Category: National

London-based journalist Safina Khan has drawn widespread criticism in Pakistan for her insensitive tweet regarding Thursday’s tragic Air India passenger aircraft crash, with many netizens calling her “shameful and heartless”.

“Not only Rafales grounded, Indian passenger planes have also been crashing. According to reports so far, 130 people have lost their lives. Indian pilots need to get training from Pakistan’s Air Force (sic),” the journalist wrote in a post on X (formerly Twitter) on Thursday.

The aircraft, which was carrying more than 242 passengers, including 12 crew members, plunged 33 seconds after taking off from Ahmedabad city, slamming into buildings near the airport. The crash claimed over 290 lives, with one lone survivor, Vishwash Kumar Ramesh.

According to Air India authorities, the passengers included 169 Indian nationals, 53 British nationals, seven Portuguese nationals, and one Canadian national. 

The aircraft crash sent shockwaves around the world, with condolences pouring in across borders over the tragic loss of lives.

Safina’s tweet was widely assailed by internet users in Pakistan. One wrote in reply, “I’m sorry for being rude, but quite literally shame on you.”

“Madam! In such a situation, one should sympathize with others, be they friends or enemies. This is what suits the civilized people. Becoming a pilot takes a lot of hard work. God forbid, if such an incident happens here tomorrow, what will be your statement? In any case, may Allah have mercy on all creatures for the sake of His beloved,” another user said.

A netizen, while reminding the journalist of the PIA plane crash in Karachi in 2020, asked: “Who were the pilots when the passenger plane crashed in Karachi? Don’t tweet like this about a technical glitch.”

“Couldn’t believe my eyes when I read this. Beyond shameful. No empathy, humanity,” said another netizen.

Journalist Khurram Iqbal called Safina “heartless” for her tweet. Sharing the screenshot of Safina’s tweet, he wrote in a caption, “This was a natural accident in which innocent people lost their lives. Every person with a heart feels sorrow and grief over it. Only a ruthless and heartless person can mock such an incident or criticise it in any way. It is truly a matter of sorrow.”

Calling Safina a “shameful attention seeker” at the time of the tragedy, journalist Asad Ali Toor on his official X handle wrote, “More than 240 families lost their loved ones and in this moment of grief, this shameful attention seeker is point scoring on a tragedy.. What pathetic desi character of London, thank you @BBhuttoZardari for not letting this cheapster take a selfie with you!”

A 27‑year‑old American woman, Kerinsha Madison Grace from South Carolina, has travelled to Pakistan to marry her online friend-turned-fiancé, Naeemul Hassan, in Jhang after two years of social media friendship.

According to reports, Kerinsha has now adopted the name Kaniz Ayesha after embracing Islam at Jamia Arabia Darul Huda in Jhang. She was inspired both by Islam and her love for Naeemul Hassan.

She officially married 29‑year‑old Hassan at the office of Advocate Amir Shahzad. Rana Amir and other witnesses attended the ceremony.

Kerinsha was previously married in the United States and has three children. She divorced her former husband before starting a relationship with Hassan.

This is not the first time such cross-cultural marriages have made headlines in Pakistan. In October 2024, Onijah Andrew Robinson, a 33-year-old American woman, travelled to Karachi to marry Nidal Ahmed Memon, a 19-year-old she had met online. 

However, Memon later backed out of the marriage, reportedly amid family pressure. Onijah stayed in Pakistan for nearly four months, during which she was placed in a shelter and later admitted to a psychiatric facility before returning to the US in February 2025.

In another similar case from March 2022, a French woman came to Pakpattan, Punjab, after forming a friendship with Ali Raza online. She came to Pakistan with her mother, and she embraced Islam, changed her name to Zoya, and married Ali in a simple ceremony. Later, the couple shared that they remained close, saying, “We are in love.”

Back in 2018, an American woman named Mary Kathleen connected with Adeel Awan from Haripur through Facebook. After nearly a year of conversations, she flew to Pakistan, accepted Islam, changed her name to Maryam, and married Adeel in the presence of his family.

The Chief of United States Central Command (CENTCOM) General Michael Kurilla has declared Pakistan a “phenomenal partner” in global counter-terrorism efforts, highlighting the country’s fight against militancy.

“Through a phenomenal partnership, Pakistan has gone after Daesh-Khorasan, killing dozens of them… through a relationship we have with them and providing intelligence, they have captured at least five ISIS Khorasan high-value individuals.” General Kurilla said during a House Armed Services Committee hearing in Washington DC, on Tuesday.

Since the Taliban took control of Kabul in August 2021, Pakistan has witnessed a sharp uptick in violent attacks, particularly in the Western border regions of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and Balochistan.

During the congressional hearing, General Kurilla was answering questions about the security situation along Afghanistan’s contiguous border with Pakistan.

“… right now what we saw is the Taliban is going after Daesh-Khorasan…they hate each other, [Daesh-Khorasan] have been pushed toward the tribal areas along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border,” he said.

“They [Pakistan] have extradited back Jaffar, who was one of the key individuals behind the Abbey Gate bombing,” he added, referring to Daesh operative Mohammad Sharifullah, an Afghan national who was arrested by Pakistan earlier this year.

On August 26, 2021, a suicide bombing at the Abbey Gate of Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul during the final days of the US troop withdrawal from Afghanistan killed 13 American soldiers and at least 170 Afghans. Daesh Khorasan had claimed responsibility for the attack.

Sharifullah has confessed to scouting out the route to the airport, where the suicide bomber later detonated his device among packed crowds trying to flee the country after the Taliban seized control of Kabul, the Justice Department said.

Furthermore, the CENTCOM chief said he received a call from the Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Field Marshal Asim Munir after Sharifullah’s arrest. General Kurilla quoted Asim Munir as saying, “I’ve caught him, I’m willing to extradite him back to the United States, please tell the Secretary of Defence and the President”.

“We’re seeing Pakistan, with limited intelligence that we provided them, go after them using their means to do that, and we’re seeing an effect on Daesh Khorasan,” he added.

General Kurilla said that since the start of 2024, there have been 1,000 terrorist attacks in the western area of Pakistan, noting that the country was “in an active counter-terrorism fight right now”.

The CENTCOM chief concluded by emphasising that America needs to maintain ties with both Islamabad and New Delhi. “I do not believe it is a binary switch that we can’t have one with Pakistan if we have a relationship with India. We should look at the merits of the relationship for the positives that it has,” he said.

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) dissociated itself from a protest scheduled to take place in Washington DC on June 14 during an official visit by Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Field Marshal General Asim Munir, Barrister Gohar Khan has confirmed.

During an interaction with reporters in Islamabad on Tuesday, the Chairman of PTI was asked, “The Army Chief has left for America today, and PTI gave a protest’s call [in the US]. Do you support it?” 

In response, Gohar clarified that PTI has not given any protest call. “PTI has not released a press statement to the effect nor has the party instructed people to stage a protest. So, PTI has not given any call,” he stated. 

Gohar said that if people in foreign countries do stage a protest, it is their own choice.

On Monday, in a post on X (formerly Twitter), PTI’s Secretary for Overseas Affairs Sajjad Burki called for a protest outside the Pakistan embassy in Washington on the forthcoming Saturday, coinciding with the expected presence of senior Pakistani officials in the US capital.

“Preparing for a massive protest in Washington, DC at the arrival of the […] Asif Munir. PTI USA and over 12 cooperating organizations from the Pakistani diaspora are collaborating to protest in front of the Pakistan Embassy on Saturday, June 14 (sic),” Burki wrote.

He urged people to join the protest to “restore democracy in Pakistan.”

While the PTI announcement claims that General Munir will visit the US capital around the same time, confirmation remains pending from both US and Pakistani officials.

Paul Kapur, US President Donald Trump’s nominee for the key role of Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs, appeared before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Tuesday for his nomination hearing, where he outlined the relationships and opportunities the United States would engage in, including with Pakistan, if confirmed for the position.

Commenting on Pakistan, Trump’s Indian-origin nominee stated his plan to pursue security cooperation where it is beneficial to US interests while seeking opportunities for bilateral collaboration “in trade and investment”.

Regarding India, he remarked that Washington, DC and New Delhi share a “host of common interests”, including ensuring a free and open Indo-Pacific region that is “not dominated by China”, expanding bilateral trade, and building an economic relationship that is “more symmetrical and more profitable”.

Terming the US relationships with South and Central Asian countries as ones that “hold great promise”, Kapur said that with effective policy, the region can flourish and enable the US to achieve Secretary Rubio’s goal of making the country safer, stronger, and more prosperous.

He commended the role of US Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio for their engagement in avoiding what he called “a costly conflict”, alluding to last month’s military and diplomatic standoff between Islamabad and New Delhi following the Pahalgam incident on April 22.

“If confirmed, I will continue to promote long-standing US security interests with India and Pakistan through the pursuit of peace and stability and the fight against terrorism,” he remarked.

Declaring Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal, Maldives and Bhutan “important for stability in the Indo-Pacific region”, the US president’s nominee said that he will advocate for enhanced US cooperation with these countries to bolster country security, “counterbalance China’s influence”, and expand trade.

Commenting on Afghanistan, Kapur said that, if successfully appointed, he will support President Trump and Secretary Rubio in bringing home wrongly detained Americans. 

“I also will work to ensure that the country never again becomes a springboard for terrorism threatening the homeland,” he added.

On Central Asia, he stressed that the US seeks to advance the sovereignty and the territorial integrity of regional states, adding, “If confirmed, I will leverage the C5 plus1 process as well as bilateral formats and pursue cooperation in areas including energy, critical minerals, counterterrorism, the fight against transnational crime, and the development of physical and digital infrastructure.”

The opportunities in South and Central Asia that I’ve just outlined hold tremendous promise. If confirmed, I will pursue them energetically to realise their potential to enhance the safety, strength, and prosperity of the American people.”

Security expert and author Paul Kapur was nominated by President Donald Trump for the position of Assistant Secretary of State in February this year. If his nomination is confirmed, Kapur would succeed Donald Lu, who completed his term on January 17, 2025.

US State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce has expressed hope that the Kashmir dispute might be resolved during President Donald Trump’s tenure in office.

During the weekly press briefing on Tuesday, a journalist posed a question: “After the ceasefire between India and Pakistan, President Trump offered to mediate on the Kashmir dispute. So, what kind of follow-up are we expecting? How the state department moves forward?” referring to the possibility of inviting the leadership of both countries or supporting the UN resolution on Kashmir.

In response, the spokesperson said that while she could not speak about President Trump’s intentions or plans, his actions are always “aimed at resolving long-standing international disputes.” 

“So, it shouldn’t surprise anyone that he’d want to manage something like that,” Bruce added, stating that “he is and has been the only one to bring certain people to the table to have conversations that nobody thought were possible.”.

She called it “an interesting time,” with the conflict nearing a possible resolution, and thanked “God, but also Secretary Rubio, President Trump, and the vice president.”

Tammy Bruce asserted that this is “a time filled with hope.”

When the ceasefire was agreed, India and Pakistan were expected to meet at a neutral venue to sort out unresolved issues. However, there’s been no clear progress, and all sides have stayed silent on what’s next.

Television host Fiza Ali’s remarks about veteran journalist Suhail Warraich, analyst Irshad Bhatti, and other guests have ruffled feathers online.

During her appearance on an Eid Ul Azha special episode of Kamran Shahid’s show ‘On The Front,’  Fiza was asked to share her thoughts on the guests who were present with her on the show and to guess what professions they might have pursued if they weren’t in their current fields.

Commenting on analyst Mujeeb Ur Rehman Shami, she said that he would have been a “chef” if he had not been in journalism because he adds spices to his conversation.

About Irshad Bhatti, she said that he would have been a “tailor” given that Bhatti always wears a tight suit. 

Apologising to Warraich over what she was about to say, Fiza said that if Warraich had not been a journalist, he would have been “a sweeper at a restaurant in a foreign country,” since he has gone into the washroom of every woman he has interviewed.

Fiza’s remarks, particularly about Warraich, did not sit well with viewers. One social media user wrote on X (formerly Twitter), “Suhail Warraich is an institution in himself; just because you’re a woman doesn’t mean you can say whatever you want.”

“Freedom of speech does not mean freedom to insult. It is deeply shocking and unacceptable. How dare someone like Fiza Ali make such demeaning and disgraceful remarks about a senior journalist like Sohail Warraich on a national television channel,” another netizen asked.

Calling Warraich “a great man” one person said, “You are such a great man Suhail Warraich Sahb…. Fiza Ali made an inappropriate and disgraceful remark, which reflected the filth of her own mind.”

A day after the clip of the ex-actress’s statement about Warraich went viral, the latter responded with dignity. He took to X, writing, “My status is even below that of toilet cleaners. I am street dirt, as Mian Muhammad Baksh called himself ‘galian da rora kora’.  Cleaning toilets in my view is not [an] insult as cleaning the filth left by others is a noble service.”

Journalist Umar Cheema commended Warraich’s response to Fiza’s remarks. 

On Monday, Cheema wrote on X, “Sohail Sahib, this woman [Fiza Ali] made fun of her own mentality. You responded according to your capacity, which is commendable.”

Cheema opined, “Such incidents often happen in Kamran Shahid’s program. Don’t you think that the person in question cares more about ratings than your respect? If he wanted, he could have edited it.”

Another social media user called out Kamran Shahid for not protesting Fiza’s  statement. “Kamran Shahid should be ashamed… this lady disrespected a senior journalist and instead of giving him a shut-up call, he is laughing.”