, saying the country was likely to experience three more monsoon rain spells till Sept. 10. 

Monsoon rains have wreaked havoc in Pakistan’s northern areas, especially its Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province, where floods and landslides have killed over 312 people since Aug. 15, as per official figures.

As per the NDMA’s report, Pakistan’s cumulative death toll since Jun. 26 from rain-related incidents has surged to 645. KP has reported the highest number of deaths at 383, followed by Punjab with 164, the northern Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) and Sindh with 28 deaths each, Balochistan 29, Azad Kashmir 14 and Islamabad eight casualties. 

The devastation is a grim reminder of the cataclysmic floods of June 2022, where unusually heavy rains and the melting of glaciers triggered flash floods in several parts of the country. Pakistan reported at least 1,700 people dead and losses of over $30 billion, with large swathes of crops and critical infrastructure damaged by raging waters.

“Although the 2022 floods had a different pattern, the ongoing cloudbursts and heavy monsoon spells this year suggest that a similar flood situation cannot be ruled out,” Muhammad Idrees Mehsud, a member of the NDMA’s Disaster Risk Reduction unit, told reporters during a media briefing in Islamabad. 

He said the climate change phenomenon was getting worse in Pakistan with every passing year. Mehsud added that with consistent heavy rains expected to continue over the coming weeks, “the country may face floods of the same scale as 2022.”

NDMA Chairman Lt. Gen. Inam Haider Malik noted that Pakistan was receiving 50 to 60 percent more rain this year compared to 2024. 

“The current speed which started today will continue till Aug. 23 and two to three more spells are expected till Sept. 10,” Malik said.

Raging hill torrents swept away dozens of people in KP’s Swat, Buner, Bajaur, Torghar, Mansehra, Shangla and Battagram districts since Friday. Malik said efforts were underway to restore communication with flood-affected regions, while the country’s armed forces were supporting stranded citizens. 

Rescuers, backed by boats and helicopters, have been working for hours in KP during the last three days to save stranded residents and tourists as ambulances transported bodies to hospitals.

The NDMA on Saturday issued an advisory to limit tourism in mountainous areas. Separately, the KP administration declared an emergency in districts affected by rains and flash floods.

“On the prime minister’s directives, relief packages are being dispatched to the worst-affected areas, while more relief will be dispatched and the search for missing persons is continuously underway,” Malik said.

He highlighted that heavy rains and floods have caused widespread destruction in Buner, Bajaur, and Battagram districts of KP. 

The NDMA chief said Babusar area in the northern GB region was severely impacted by the monsoon rains, adding that losses inflicted by rains in the KP province were being assessed. 

“After the monsoon, the government will assess the destruction and will compensate losses and also build infrastructure in close coordination with provincial authorities,” he added. 

RAINS TO ‘INTENSIFY’ FROM AUG. 17

Earlier, the NDMA said a low-pressure system (LPA) over the Bay of Bengal is likely to move westward from Aug. 17 and intensify the ongoing monsoon activity. A westerly wave is also present over the country under the influence of these meteorological conditions, it said. 

Malik said northern Punjab and northern KP would likely face more intense rains in the coming days.

“We are trying to vacate the areas where flash floods are expected in the coming days,” he said. 

The NDMA official said Saudi Arabia, Türkiye, Iran, Azerbaijan, Russia and other countries contacted Pakistan to offer assistance in relief efforts.

Pakistan, which contributes less than 1 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, is among the countries most vulnerable to climate change.

Scientists say rising temperatures are making South Asia’s monsoon rains more erratic and intense, increasing the risk of flash floods and landslides in mountainous regions like KP and GB.