Category: National

India attacked Pakistan in the early hours of Wednesday by launching airstrikes in different parts of the country, martyring at least three Pakistanis and injuring 12 others.

The strikes came amid heightened tensions and Indian warmongering following last month’s Pahalgam attack in Indian Occupied Kashmir, which had resulted in the deaths of 26 tourists. In absence of any evidence, New Delhi had accused Islamabad of being involved in the attack by “facilitating terror groups” – an allegation denied by Pakistan as it offered a transparent probe into the tragedy.

With the situation continuing to escalate, explosions were heard in Kotli, Bahawalpur, Muridke, Bagh and Muzaffarabad on Tuesday-Wednesday midnight.

While a statement from Indian authorities took responsibility for the strikes, Pakistan was quick to respond, vowing a befitting response to Indian aggression.

Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director General (DG) Lt Gen Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry confirmed that Indian armed forces had carried out missile strikes across different cities in Punjab and Azad Kashmir. 

“All of our air force jets are airborne. This is a shameful and cowardly attack that was carried from within India’s airspace,” he said, adding that Pakistan’s armed forces were giving a befitting response to Indian aggression.

“Let me say it unequivocally, Pakistan will respond to this [attack] at a time and place of its choosing,” warned the ISPR chief.

“This provocation will not go unanswered,” he said, adding that the temporary happiness that India had achieved with the cowardly attack would soon be replaced with enduring grief.

While damage assessment is currently underway, Pakistan has so far shot down two Indian Air Force (IAF) jets.

Security sources have also claimed that an Indian army brigade headquarters has been destroyed by Pakistan and an enemy post in the Dhundial sector of the Line of Control (LoC) has also been wiped out in a missile strike from this side of the border.

This is a developing story…

The Pakistan Navy detected and closely monitored an Indian Navy surveillance aircraft, the P-8I, during the night of May 4 and 5, according to media reports citing APP.

The American-made maritime patrol plane, which the Pak Navy continued to monitor, is typically used for reconnaissance missions.

Earlier, the vigilant operations of the Pakistan Navy forced the Indian aircraft carrier, INS Vikrant, to retreat from near Pakistani waters.

Media outlets quoted security sources as saying that INS Vikrant had been deployed to the northern Arabian Sea on April 23 amid rising tensions between the two countries.

The latest satellite intelligence (IMINT) images show that INS Vikrant was re-moored at the Indian port of Karwar after spending several days at sea.

The deployment and subsequent withdrawal highlight the growing military power play in the region following the April 22 militant attack in Pahalgam, Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK), which claimed 26 lives. Since then, India has been blaming Pakistan for the incident without providing any concrete evidence.

Satirist Anwar Maqsood has requested Prime Minister (PM) Shehbaz Sharif to revive the No Objection Certificate (NOC) for his latest theatre play titled “House Arrest,” which was cancelled after nine shows.

The notification issued by the Office of the District Magistrate Islamabad Capital Territory with the subject ‘Withdrawal of No Objection Certificate’ dated April 30 read, “…You are hereby directed not to conduct the said activity/event. In case of non-compliance, necessary legal proceedings will be initiated under the law.”

In a video statement, Maqsood called on the PM, saying, “The NOC of my play House Arrest was suddenly withdrawn after it was being performed nine times. There were still 11 shows left to be performed.”

Concerned about the financial loss, he explained that seven to eight new actors and actresses who were performing for the first time in the play were trained for one month. “There is always new talent in my every drama. I do not place senior actors in my play. We have suffered a great loss, and we are not wealthy either.”

“We request you [PM] to issue the NOC,” he concluded.

In February 2025, speaking at a press conference alongside Arts Council President Ahmed Shah in Karachi, Maqsood said that although the name of this play is House Arrest, it does not include any political satire, adding, “It does not include the name of any political party, any institution or any specific entity.”

The veteran writer explained that the play was actually an unusual story about a boy who had locked his mother, the owner of the house, in one of its rooms, along with her cousin.

On the choice of selecting the name of his play, House Arrest, he stated that he first named the drama Ghar No: 804, but the President of the Arts Council of Pakistan, Mohammad Ahmad Shah, asked him to change it. 

“Then I came up with the title Extension; he again rejected it. Shah Sahib suggested I come up with something related to marriages. So I said let’s name the play Adiala Bana Aya Re, he turned down that as well. Finally, we settled on House Arrest. The thing is, it’s a simple story, not against anyone, I hope the audience will enjoy it,” Maqsood said.

He maintained that this will be one of the best plays in the country’s history. 

House Arrest by Kopykats production was directed by Dawar Mehmood and produced by the Arts Council of Pakistan.

Kareem Shah, a resident of Karachi’s Banaras Kati Pahari area, had taken his family to the beach when his 12-year-old son, Ubaid, was caught in strong waves while swimming. In an effort to save him, Kareem jumped in, but both father and son were pulled under by the rough sea.

Lifeguards from the Gadani Municipal Committee used a boat to recover their bodies and shifted them to the Sheikhabad Rural Health Centre for necessary procedures. According to locals, Kareem Shah lived in a rented house and was known as a caring and devoted father.

In another incident, near Bund Road’s T Number 5 area in Lahore, three boys drowned in the Ravi River. According to police, all three bodies were retrieved and later confirmed dead by doctors. The victims were identified as 6-year-old Naseebullah, seven-year-old Ameer Hamza, and nine-year-old Qudratullah.

A human trafficker named Khawar Hassan, nearly 30 years of age, is still at large and is potentially still luring hapless people to perilous and deadly crossings with promises of safe routes into Europe, a BBC Verify investigation has found.

Khawar Hassan aka Fadi Gujjar, is unlike many other Pakistani smugglers. While others tend to boastfully advertise illegal routes to Europe online, he is more careful and is believed to be advertising his services through word of mouth.

His online presence is limited to highly edited videos of his travels, and almost all clients identified were local to his town of Jaurah, in Gujrat, BBC Verify said. In fact, two people he was close to, cousins Sufian Ali and Atif Shahzad, were among those who were beaten to death on a deadly boat journey he put them on.

As per BBC, the three men can be seen together in a TikTok video, posted on Fadi’s account, filmed at a beachside restaurant in Mauritania’s capital Nouakchott.

Within a month of the video being posted online, Ali and Shahzad were dead. Fadi, meanwhile, is currently on the run and wanted by Pakistan’s Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) in connection with the Mauritania boat disaster, which resulted in the deaths of at least 43 Pakistanis and others. 

The survivors claimed that they paid nearly 13,000 dollars to Fadi, BBC Verify reported.

The BBC further reports that Fadi Gujjar’s Facebook location is currently set to Istanbul.

Naming Fadi Gujjar as one of ten smugglers involved in the tragedy, Pakistani authorities have arrested some members of his family, including his mother and one of his brothers, on allegations of collecting money on his behalf from people buying routes to Europe.

After being contacted through WhatsApp via a number shared by survivors, Fadi declined to address the allegations against him, claiming that his name was being misused and that he “left everything up to Allah”.