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First Pakistani vessel carrying oil shipment arrives via Strait of Hormuz

The first Pakistani vessel to transit through the Strait of Hormuz following its closure has entered the Arabian Sea via the Gulf of Oman and reached Pakistan’s maritime zone, carrying a consignment of 80 million litres of crude oil. The oil tanker, MT Karachi, crossed the strategically sensitive route after Iran had shut it in the wake of attacks by the United States and Israel. It is the first Pakistani ship to successfully pass through the strait under the prevailing circumstances and enter the country’s territorial waters. The vessel is scheduled to berth at Karachi port on Wednesday. Officials said MT Karachi was granted special permission by Iranian authorities to transit through the Strait of Hormuz, utilising Iranian territorial waters during its passage. The Pakistan Navy provided maritime security to the vessel throughout its journey, ensuring safe navigation through the sensitive corridor. The tanker departed from Das Island port in the United Arab Emirates on February 28. A...
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Ali Larijani: Iran power player who rose then fell on winds of war

When Israeli and US strikes killed Ayatollah Ali Khamenei at the start of the Middle East war, Iran's security chief Ali Larijani briefly became even more powerful than he had been for decades. Last June's 12-day Israeli air assault boosted the long-time insider's profile. And in January he was deeply implicated in the Islamic republic's brutal crackdown on anti-government protests. During the first two weeks of the current war, Larijani played a far more visible role than Iran's new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, who has not been seen in public since he was appointed to replace his slain father. In a telling contrast, the security chief was seen walking with crowds at a pro-government rally last week in Tehran, a sign of defiance against Israel and the US. But Larijani's return to prominence as a key figure seen in Tehran as capable of navigating both ideology and diplomacy seems now to have potentially come to a sudden end. Israeli leaders said today that h...
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Jemima directly appeals PM Shehbaz to allow sons to meet Imran Khan in jail

Jemima Goldsmith, the ex-wife of jailed Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan, on Monday made a direct appeal to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to allow their sons, Kasim Khan and Sulaiman Khan, to visit their father in prison. Imran has been imprisoned since August 2023, currently serving a sentence at Adiala Jail in a £190 million corruption case. In addition, he faces pending trials under the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) related to the protests of May 9, 2023. The brothers have not seen their father since November 2022 after he survived an assassination attempt. They said they applied for visas in January but have yet to receive a response. In a post on X today, Jemima said that the request was prompted by concerns about Imran’s health and delays in the visa process for their sons. “This is an appeal directly to Pakistan’s PM Shehbaz Sharif to please allow Imran Khan’s two sons to see their father asap, particularly since, by all accounts, his health is in decline,” she w...
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A life of quiet authority and enduring values

The passing of Mazhar-ul-Haq Siddiqui has left a quiet but profound void in the academic and administrative circles of Pakistan. A distinguished civil servant and former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Sindh, he belonged to that generation of administrators who believed that institutions are strengthened not by loud proclamations but by integrity, discipline, and a deep respect for human dignity. Recently, I had the opportunity to attend a condolence meeting organised primarily by members of his family. The gathering was not merely a formal expression of grief; it was a space where friends, colleagues and relatives shared memories that illuminated different dimensions of his personality. Listening to these recollections, one gradually realised that Mazhar-ul-Haq Siddiqui was not simply a man of high office but a custodian of certain moral and institutional values that are increasingly rare. During his long career in the civil service of Pakistan, he held several important position...
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Israeli foreign minister denies country facing interceptor shortages

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar on Sunday denied a ​report that Israel was facing a shortage of ballistic missile interceptors after more than ‌two weeks of war that has seen repeated attacks from Iran and Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon. American news website Semafor on Saturday cited an unnamed US official as saying that Israel had told Washington it was running critically low on ballistic ​missile interceptors. Asked whether the report was accurate, along with an Israeli media report that Israel ​was set to hold direct talks with Lebanon, Saar responded: "For both questions, the ⁠answer is no." An Israeli military source also denied any shortage, saying that the armed forces were ​prepared for a prolonged campaign. Iran has fired close to 300 ballistic missiles at Israel, according to the ​Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) at Tel Aviv University, and hundreds of drones since US and Israeli strikes on Iran on February 28. Read More: Netanyahu posts video ...
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Austerity's hollow veil

The US-Israel aggression against Iran has plunged much of the region into turmoil. It has triggered wider ripple effects, including geopolitical tensions and rising concerns over energy security and fuel prices. And Pakistan — being no exception to potential implications and already battered by epic misgovernance, inflation and a fragile IMF bailout programme — finds itself at the epicentre of an economic storm it did not start but cannot escape unscathed. The country has proactively responded with a historic 20% hike in fuel prices on existing stocks and a set of austerity measures to navigate the crisis. Though they may have been a necessity, necessity alone doesn't always bring stipulated results unless they are enforced in a transparent and quantifiable manner. The austerity measures include a four-day workweek for government offices, 50% work from home and a 60% reduction in the government vehicle fleet, as well as closing schools for two weeks, cutting ministerial salari...
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Five killed in Russian air attacks on Ukraine

Russia hammered Ukraine with missiles and drones on Saturday, killing five ‌people and causing damage across several regions of the country, Ukrainian officials said. The main target was energy infrastructure outside the capital Kyiv, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said, adding that residential buildings, schools and businesses were also damaged. He said the Sumy, Kharkiv, Dnipro and ​Mykolaiv regions were also targeted in an attack that included around 430 drones and 68 missiles, ​most of which were downed by air defences. The governor of the southeastern region of Zaporizhzhia, ⁠Ivan Fedorov, said a residential area of the city of Zaporizhzhia had been hit by Russian-guided bombs, killing ​one person and injuring three. Photos posted online showed parts of buildings reduced to rubble. Saturday's strikes come as ​the Iran conflict has distracted international attention from a US-backed peace push in the four-year war, which Kyiv says Moscow has no interest in ending. "Russia w...
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