Blaze News - Pakistan

Israeli occupiers on Sunday stormed Al-Aqsa Mosque in the occupied East Jerusalem under police protection, amid Palestinian warnings of "Judaization" plans. Omar Rajoub, director of the Media Department at the Jerusalem Governorate, told Anadolu that "raising the Israeli flag inside the courtyards of Al-Aqsa Mosque, along with performing provocative rituals, is part of a systematic and deliberate official Israeli policy led by the extremist occupation government." "These practices aim to impose new realities by force in occupied East Jerusalem and undermine the historical and legal status quo at the Al-Aqsa Mosque," he added. Read: Dozens of Israeli occupiers storm Al-Aqsa Mosque compound under police protection He warned that "occupiers' actions inside the Al-Aqsa Mosque are part of an ongoing colonial plan targeting the spatial and temporal division of the mosque, the Judaization of the city to obliterate its religious and historical id...

In Pakistan, one of the most devastating casualties of militancy has been the fight against polio. Although polio is a preventable disease, children in Pakistan remain vulnerable because those working to eradicate the disease are themselves being targeted. Hundreds of polio workers and security personnel have been killed over the years. They are not combatants but harmless individuals moving door to door, carrying vaccines to protect children from lifelong paralysis. By targeting these polio workers, militants are weaponising fear against the most vulnerable segment of society. This obstruction of polio eradication efforts perpetuates a preventable suffering, which is a direct attack not just on a critical global health mission but on humanity itself. These health workers carry vaccines, not weapons, yet extremist groups hunt them as though they are enemies rather than individuals dedicated to safeguarding children's futures. By obstructing vaccination efforts, militant grou...

Pakistan outspun Australia by five wickets in the first one-day international in Rawalpindi with spinner Arafat Minhas becoming the first home bowler to take five wickets on ODI debut on Saturday. Minhas finished with 5-32 as an under-strength Australia were bowled out for 200 in 44.1 overs before Pakistan chased down the target in 42.3 overs for a memorable win in their 1,000 ODI. https://ift.tt/R8yiedu Babar Azam notched a 94-ball 69 while Ghazi Ghori hit an impressive 92-ball 65 as Australia's inexperienced spinners failed to match Pakistan's slow bowlers on a dry spin-assisting Pindi Stadium pitch. Read: Arafat Minhas makes history with five-wicket haul on debut against Australia Azam and Ghori added 127 runs for the third wicket after Sahibzada Farhan (28) and Maaz Sadaqat (eight) fell with the score at 49. Azam hit four boundaries and a six while Ghori's knock had eight hits to the rope before both fell to pacer Nathan Ellis, but with just 16 to win tha...

The Palestinian Authority on Saturday welcomed the inclusion of Israel on the United Nations blacklist for sexual violence in conflict, calling the move “realistic and objective”. “UN inclusion of Israel on the ‘List of Shame’ for Perpetrators of Sexual Violence in Conflict Zones is a scientific and logical outcome,” a Palestinian Foreign Ministry statement said. The ministry expressed support for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres amid what it described as Israeli attempts to influence the UN report that placed Israel on the list. It said that Israel and its “official and unofficial institutions have practiced torture, sexual violence and rape against our people in the occupied Palestinian territory, especially in detention centres". Israel “has used sexual violence as a weapon of war, which constitutes a war crime and a crime against humanity", It added. The statement said that Israel has employed a “systemat...

On June 7, Gilgit-Baltistan will go to the polls. For many in the rest of Pakistan, this may appear to be a routine election in a distant mountain territory. It is not. The GB election is a test of how Pakistan understands representation, development and accountability in one of its strategically important, constitutionally unsettled regions. The deeper question is not only who wins. It is whether voters are being offered a serious political choice, or only a familiar contest of personalities, memories and claims over past projects. Election campaigns everywhere contain an element of memory. Candidates return to their constituencies and remind voters of roads built, schools upgraded, bridges approved, jobs arranged and schemes sanctioned. In Gilgit-Baltistan, this ritual is intense. Development is slow, resources are scarce, and government machinery can take years to turn an idea into a road, hospital unit or water supply scheme. This creates a peculiar campaign comedy: one cand...

Hamas said on Friday that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's declaration that his country would expand its area of control in Gaza was a ​dangerous escalation, as European states and residents of the Palestinian territory also voiced alarm at the plan. Under a ceasefire deal in October, Israel's military was to remain in control ‌of 53% of Gaza, but Netanyahu said on Friday that it would expand that area to an initial 70%, without laying out details or a timeline. The Palestinian group described his comments as a plan for ethnic cleansing and forced displacement of Palestinians. Major disputes postponed "Any attempt to impose a new reality of occupation in Gaza is null and illegitimate," said Ismail al-Thawabta, ​head of the Gaza government media office, adding that Netanyahu's statement "represents a dangerous escalation". Also Read: Trump Board of Peace's official Gaza fund is empty More than eight months into the ceasefire,...