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ISLAMABAD: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi and Imran Khan’s sister Aleema Khan on Wednesday claimed that shots were fired at sit-in participants on Tuesday night, injuring several people.

On Tuesday, a caravan led by CM Afridi, which was on its way to Rawalpindi’s Adiala jail to meet Imran, was stopped from entering Islamabad, prompting the participants to stage a sit-in at the intersection of Srinagar Highway and G.T. Road — loca­lly referred to as Chungi No. 26.

Addressing a press conference, Afridi claimed that shots were fired on Tuesday to disperse them. He said that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was supplying gas to the entire country, but in return, bullets were being fired at parliamentarians and wheat supplies to the province had been blocked.

During the press conference, they also showed a video in which shots were allegedly fired at different participants in the sit-in.

They also asked whether the state has any example in which the sisters of former prime ministers have faced the treatment being faced by Imran’s sisters.

“That is why I asked if you want to break the country. The people of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have been observing how their representatives are being treated,” he said.

He said he had also asked police officers why they were spreading hate. “If hate increases, the country will suffer,” he said.

“We have only one demand: that Imran Khan be treated at Shifa International Hospital. In the past, platelet count was allegedly manipulated by one leader, and Imran Khan had allowed that leader to go abroad for treatment,” he stated.

“Imran Khan was removed just because he said ‘absolutely not,’” Afridi said, adding that “they” claimed it was solely Imran’s decision to visit Russia during the Russia-Ukraine war, but later, the cipher issue emerged and he was removed.

The regime change operation brought nothing but “hunger, inflation and price hikes,” he claimed.

“Today, there is no democracy, and judges are writing letters complaining that they are being monitored,” he said.

Afridi added that a protest would be held on Friday and that they would return next Tuesday to intensify their protest further.

Opposition alliance Tehreek Tahaffuz Ayeen-e-Pakistan (TTAP) and PTI announced countrywide protests on Friday against Imran’s imprisonment, rising inflation and other issues.

CM Afridi said the current government lacked an economic policy, due to which, whenever funds are required, it raises petroleum prices.

“Imran Khan has never lodged a complaint regarding his health, but now he has lost 85 per cent of his vision in one eye. We will come here again and again, and no one can stop us,” he said.

Meanwhile, Aleema said the cipher provided evidence that Imran was right. She said he had stated that Pakistan should be treated as an independent state and had travelled to Russia, where he secured a deal for petroleum products at 30 per cent lower rates.

She further claimed that the judiciary had been “managed” and that no judge was now willing to independently hear Imran’s cases. “My brother had said that there would either be respect or death,” she added.

Aleema added that meetings with Imran had been banned 14 months ago and that for the past seven months, he had been in solitary confinement.

The former premier’s sister also demanded that proceedings under Article 6 be initiated against those involved in the cipher case. She said she was proud of the parliamentarians who reached the venue and participated in the sit-in.

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ISLAMABAD: Balochistan’s government has told the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) that holding a by-election for NA-256 Khuzdar is not possible at present, citing the law and order situation in the district.

During a meeting with ECP officials on Wednesday, the province’s chief secretary and inspector general of police briefed that the “presence of militants, tribal disputes, and the need to deploy police and other law enforcement personnel from other districts” had made it difficult to hold the polls.

They said the constituency comprised mountainous terrain, the security situation was “unstable”, and complete security could not be provided to election staff and voters.

Meanwhile, Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja, who chaired the meeting, said the commission was bound under the Constitution and law to hold the by-election.

“The ECP will take an appropriate decision on the Khuzdar by-elections,” he said.

The ECP maintained that it was ready to proceed with the by-election and had sought an updated briefing from the provincial administration on the security situation before moving forward.

The NA-256 seat fell vacant after Balochistan National Party chief Sardar Akhtar Mengal resigned in September 2024. In his resignation letter to the National Assembly speaker, Mengal said Balochistan had been “consistently marginalised and ignored” and that the lack of genuine representation had left him unable to bring meaningful change.

The ECP accepted the resignation in February 2026 and issued the by-election schedule on February 13. However, ECP suspended the schedule on March 27 at the provincial government’s request due to the deteriorating security situation.

LG polls in Quetta

During the meeting, the ECP was also briefed on local government elections in the provincial capital, Quetta.

ECP officials said the term of local governments in the provincial capital expired on January 27, 2019, adding that the commission had since carried out two rounds of delimitation and issued three election schedules, but polling could not be held.

The officials informed that delimitation had now been completed and the commission was prepared to hold the LG elections. The election schedule could be issued in the second week of June 2026, the meeting was told.

Under Section 219(3) of the Elections Act and Section 16(2) of the Balochistan Local Government Act, consultation with the provincial government is required before holding the polls.

The chief secretary said the matter would be placed before the provincial cabinet’s next meeting to decide on holding the elections in view of the law and order situation.

The ECP directed the provincial government to convey its position on the consultation so that the electoral process could begin and elections in Quetta could be held in accordance with the law

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WASHINGTON: Pakistan is among the countries that could benefit from a new United States temporary licence allowing selected energy-importing nations to access Russian oil, diplomatic sources told Dawn.

The US has introduced a 30-day general licence issued by the US Department of the Treasury to ease immediate supply pressures in global crude markets and provide relief to energy-vulnerable countries.

Diplomatic sources said the arrangement may also apply to Pakistan, though they cautioned that Islamabad might not be able to fully take advantage of the concession due to limited technical capacity.

US offers 30-day relief to energy-vulnerable countries

They noted that Pakistan has not previously imported Russian crude at scale and may lack the refining infrastructure required to process such shipments. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on a social media post released on Monday that his department is issuing a temporary 30-day general licence to “provide the most vulnerable nations with the ability to temporarily access Russian oil currently stranded at sea.”

“This extension will provide additional flexibility, and we will work with these nations to provide specific licences as needed,” he wrote in a post on X. “This general licence will help stabilise the physical crude market and ensure oil reaches the most energy-vulnerable countries.”

Bessent added that the licence will also help reroute existing supply to countries most in need by “reducing China’s ability to stockpile discounted oil”.

Published in Dawn, May 20th, 2026

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Nigeria’s military on Tuesday said that joint airstrikes with the United States had killed 175 Islamic State (IS) fighters in the country’s northeast, including the militant group’s global second-in-command.

The remote region has been gripped by an extremist insurgency since 2009, first by Boko Haram, then its offshoot and rival, the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP).

According to the United Nations, more than 40,000 people have been killed and two million others displaced.

US and Nigerian forces killed Abu Bilal al-Minuki, an IS leader described as the “most active terrorist” in the world, at a remote village in the northeast last weekend.

The Nigerian military said on Tuesday that 175 IS militants had so far been “eliminated from the battlefield”.

“The joint strikes have resulted in the destruction of ISIS checkpoints, weapons caches, logistical hubs, military equipment and financial networks used to sustain terrorist operations,” it added.

As director of global operations for IS, al-Minuki provided strategic guidance on media and financial operations and “the development and manufacturing of weapons, explosives and drones”, according to the Nigerian military and the US Africa Command (Africom).

After the announcement of al-Minuki’s death, Nigeria’s President Bola Ahmed Tinubu thanked his US counterpart, Donald Trump, for his “leadership and unwavering support”.

He said he looked forward to “more decisive strikes against all terrorist enclaves across the nation”.

Senior figures

According to Tuesday’s military statement, the operations in the last few days have killed other key IS figures.

They include Abdal Wahhab, said to be a “senior leader” of ISWAP, “responsible for coordinating attacks and distributing propaganda”.

Abu Musa al-Mangawi was said to be a high-ranking ISWAP member, while Abu al-Muthanna al-Muhajir was a “senior media production team manager and close confidant to al-Minuki”.

Boko Haram and ISWAP have recently stepped up their attacks on villages, police stations and workers such as loggers and fishermen, as well as military bases, causing the deaths of several civilians and senior army officers.

The upsurge in attacks prompted Tinubu to declare a nationwide state of emergency in 2025 and the US president to threaten Nigeria with military intervention.

Trump has claimed that Christians in Nigeria were being “persecuted” and victims of a “genocide” carried out by “terrorists”. The government in Abuja and most experts reject the claim and point out that the violence generally affects Christians and Muslims without distinction.

The US military, in coordination with the Nigerian authorities, carried out airstrikes on December 25 last year in the northwestern state of Sokoto, targeting what Washington called jihadists.

Northern Nigeria has been grappling with violence from criminal gangs known locally as bandits, who frequently carry out attacks on villages and mass kidnappings for ransom.

Africom has also taken action against IS and al-Shabaab militants in Somalia, intensifying airstrikes since the beginning of the year.

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KARACHI: An individual involved in a fatal hit-and-run incident on a major Karachi thoroughfare remains on the run days after his vehicle hit another, killing one person and injuring two teenagers.

On Thursday, a video of the incident went viral on social media. It showed a speeding double-cabin vehicle ploughing into a small car on Karachi’s Abdul Sattar Edhi Avenue in the Defence Housing Authority (DHA) area. The double-cabin vehicle hit the other car with such force that it spun around multiple times before coming to a stop on the side of the busy road. The speeding vehicle did not stop, and the individual fled the scene.

South Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) Syed Asad Raza told Dawn that Darakhshan police had lodged a first information report (FIR) against the absconding driver of the speeding SUV, and further legal proceedings were underway.

According to the FIR, seen by Dawn, at around 12:05am on May 14, 2026, a speeding Revo vehicle collided with a car at the crossing of main Sea View road and Khayaban-i-Bukhari in DHA Phase 6, Karachi.

As a result, three people travelling in the vehicle sustained serious injuries.

The injured were identified as driver Suleman Saleem, 33, Ameer Owais, 17, and Hamza Walika, 19.

All the injured were immediately shifted to the hospital for medical treatment; however, driver Saleem succumbed to his injuries during treatment, the FIR said.

DIG Asad further told Dawn that police had impounded the Revo vehicle involved in the accident, while the driver had fled the scene and was still at large.

Speaking on Geo News programme ‘Aaj Shahzeb Khanzada Kay Sath’, DIG Asad said police could not confirm reports that the suspect had fled to Balochistan.

However, he did confirm that the suspect had a domicile of Nasirabad, Balochistan, and had been identified by police through the Safe City Project.

The senior police official added that permission from the provincial government would be sought and the process would be launched to ensure his arrest.

“Raids are being conducted at various locations for the arrest of the suspect driver, who will be apprehended soon,” assured the senior police official.

Earlier, two police personnel were martyred on Monday when a speeding dumper truck crashed into a police van parked on the M9 Motorway within the limits of the Gadap City police station.

Three motorcyclists were also killed by hit-and-run drivers last week in the DHA and Gulistan-i-Jauhar areas of the metropolis.

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ISLAMABAD: Opposition lawmakers on Monday staged a protest on the National Assembly floor, demanding proper medical care for incarcerated PTI founder and former prime minister Imran Khan.

During today’s session, PTI members did not point out a lack of quorum as the session commenced, which was chaired by Deputy Speaker Ghulam Mustafa Shah.

As soon as the session progressed, the leader of the opposition in the lower house, Mehmood Khan Achakzai, stood at his seat and said that the deadline had expired and the government was not providing the required medical care to the former prime minister.

“We had given the government time until Monday to mend its ways in this regard and had announced that we would not be part of the proceedings,” he said, adding that the opposition would also boycott the budget session.

However, as he spoke, his voice was cut off and his speech was not broadcast on any official channel.

PTI lawmakers also gathered around the Speaker’s seat and raised slogans in favour of their leaders.

They also held a shadow proceeding of the House and designated Achakzai as the Speaker.

The protest also continued during the Question Hour.

As soon as the Question Hour ended at around 6:18pm, the PTI lawmakers left the House, and Shahid Khattak, along with a few other PTI members, pointed out a lack of quorum in the National Assembly; they also left soon after the counting began.

But the treasury members were more than the required 86 MNAs, so the session continued. The House also approved amendments to two laws.

The National Assembly is set to meet again on Tuesday morning.

Govt denies deportation of Pakistanis from UAE

Meanwhile, responding to a question by MNA Mussarat Rafique, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Dr Tariq Fazal Chaudhary said that all reports regarding the mass deportation of Pakistanis from the UAE were “incorrect and false.”

“These are all social media creations. In fact, we have not received any complaint from any person regarding deportation from any country, specifically the UAE,” he said.

He added that there were persistent crime-related cases, and those convicted and imprisoned were being repatriated.

The minister said that a total of 9,233 labour-related complaints were received from Pakistani workers, as reported by Pakistani missions in the Middle East. These included 5,321 from Saudi Arabia, 1,310 from Bahrain, 850 from Oman, while the rest were from Qatar, the UAE and Kuwait.

In response to another question, the government informed the House that 164,788 Pakistanis had been deported from Gulf countries in the last five years.

These included 108,029 from Saudi Arabia, 40,497 from the UAE, 9,814 from Oman, 2,971 from Qatar, 2,779 from Bahrain and 698 from Kuwait.

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A US jury on Monday ruled against Elon Musk in his lawsuit against OpenAI, finding the artificial intelligence company not liable to the world’s richest person for having allegedly strayed from its original mission to benefit humanity.

In a unanimous verdict, the jury in Oakland, California federal court said Musk had brought his case too late.

The jury deliberated less than two hours.

The trial had widely been seen as a critical moment for the future of OpenAI and artificial intelligence generally, both in how it should be used and who should benefit from it.

Following the verdict, Musk’s lawyer said he reserved the right to appeal, but the judge suggested he may have an uphill battle because whether the statute of limitations ran out before Musk sued was a factual issue.

“There’s a substantial amount of evidence to support the jury’s finding, which is why I was prepared to dismiss on the spot,” US District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers said.

In his 2024 lawsuit, Musk accused OpenAI, its Chief Executive Sam Altman and its President Greg Brockman of manipulating him into giving $38 million, then going behind his back by attaching a for-profit business to its original nonprofit and accepting tens of billions of dollars from Microsoft and other investors.

Musk called the OpenAI defendants’ conduct “stealing a charity.”

OpenAI was founded by Altman, Musk and several others in 2015. Musk left its board in 2018, and OpenAI set up a for-profit business the next year.

People use AI for myriad purposes such as education, facial recognition, financial advice, journalism, legal research, medical diagnoses, and harmful deep-fakes.

Many people express distrust of the technology and worry it could displace people from their jobs.

The verdict followed 11 days of testimony and arguments where Musk’s and Altman’s credibility came under repeated attack.

Each side accused the other of being more interested in money than serving the public.

In his closing argument, Musk’s lawyer Steven Molo reminded jurors that several witnesses questioned Altman’s candor or branded him a liar, and that Musk did not give an unqualified yes when asked during the trial if he was completely trustworthy.

“Sam Altman’s credibility is directly at issue,” Molo said. “If you don’t believe him, they cannot win.”

Musk accused OpenAI of wrongfully trying to enrich investors and insiders at the nonprofit’s expense, and failing to prioritize AI’s safety.

He also contended that Microsoft knew all along that OpenAI cared more about money than being altruistic.

OpenAI countered that it was Musk who saw dollar signs, and that he waited too long to claim OpenAI breached its founding agreement to build safe artificial intelligence to benefit humanity.

“Mr. Musk may have the Midas touch in some areas, but not in AI,” William Savitt, a lawyer for OpenAI, said in his closing argument.

OpenAI competes with AI companies such as Anthropic and xAI, and is preparing for a possible initial public offering that could value the business at $1 trillion.

Microsoft has spent more than $100 billion on its partnership with OpenAI, a Microsoft executive testified.

Musk’s xAI is now part of his space and rocket company SpaceX, which is preparing a IPO that could exceed OpenAI’s in size.

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