KARACHI – A Karachi court has sentenced a police official to death after finding him guilty of killing a young man in a staged police encounter in the Gulistan-e-Jauhar area.
The Model Criminal Court East handed down the death sentence to police official Shehryar in the case.
The court also sentenced two co-accused police personnel, Nasir and Faisal, to life imprisonment.
Additionally, all three convicts were ordered to pay Rs500,000 each as compensation to the victim’s family.
According to the prosecution, personnel of the Shaheen Force signalled Aamir to stop in Gulshan-e-Iqbal. When he failed to comply, the police officers chased him and entered a residential apartment, where they opened fire on him.
The police officials had initially portrayed the incident as an encounter. However, a case was subsequently registered against the accused at Shahrah-e-Faisal Police Station in 2022.
The court announced its verdict after finding the accused guilty in the case.
Singaporean Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan arrived in Islamabad on Friday on an official visit, the Foreign Office (FO) said.
The visiting dignitary is undertaking the trip at the invitation of Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, who is scheduled to hold “comprehensive talks” with Balakrishnan on cooperation in bilateral and multilateral domains, according to the FO statement.
Prior to his visit, the FO said the trip “assumes significance as it coincides with the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Pakistan and Singapore and comes ahead of Singapore’s assumption of the Asean chairmanship in 2027”.
The initial statement added that apart from bilateral matters, Dar and Balakrishnan would also exchange views on regional and global developments of mutual interest.
A memorandum of understanding (MoU) on cooperation in disaster management between Pakistan’s National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) and Singapore’s Civil Defence Force (SCDF) is also expected to be exchanged.
“Pakistan and Singapore maintain cordial bilateral relations based on mutual respect and longstanding friendship. The visit underscores the shared commitment of the two countries to deepening and diversifying their bilateral partnership,” the statement said.
US President Donald Trump is scrapping two of his last midterm election rallies, his Republican Party said Thursday, as the 80-year-old leader lashed out at a reporter who asked if he was “sick of travelling”.
“You’re sick to ask that question. You are sick,” Trump told the reporter after returning to Washington from a campaign trip to South Carolina.
“I feel perfect. You are disgusting. Put yourself in shape, you look like hell.”
Trump told reporters he did not “feel like I have to go to Kansas,” a Midwestern state where Senator Roger Marshall, a fellow Republican, is in an unexpectedly competitive race with Democratic challenger Adam Hamilton.
“He is doing very well,” Trump said of Marshall.
“We are going to have a strong Tuesday night.”
Later on Thursday, the Republican National Committee said in a statement that it would also cancel a planned rally in Iowa, home to several competitive congressional races.
Instead of the events in Kansas and Iowa, Trump will hold a “large number” of virtual “telerallies” in a series of states, the Republican National Committee said.
The canceled in-person rallies were set for Salina, Kansas, on Saturday, and Dubuque, Iowa, on Sunday.
Republicans are fighting to keep control of Congress in the November 3 midterms. Trump has urged the party to “pretend I’m on the ballot” to maximise turnout despite his poor approval ratings.
“With Republicans in a strong position in Kansas and Iowa, previously planned in-person rallies in those states will no longer take place as scheduled,” the RNC statement said.
The president is still expected to travel to rallies in several states before Tuesday’s election. Trump’s final election rally is now set to be in Florida on Friday.
Despite being the oldest elected president in US history, Trump has kept up a gruelling schedule of near-daily rallies throughout October to help Republicans in the midterms.
Since October 1, Trump has hosted 25 rallies in 19 states, often speaking for his party in rural areas of Republican-friendly states. Tuesday’s midterm elections will determine whether Republicans retain narrow control of the US Senate and House of Representatives.
MAGA Inc, a campaign funding group aligned with Trump, said on Thursday it would host a series of “tele-rallies” with the president in at least 19 states, including Kansas and Iowa, before Election Day.
Trump has noted that his recent series of more than hour-long campaign speeches has been challenging. Sounding hoarse in Mississippi on Monday, Trump said, “God didn’t make your vocal cords to do a rally every day.”
On Thursday, after campaigning for Senator Darline Graham in South Carolina, Trump ridiculed a Reuters reporter who asked how he felt after weeks of rallies and whether he was sick of travelling.
“You’ve been following me for two weeks,” Trump said before boarding his motorcade back to the White House.
KARACHI – The vehicle of renowned singer Humaira Channa has been stolen near Char Minar Chowrangi in Karachi’s Bahadurabad area.
The incident reportedly took place on Thursday, prompting police to register a theft case at the New Town police station.
Police officials confirmed that an investigation into the incident is underway.
Meanwhile, Sindh Home Minister Zia-ul-Hassan Lanjar has taken notice of the vehicle theft and sought reports from the Senior Superintendents of Police (SSPs) of the Anti-Car Lifting Cell (ACLC) and District East.
The home minister has directed the relevant authorities to take immediate measures to trace and recover the stolen vehicle and ensure the arrest of those involved.
Police are continuing their investigation to identify the suspects and recover the vehicle.
Bangladesh is unlikely to see an immediate fall in remittances from Saudi Arabia even as Houthi attacks on the kingdom intensified from early October, but a slowdown in new migration could weigh on inflows in the years ahead.
Following the attacks, migration to Saudi Arabia, the largest destination for Bangladeshi workers, has already been disrupted. As of Sunday, 144 direct and transit flights had been affected by prolonged flight restrictions at Saudi airports, disrupting the travel plans of around 22,000 passengers.
But economists and manpower experts say remittance inflows are unlikely to be hit immediately because newly arrived migrant workers typically take about a year to start sending significant amounts of money home.
According to them, the longer-term impact will depend on the duration of the crisis, the performance of the Saudi economy and demand for labour, particularly in construction.
A prolonged crisis that damages the Saudi economy could slow job creation and reduce workers’ incomes. But the outcome is not necessarily negative for the kingdom’s economy.
If Houthi missile and drone attacks continue without damaging oilfields and refineries, higher global oil prices could boost Saudi revenues, potentially supporting investment and demand for foreign workers, according to Zahid Hussain, a former lead economist at the World Bank’s Dhaka office.
“But everything is uncertain so far,” he commented.
Remittances are a major source of foreign currency for Bangladesh, accounting for around 7.5 per cent of gross domestic product, according to World Bank data. Their importance has grown amid volatility in global energy markets following the US-Israel war on Iran, which has sent shockwaves through sectors ranging from agriculture to the garment industry.
In the July-September quarter of the current fiscal year, Saudi Arabia remained Bangladesh’s largest source of remittances. Inflows from the kingdom rose to $1.65 billion, up from $1.23bn in the same period of FY26, according to Bangladesh Bank data.
The kingdom accounted for 19.2pc of Bangladesh’s total remittance inflows in the first quarter of FY27, compared with 16.26pc a year earlier.
During the July-September quarter, overall remittances reached around $8.59bn, with Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries continuing to account for the bulk of transfers.
Diversifying overseas jobs is becoming urgent
The latest disruption shows Bangladesh’s heavy reliance on a handful of overseas labour markets, leaving migrant workers and the economy exposed to regional crises.
Since FY2014-15, Saudi Arabia has employed around half of the 9.6 million Bangladeshis who went abroad for work. Workers in the kingdom have sent home an average of $5bn a year.
The pressure on migration is already evident. Overseas employment fell 36pc year-on-year to 134,000 in the July-August period this year, following a decline to around 969,000 workers in FY26, the lowest level in five years, according to Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training data.
Tasneem Siddiqui, executive director of the Refugee and Migratory Movements Research Unit (RMMRU), a local think tank, said the crisis exposed the structural weaknesses of the country’s migration sector.
“Therefore, rather than relying on piecemeal decisions, we must completely overhaul and diversify the manpower market. Otherwise, one crisis after another will emerge, leaving us perpetually vulnerable,” said Tasneem, also a political science professor at Dhaka University.
She said the government needs a long-term strategy to develop skills suited to specific overseas markets and expand employment opportunities beyond traditional destinations.
“Long-term strategic planning is essential. Particularly, allocating a mere 0.08pc of the budget for a $35bn remittance sector is grossly insufficient to accomplish meaningful interventions,” she said.
Meanwhile, economist Zahid said Bangladesh should target countries facing ageing populations and labour shortages, including Japan and countries in eastern Europe, where demand for workers in nursing, caregiving and manufacturing could offer alternatives to Middle Eastern markets.
Sayema Haque Bidisha, an economics professor at Dhaka University, also called for greater diversification of migration destinations, stronger diplomatic engagement and better support for expatriates through overseas missions.
She said Bangladesh needs to improve its international image by demonstrating that its workers can fill skilled jobs, rather than being seen primarily as a source of manual labour.
Shariful Hasan, associate director of BRAC’s Migration Programme and Youth Platform, said earlier this month that many Bangladeshi workers in Saudi Arabia depend on daily or weekly employment and that security concerns have reduced work opportunities.
Pakistan faces greater exposure than India
Bangladesh is not the only country with a significant reliance on remittances from Saudi Arabia.
Its neighbours India and Pakistan also depend on money sent home by their citizens working in the kingdom, although the potential impact varies.
Saudi Arabia is Pakistan’s largest source of remittances, contributing $9.78 billion in the last fiscal year, according to State Bank of Pakistan data.
Meanwhile, around 7pc of India’s international remittance inflows originate from Saudi Arabia. The country receives about $8 billion annually from the kingdom, according to the Reserve Bank of India.
A prolonged crisis that affects employment and earnings in Saudi Arabia could therefore have a greater impact on Pakistan than on India, given Pakistan’s substantial reliance on the kingdom as a source of remittances.
ISLAMABAD – Electricity consumers across Pakistan could face a fresh financial burden during the coming winter months, as power tariff is expected to rise significantly between December and February, according to reports.
Reports said fuel price adjustments (FPA) could increase by two to three times during these three months, potentially resulting in higher electricity bills for consumers.
The expected increase has been linked to rising prices of liquefied natural gas (LNG), coal and other fuels, which are pushing up the cost of electricity generation.
Officials said local gas availability for power plants could also become a major challenge during winter, as domestic gas supplies are often insufficient to meet household demand during the colder months.
Meanwhile, lower hydropower generation in winter could force power producers to rely more heavily on expensive fuels to maintain electricity production.
Higher international fuel prices are also expected to contribute to increased fuel price adjustments, adding further pressure on electricity consumers.
Reports added that authorities had previously made efforts to limit the impact of fuel costs through measures that included two-hour load management and other steps to control the financial burden.
However, rising international fuel prices, particularly LNG, have made the outlook for electricity costs more challenging.
QUETTA – Security forces have foiled an attempted drone attack on a security checkpost in Balochistan’s Kharan district, destroying five drones during the operation.
Reports said terrorists belonging to Fitna al-Hindustan attempted to target a checkpost in an area of Kharan using low-altitude drones.
However, security personnel responded swiftly and effectively, intercepting and destroying all five drones before they could strike the installation.
No casualties or damage to property were reported in the incident.
Security forces reiterated their determination to eliminate terrorism from Balochistan and maintain peace and security across the province.
Earlier this week, security forces have killed nine Indian-sponsored terrorists during two intelligence-based operations in Balochistan.
According to ISPR, security forces conducted two intelligence based operations in Kachhi and Wadh districts of Balochistan, on reported presence of terrorists belonging to Indian proxy, Fitna al-Hindustan.
The first intelligence based operation was conducted in Kachhi district. During the conduct of operation, terrorists hideout was busted by security forces and after an intense fire exchange, seven Indian sponsored terrorists were killed. Weapons and ammunition were also recovered.
In another intelligence based operation in district Wadh, security forces tracked and intercepted terrorist movement and after an intense fire exchange, two Indian-sponsored killed. Weapons and ammunition were also recovered.
Relentless Counter Terrorism campaign under vision “Azm e Istehkam”, as approved by Federal Apex Committee on National Action Plan, by security sources and law enforcement agencies of Pakistan will continue at full pace to wipe out menace of foreign-sponsored and supported terrorism from the country.
KARACHI: Sindh Senior Minister Sharjeel Inam Memon has announced that an internship programme for fresh graduates is being launched from next month through the iwork4Sindh platform.
He said that the programme would provide young people with better opportunities to gain practical experience.
He said the Sindh government is taking practical measures to provide employment opportunities to young people and enhance their professional capabilities. “The government wants young people to have an appropriate platform to utilise their abilities and access better opportunities,” he added.
Mr Memon added that the next phase of physical short courses for skilled individuals is also being launched on the iwork4Sindh platform in collaboration with companies.
These courses will focus on developing young people’s skills in accordance with market requirements, he said, adding that in the present era, traditional education alone is not sufficient, as practical skills and professional training are also of great importance to secure employment.
Regarding the performance of the iwork4Sindh platform, the minister said that more than 5.3 million visits had been recorded on the platform so far, while the number of registered candidates had increased to 137,770 and the number of registered companies had reached 726.
The senior minister said that 26,677 active job opportunities were currently available on the platform, while the number of applications submitted had reached 480,000.
He mentioned that during the past three months, 4,800 candidates had completed various courses, while around 6,000 candidates were currently undergoing training in different courses.
He said career counselling was also continuing to guide young people and help them choose better career paths for the future, with 18 to 20 sessions being conducted every week.
Spencer Eye Hospital in Lyari has reopened, and patients can get free care through the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation. Nobody sensible begrudges that. But Bilawal Bhutto Zardari did not stop at the hospital. As reported, he declared the new-province question closed, accused federal representatives of spreading hatred in Karachi, and complained of inflation, joblessness and crushing electricity bills. Then he said he would like to see all of Lyari run on solar power.
Read that again. The party that has governed Sindh without a break since 2008 is complaining about Sindh’s state.
The party that wrote the rules
The 18th Amendment of 2010, which the PPP counts among its proudest achievements, made health, municipal services and urban infrastructure provincial subjects. The NFC Award gave provinces a larger share of national resources. The PPP wanted the powers, took the powers and has held them ever since. A party cannot cut the ribbon on that arrangement and then point at Islamabad when it fails to deliver. When water runs short, roads break up and hospitals decay, the first door to knock on is in Karachi.
That is why the “spreading hatred” line sits so badly. Federal politicians may well owe Karachi explanations of their own. But a citizen asking why his city is in this condition is not spreading hatred; he is asking a question. Renaming questions as hostility is politics’ oldest dodge. A government that trusts its record simply answers.
A promise to the courts, answered with a majority
The same amendment inserted Article 140A, which obliges every province to hand political, administrative and financial authority to elected local governments. In February 2022, a three-judge bench of the Supreme Court, headed by Chief Justice Gulzar Ahmed, called it a mandatory obligation. It struck down Sections 74 and 75(1) of the 2013 Sindh Local Government Act, barred the province from starting new projects in the local government domain without the local government’s consent, and ordered that local governments receive their Provincial Finance Commission share with no arrears.
How did the PPP respond? In September, the Sindh Assembly passed the Sindh Local Government Amendment Bill 2026 by majority vote while opposition lawmakers tore up copies of it in protest. The Jamaat-e-Islami said the new law still does not give chairmen adequate powers, and a PTI member accused the provincial government of contempt of a Supreme Court judgment. The opposition fought hardest over the provision the PPP insisted on: keeping sitting mayors and chairmen in office as administrators until fresh elections, which it then pushed through with its numerical majority.
Nobody forced those amendments through. A party with a majority chose to use it, on the exact question the Supreme Court told it to settle in the city’s favour. MQM Pakistan lawmakers have pointed out that the PPP’s own 2008 manifesto promised to devolve local government powers. Eighteen years later, the manifesto is still waiting.
Yes, Karachi has an elected mayor, and he is from the PPP. But a title is not authority. If control over water, solid waste, and the master plan for a city of more than 20 million is reportedly still being bargained over in provincial committee rooms, he looks more like a spokesman than its manager. The party that preaches cooperation should let its own mayor manage.
Full stop on the province, full speed on what?
The Sindh Assembly has placed a full stop on the question of new provinces. Magnificent. Eighteen years of water shortages, broken roads and decaying hospitals, and the one thing this government has ever delivered with perfect speed is a full stop. One wonders what else it might finish if it applied that urgency to the sentences that matter to Karachi, the ones about water, roads and hospitals, which seem to trail off mid-thought every budget season.
And what of the full speed? Mr Bilawal is the frontman of a family that has run Sindh for eighteen years, and his cabinet is a fine collection of gentlemen who have never been seen in a hurry to fix a pipe, yet are never far from signing a contract. Ask anyone at a Karachi tea stall what a Sindh minister’s portfolio really is, and watch them smile. Something about percentages. Something about files that move faster when they are fed. Of course, it is all gossip, and gossip is not evidence, so we would never say it ourselves. Let the ministers prove the tea stalls wrong. Publish every contract award. Publish every audit response. Publish, project by project, what was spent, what was built and who was paid. If the books are as clean as the ribbons are shiny, it will be the easiest press conference of their lives.
Funny how the ministers who can announce a scheme in thirty seconds always need thirty years to show the receipts.
Bills, solar and arithmetic
Electricity tariffs are set federally, and households feel the strain. Neither point is in serious dispute. But the chairman put the remedy in the province’s hands, so the numbers are fair game.
Sindh has announced 275,000 solar systems this fiscal year at about Rs18 billion, with a subsidised financing scheme for middle-income families alongside. As Dawn reported, the chief minister was earlier told that the province has roughly 2.6 million households off the grid. Even if every system reached one of them, the programme would cover about one in ten. Earlier reports describe a typical system as enough for a fan and three bulbs. That matters to a family with no electricity. It does little for a Karachi household staring at a heavy grid bill.
A wish, fifteen months late
The chairman says he wishes to solarise all of Lyari. Yet in July 2025 the provincial energy minister had already inaugurated a “Solar Homes” project there, presented as part of the chairman’s vision of a fully solar-powered Sindh, and a PPP assembly member promised to expand it to other Lyari neighbourhoods in the coming days.
Fifteen months on, the people of Lyari are offered a wish. How many homes are done? Which neighbourhood comes next, and when? A government that can stage an inauguration can publish a progress report, and the public is entitled to one.
The test
Declaring the province question closed does not close the grievances behind it. They concern water, roads, hospitals, bills, and who gets to decide. The PPP can respond. It can give real power to elected local governments, in line with Article 140A and the Supreme Court’s judgment. It can release the local share of provincial funds on time. It can put water, waste and planning under one accountable city authority. It can publish contract awards and solar delivery figures house by house.
Hospitals will keep being restored, and ribbons will keep being cut. But a ribbon is not a ledger, and eighteen years is long enough to be asked for the ledger.
INDIA’S nuclear jingoism was on ample display during Operation Marka-i-Haq in May 2025 when it fired dual-use BrahMos cruise missiles with conventional payload, unmindful of the fact that the dangerous caper could have been misconstrued by Pakistani air defenders as a nuclear attack. Despite an agreement on pre-notification of flight testing of ballistic missiles, the Indians, while testing the Agni V MIRV-capable missile, have shown a blithe disregard for established pre-notification protocols that mandate a 72-hour pre-test notification, a fact pointed out by Pakistan’s Foreign Office in 2024.
While the Indians keep up an implacable momentum of vertical proliferation of nuclear and missile technology, the world indulges them through exceptionalism enshrined in the nuclear waiver for the Nuclear Suppliers Group and membership of the Missile Technology Control Regime.
The Indians have slyly wangled the concession from the USA and IAEA in the civil nuclear deal to keep eight reactors out of IAEA oversight. These pressurised heavy water reactors consume less nuclear fuel than they produce, which can be harvested for strategic military purposes.
It should be remembered that it was the Indians who introduced the nuclear arms race in the subcontinent because of their grandiose big-power pretensions. Their nuclear explosions in 1974 and 1998 forced Pakistan to follow suit out of its security compulsions.
The world indulges India through nuclear exceptionalism.
The Indian nuclear security architecture was provided conceptual ballast by Gen K. Sunderji and Krishna Subramanyam in the 1980s, when they came up with the notion of no-first use of nuclear weapons against a non-nuclear nation, with a caveat of making an exception for biological and chemical attacks. However, India kept developing its conventional forces, especially the armoured and mechanised component, as per the Sunderji doctrine, aimed at tearing Pakistan asunder.
On the geopolitical level the Indians have acquiesced to the status of a regional surrogate to accommodate balancing needs of the US vis-a-vis a rising global competitor, China. While enjoying nuclear exceptionalism the Indians went on a shopping spree for nuclear technology as well as the conventional hardware to operationalise the military strategy that sought an elusive space for conventional wars under the nuclear overhang.
The operational manifestation of these military ambitions was a slew of concepts starting with Cold Start and graduating to proactive operations. The latest manifestation of those concepts is the Dynamic Response Strategy that is based on rapidly deployable all-arms-based integrated battle groups and multidomain-enabled terrain-customised brigade-sized groups called Rudra Brigades.
Pakistan relies on its full-spectrum deterrence, keeping strategic nuclear ambiguity for greater liberty of action to deny India the space for conventional conflict.
While India deploys non-state actors to keep Pakistan destabilised through terrorism, it cleverly conflates Pakistan’s principled support to the victims of Indian state repression in Occupied Kashmir, a UNSC-recognised dispute, with militancy. It has also withdrawn from its international law commitments by illegally holding the Indus Waters Treaty in abeyance and imperilling the food security of Pakistan.
India under the BJP and RSS sway has adopted a foreign policy based upon the antiquated notion of ‘Akhand Bharat’ that covets the territories of neighbours based on historical myths. The inflammatory statement of Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Barmer, Rajasthan, during an election rally that “Indian nukes are not kept for Diwali” indicates a bellicose mindset.
It is against the backdrop of the above facts that the notions of nuclear deterrence in the subcontinent have to be understood. Since the stability of nuclear deterrence is based upon nuclear dialectics between two rational actors, Indian irrationality adds dangerous instability to the nuclear equation.
The deployment of canisterised ground-based ready-to-use nuclear missiles and the submarine-launched nuclear ballistic missiles point to an aggressive nuclear intent when viewed in the context of Indo-Pak distrust and irrationality of the ideologically driven BJP leadership.
The well-known military historian Martin Van Creveld had coined a term for wars in the nuclear era: “Non-trinitarian”, where, unlike Clausewitz’s trinitarian wars, the only political objective would be deterring and not winning the wars.
Whether India has strengthened or reduced its strategic deterrence by fielding shallow-range submarine-based missiles is a point to ponder by Indian nuclear strategists.
Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, said a security breach had resulted in an estimated $6.3 billion impact that analysts said could amount to the biggest crypto heist ever and might make investors rethink the risks of owning digital assets.
Binance said it had worked with partners to freeze the affected assets, with about $3 billion located so far. It gave no update on the status of the remaining $3.3 billion as Binance co-founder Yi He said the company would cover “all hacking losses”.
An initial investigation suggested the breach may have started with a hacked laptop belonging to one of its engineers, which let an attacker gain access to one of its systems and make unauthorised withdrawals, Binance said.
Markets reacted immediately in early Asian trading on Friday.
Bitcoin dropped more than 3 per cent to a six-week low of $76,368 and ether fell more than 3pc to a two-month low of $2,178. BNB, a token originally launched as Binance Coin that can be used to pay Binance fees, was down 5pc over the past 24 hours at $709.70, according to market aggregator CoinGecko.
Shares in crypto exchange Coinbase Global slid 4.8pc while those of bitcoin buyer Strategy fell nearly 6pc in extended US trading.
The incident could be the world’s biggest crypto heist, according to analytics firm Chainalysis and other industry experts.
“It’s the biggest hack in history,” said Aravind Srinivasan, head of large crypto market maker GSR’s systematic OTC business.
Beyond the potential loss of assets, the security breach was likely to have wider ramifications for crypto, which had already been under pressure lately due to higher US interest rates and softer demand from exchange-traded fund buyers, analysts said.
“It may further dampen risk appetite and prompt investors to reassess the safety of assets held on centralised exchanges, as well as counterparty, solvency and liquidity risks,” said Tim Sun, senior researcher at HashKey Group, based in Hong Kong.
Binance, which allows users to buy, sell and trade digital assets, has 335 million registered users globally and had about $162.8 billion in assets under custody as of the exchange’s 2025 annual report.
“User funds remain safe,” Binance said in a statement.
“As a precaution, all deposits and withdrawals are temporarily suspended while our security teams conduct checks, secure wallet infrastructure, and trace affected assets, with the close support of our law enforcement and industry partners.”
Binance has secure asset fund
Binance runs a secure asset fund for users, which is a reserve held entirely in bitcoin that is intended to protect user assets in cases of security breaches, according to its website.
“It’s becoming very hard to counter hacks as AI can find vulnerabilities faster than you can fix them,” said Bernardo Brites, CEO of Trace Finance, a payments and stablecoin infrastructure company.
“My view is that users will move away from smaller and medium-sized exchanges, (it is) becoming too risky to park your money somewhere that couldn’t cover a hack of meaningful size.”
Stablecoin issuer Tether said it had frozen nearly $1.57 billion in assets linked to the incident, while Circle froze more than $800 million.
World Liberty Financial, a crypto company linked to US President Donald Trump and his family, said on Thursday it had worked with cryptocurrency custodian BitGo to freeze funds stolen in what it described as a Binance hack. Binance’s Yi said $27 million in stablecoins and about $2 million worth of World Liberty tokens had been frozen.
Crypto firm Ripple also froze roughly $200 million in funds, Yi said. Jack McDonald, senior vice president of stablecoins at Ripple, said the company was closely monitoring reports of a potential exploit involving Binance and was freezing affected funds and coordinating with relevant parties.
Incident adds to string of crypto thefts
Miguel Morel, CEO of blockchain intelligence firm Arkham, said data indicated that billions of dollars appeared to have been hacked from Binance by an unknown actor.
The incident adds to a string of crypto thefts. Last year, attackers stole $2.9 billion worth of cryptocurrency across nearly 150 attacks, according to researchers at TRM Labs. In September, cryptocurrency exchange Bitget said roughly $350 million in crypto had been stolen from its platform, underscoring the industry’s vulnerability to hackers.
Authorities have warned that organised crime groups are increasingly using cryptocurrencies to move funds across borders outside the traditional financial system.
Binance.US, a separate cryptocurrency exchange, said it was not affected by the security incident.
Coinbase said it was unaffected and was monitoring the situation.
In an unrelated incident earlier on Thursday, prediction market operator Polymarket temporarily halted trading after a security incident involving a third-party provider. It later resumed trading and said it would fully reimburse affected traders.
The world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, Binance, has been hit by a major cyberattack in which hackers reportedly transferred cryptocurrency worth $5.7 billion, raising concerns about what could become the biggest heist in crypto history.
According to international media reports, the incident prompted Binance to freeze approximately $3 billion in assets linked to the suspected breach as its security teams launched an investigation.
The estimated value of assets affected by the cyberattack has reached around $6.3 billion, although the full extent of the incident remains under investigation.
Despite the scale of the reported breach, Binance has assured customers that their funds remain safe. The exchange has also acknowledged technical difficulties affecting cryptocurrency withdrawals following the incident.
In response to the security concerns, Binance temporarily suspended its Alpha trading service while its teams worked to address the situation.
Meanwhile, cryptocurrency issuers Tether and Circle reportedly froze assets worth approximately $2.38 billion linked to the suspected hack, as efforts to contain the incident continued.
The identities of those responsible for the attack remain unknown, and no further details about the perpetrators have been disclosed.
The incident has also triggered concerns across cryptocurrency markets, with Bitcoin and several other digital currencies reportedly experiencing sharp price declines following news of the breach.
The potential $6.3 billion impact has placed the incident among the largest reported security breaches in cryptocurrency history, while investigations continue to establish the full circumstances and financial consequences.
FEW companies are hailed as proof of free-market genius more than Tesla. Yet, at every turn that mattered, it stood on public capital.
In 2010 it borrowed $465m from a US federal programme open to every carmaker building cleaner vehicles, in a country where transport is now the largest source of greenhouse gases. It paid the Treasury’s own cost, roughly one to 3.4 per cent, with principal deferred until production began. One of the smallest borrowers, it became the star, repaying with interest nine years early. Regulatory credits, earned by beating emission rules and bought by those that fall short, then carried it into profit.
Pakistan asks its banks to do alone what no quintessential capitalist economy asks of its own: lend to priority sectors without the state sharing the risk and the price. This is not a lesson taken from state-led economies such as China, where public support is part of the model. It comes from the market economies themselves, which do it openly and without apology. Tesla is not their exception; it is their method.
Look at where they aim interest subsidies, and how deep. Farming comes first: America lends beginning farmers money to buy land at under 2pc and caps their operating microloans at 5pc, while Canada pays the interest on the first C$250,000 of each grower’s cash advance. Housing is next: France gives first-time buyers zero-interest loans and compensates banks through tax credits. Then enterprise: Britain lends start-ups unsecured at a fixed 6pc, with mentoring, and its firms outlive their peers; Germany’s KfW cheapens founders’ loans and absorbs four-fifths of any loss so local banks will lend.
In every case, the taxpayer took the first risk and part of the financing cost, at the stage private finance would not, and demanded performance in return. And the subsidy went to the borrower, the priority-sector player, not the lender: the bank is paid only the market interest the borrower is spared.
Subsidies have built giants, and an emerging economy needs them more, not less.
That is the global norm. Why, then, is Pakistan so averse to it? Here, subsidy for producers is treated as a dirty word, subsidised credit is misread as a benefit to banks, and lenders are blamed for holding back from risks their peers abroad never shoulder unaided. Asking them to match the world’s lending without the world’s toolkit is neither fair nor realistic.
The money exists; its direction is the problem. This year’s federal budget allocates Rs838bn to the Benazir Income Support Programme, up by a sixth, and almost as much to the power sector; provincial budgets add their own spending on wheat, fertiliser and household relief. Little of it is designed to make the poor bankable.
BISP is indispensable. Reaching some 10 million families through a national registry and digital payments, it is one of the country’s institutional achievements, and that safety net must stay. But a stipend, by its nature, protects rather than transforms. A net that never becomes a springboard keeps the poor safe, but poor.
BISP must now be balanced with wealth creation at the lower strata of society, so that families able to work have a path from support to enterprise. Wealth, like subsidy, is not a bad word. It can be created at every level, including the bottom, and it is what keeps incomes rising sustainably. The cliché about wealth must go, just like subsidies.
So add a ramp without lowering the floor: dedicate a tenth of BISP’s allocation to an enterprise window within the programme; that is smaller than this year’s increase, so no family need receive less than last year.
Run it as the world does. Target precisely: older people, persons with disabilities and households with no working member keep their full stipend; working-age households, starting with the women BISP serves, get concessional credit for livestock, horticulture, cottage industry, solar trades and digital work. Price it for the borrower: the first loan interest-free and repeat loans at no more than 5pc, the state paying the difference. Pay for delivery: lenders earn the subsidy only for verified results, and every loan comes with training and a mentor. Build the exit: the stipend tapers only once the business stands, and the subsidy steps down with each cycle.
Even at today’s rates, that tenth could carry some Rs400bn of lending: over a million small businesses. Audit it independently after three years; scale it only if it works.
Two objections deserve answers. Credit alone, global trials show, raises poor families’ incomes only modestly; what lifts them for good is capital paired with training and continued support while the business finds its feet, which is this design. Nor does the window raid BISP: it is paid for from the programme’s growth and serves the same households.
It is time to retire the reflex that subsidies never create wealth or welfare. Bad design is bad; subsidy is not, if it pays for the initial risk rather than permanent inefficiency. Subsidies have built giants, and an emerging economy needs them more, not less.
Washington’s decisive bet on Tesla was not a stipend but a loan, tied to milestones. Pakistan’s Teslas are smaller — a woman’s dairy herd, a tailor’s workshop, a graduate’s laptop — but they deserve the same deal: capital to start, conditions to keep, and a way out. Then the cycle begins again with the next borrower. That is routine in every quintessential capitalist economy, and it should be in Pakistan too.
The writer is a development-focused and impact-oriented banker.
PARLIAMENT has recently been debating the future of Pakistani democracy, but those debates will be for naught unless our leaders also develop the capacity to acknowledge each other’s positions.
The past two days have seen the government and opposition benches trading blame for democracy’s present, rather sorry state.
On Wednesday, JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman accused the government of misusing the Constitution and resorting to unconstitutional measures. He also said his party was “prepared to die” resisting the government if the latter continued pursuing a policy of confrontation and violence, and proposed a new Charter of Democracy as the way out.
Regretting that his efforts to mediate between the government and the PTI had failed because the government had changed course and imposed an emergency and governor’s rule in KP, the maulana said the political leadership had grown too intolerant for parliament to do its job.
He was not wrong, though the fault is hardly the government’s alone.
The maulana’s rebuke drew two kinds of response. Minister of Defence Khawaja Asif resorted to personal attacks, insinuating that the JUI-F chief was merely sore at being denied a share of power in KP.
PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, on the other hand, was more circumspect. Though he, too, laid much of the blame for parliament’s dysfunction on the opposition, he nonetheless urged it to exercise its powers and return to parliamentary committees.
“Those who want this House to remain dysfunctional and do not want the people of Pakistan to benefit from it have succeeded,” he told the opposition benches. “You have played a part in helping these people achieve their objective.” It was a surprisingly candid admission that the House’s dysfunction serves interests other than the people’s, even if the PPP chief left out his own party’s role in getting us here.
They may have yet to come to terms with it, but both ruling and opposition parties have lost credibility and political ground due to their ongoing vendetta. The maulana’s call for a new Charter of Democracy, though welcome, looks difficult to realise when the two sides cannot even agree to sit together in parliamentary committees.
The imposition of emergency and governor’s rule in KP was a gross misstep by the federal government, and it has spoiled the chances of a negotiated settlement. But the opposition, too, has gained little from confrontation.
Unless both sides start to show some flexibility on key matters, make compromises and enter negotiations without preconditions, they risk further deepening this crisis of their own making.
If enough lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are willing to admit that matters have gone too far, there may yet be hope for parliament, and for Pakistani democracy. The question is, are they ready to do so?
KARACHI – Pakistan’s open currency market witnessed slight changes in foreign exchange rates on October 30, with US Dollar selling at Rs280.1, UK Pound at Rs374.17, and Euro at Rs314.13.
US Dollaris being bought at Rs277.4 and sold at Rs280.1 in open market. UK pound sterling stands at Rs369.06 for buying and Rs374.17 for selling. Euro is quoted at Rs308.75 for buying and Rs314.13 for selling, while the UAE dirham is available at Rs75.6 and Rs76.45, respectively.
Saudi riyal, widely followed by Pakistani expatriates working in Saudi Arabia and families receiving remittances, is being bought at Rs73.95 and sold at Rs74.55. Kuwaiti dinar remains the most expensive in the supplied exchange rate list, with a buying rate of Rs880.45 and a selling rate of Rs892.55. The Bahraini dinar is trading at Rs734.95 for buying and Rs746.98 for selling, while the Omani riyal stands at Rs719.85 and Rs731.83, respectively.
Canadian dollar is quoted at Rs196.58 for buying and Rs204.5 for selling, while the Australian dollar stands at Rs193.23 and Rs200.41.
Currency dealers generally offer different buying and selling rates, while actual exchange rates may vary slightly between exchange companies, banks and cities.
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan remained deeply hostile to journalism and its practitioners in 2025-26 despite a decline in documented violations against media workers, according to a new report issued by an Islamabad-based media watchdog.
“About 10 cases a month [against media personnel], their nationwide spread and severity in the period showed that fewer violations did not mean greater safety,” stated Freedom Network’s latest annual Impunity Report 2026, titled “From Violence to Lawfare: Process as Punishment for Journalists”.
Produced with technical assistance from International Media Support (IMS), the report was authored by journalist Adnan Rehmat and Freedom Network Executive Director Iqbal Khattak.
It finds that “impunity has evolved from a failure to punish violence into a broader system of coercion”.
Peca increasingly used to punish dissent, says Freedom Network report
The report was released on Thursday ahead of the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists, observed worldwide, including in Pakistan, on Nov 2 each year.
“Despite the presence on the statute books of two laws to combat impunity for crimes against journalists, such a finding should be a matter of concern for those at the helm of affairs of the two safety commissions established under these laws,” Mr Khattak said.
Cases documented between October 2025 and August 2026 included one work-related killing, three attempted assassinations, 18 threats of murder or harm, 11 assaults, 13 legal actions and 32 threats of legal action.
Punjab recorded 49 cases, just over half the total, followed by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Islamabad and Balochistan. Digital and independent journalists were targeted most often. Victims or their families identified government authorities and officials as alleged instigators in nearly two-thirds of the cases.
The report identifies the controversial Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (Peca) and its increasing use against journalists by the National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA) to punish dissent as “central to this legal siege” of online journalism in the country.
‘Recurring pattern’
A detailed analysis of representative Peca-related cases against journalists reveals a recurring pattern in which allegations of defamation, false information, harassment or reputational harm are channelled through cybercrime procedures, including in cases involving reporting on public expenditure, corruption or official conduct.
Even without a confirmed FIR or conviction, the process itself becomes “punitive” through summonses, device scrutiny, travel, legal costs, detention, repeated hearings, and reputational harm, the report says.
It adds that relief is commonly limited to bail or procedural protection rather than final vindication.
The report also provides guidelines for journalists and other media practitioners facing Peca-related cases to help minimise the harmful effects of legal action.
It expresses concern over the lack of institutional safeguards for media workers despite the establishment of two high-powered safety commissions, one at the federal level and the other in Sindh.
“The federal journalist protection mechanism is effectively dysfunctional, while the Sindh Commission, although more visible, has limited reach and demonstrated protection impact outside Karachi,” it says.
• Achakzai questions govt’s handling of Tehran diplomacy, Afghanistan ties • Senate resolution seeks coordinated national action to curb population growth
ISLAMABAD: Lawmakers in the National Assembly and Senate on Thursday raised concerns over the political situation in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and alleged human rights violations, while both houses also discussed electoral reforms and the need to strengthen parliamentary institutions.
National Assembly Opposition Leader Mehmood Khan Achakzai criticised the government for failing to take parliament into confidence over recent diplomatic developments in Tehran.
“How can four people decide the future of the whole nation?” he asked, warning that such decisions could push the country towards “anarchy and civil war”.
Mr Achakzai also opposed the suspension of trade with Afghanistan, describing Afghans as traditional friends of Pakistan and criticising the country’s past policies towards its neighbour.
PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan said the parliamentary proceedings and the prevailing political situation in KP were creating a negative impression among the public. He also called for an end to hereditary politics in the country.
Rights concerns raised
Meanwhile, speaking on a point of order in the Senate, PTI parliamentary leader Barrister Syed Ali Zafar accused the government of undermining constitutional protections through the imposition of emergency and governor’s rule in KP.
He argued that fundamental human rights could not be suspended or compromised, regardless of the political situation. “There is one thing that cannot be broken, suspended or compromised: the fundamental human rights of the people of Pakistan,” he said.
Mr Zafar expressed concern over the detention of Noreen Niazi, sister of jailed PTI founder Imran Khan, claiming that she had suffered a heart attack and was hospitalised but her family was not being allowed to meet her.
Responding to the concerns, Adviser to the Prime Minister on Political Affairs Rana Sanaullah said Noreen Niazi had been provided medical treatment in Lahore and was in satisfactory condition.
On allegations that her family was being denied access, Mr Sanaullah assured the house that details would be sought and the matter addressed according to the circumstances.
He defended her detention, alleging that she had sought to create unrest by mobilising people for a protest march towards Islamabad.
Senate Opposition Leader Allama Raja Nasir Abbas also criticised the government’s actions in KP, alleging that the province had been “snatched from the people”.
He also questioned the imposition of emergency and governor’s rule in KP, arguing that democratic institutions could not function without respect for the law.
Population growth resolution
Separately, the Senate passed a resolution calling for urgent and coordinated national action to address the challenges posed by the country’s rapidly growing population.
The resolution, moved by PPP Vice President Senator Sherry Rehman, called for a comprehensive national response to population growth and its impact on public services and socioeconomic development.
Ms Rehman said Pakistan’s population was projected to reach approximately 390 million by 2050 at the current growth rate, placing unprecedented pressure on national resources.
KARACHI – Pakistan gold bullion market witnessed positive trends in previous session as price of 24-karat gold opened at Rs425,536 per tola on October 30.
Bullion prices rebounded after they recorded a sharp decline during October, falling Rs20,000 per tola from their monthly peak, including a Rs17,000 drop in just five consecutive trading sessions. The price of 10 grams of 24-karat gold increased by Rs3,001 to settle at Rs364,914, snapping a losing streak that has significantly reduced the value of gold within a matter of days.
Latest Gold Rates in Pakistan
Gold Weight
22K Gold
21K Gold
18K Gold
Per tola
Rs390,166
Rs372,432
Rs329,227
Per gram
Rs33,451
Rs31,931
Rs27,369
Per 10 grams
Rs334,510
Rs319,405
Rs273,690
Per ounce
Rs1,040,445
Rs993,152
Rs851,273
Gold Price in Pakistan — October 2026
Date
Gold Price Per Tola
Daily Change
October 1
Rs438,636
−Rs3,000
October 2
Rs440,636
+Rs2,000
October 3
Rs436,336
−Rs4,300
October 5
Rs437,536
+Rs1,200
October 6
Rs437,536
—
October 7
Rs434,436
−Rs3,100
October 8
Rs435,036
+Rs600
October 9
Rs440,936
+Rs5,900
October 10
Rs442,036
+Rs1,100
October 12
Rs439,936
−Rs2,100
October 13
Rs440,836
+Rs900
October 14
Rs437,836
−Rs3,000
October 15
Rs437,836
—
October 16
Rs440,636
+Rs2,800
October 17
Rs439,036
−Rs1,600
October 19
Rs439,036
—
October 20
Rs435,436
−Rs3,600
October 21
Rs434,536
−Rs900
October 22
Rs431,536
−Rs3,000
October 23
Rs424,536
−Rs7,000
October 24
Rs422,036
−Rs2,500
International Gold Prices
The stability in Pakistani market has coincided with international gold prices. The international gold rate remained unchanged at $4,031 per ounce.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s camp finished ahead of the opposition but remained well short of a majority, final results from general election showed on Friday, setting the stage for tough coalition talks or potentially another vote.
Netanyahu’s coalition of right-wing and far-right parties won 53 of the Knesset’s 120 seats, with his Likud party remaining the largest faction with 27 seats.
The opposition bloc, led by centrist Gadi Eisenkot, secured 48 seats.
The results from the Central Elections Committee also cemented the emergence as potential kingmakers of the Arab party groupings Raam and the Joint List, with the two winning a combined 19 seats.
The fragmented outcome sets the stage for difficult negotiations to form a government that could last weeks, with no single bloc able to reach the 61-seat threshold needed and the prospect of another election remaining if talks fail.
The final tally came after Netanyahu’s camp spent Thursday amplifying unproven allegations that Arab-Israeli groups received foreign funding to influence the vote, accusations rejected by both Arab-majority lists and Qatar.
Israel’s Shin Bet domestic security service said it was investigating suspected irregularities, but stressed the probe was not intended to “cast aspersions or place blame on an entire sector that went out to vote in a democratic and lawful manner”.
The electoral commission also sought to calm tensions, with its acting director general Dean Livne saying any suggestion of widespread issues was “entirely groundless”.
Political earthquake
The controversy centred on allegations that Raam received money from Qatar, the energy-rich Gulf powerbroker that has channels to Hamas, to finance vote-buying operations.
“The Raamgate scandal is a political earthquake. Israel’s elections have been stolen!” Netanyahu’s Likud party alleged on Thursday.
Raam leader Mansour Abbas denied any wrongdoing and welcomed an investigation, while the Joint List accused Netanyahu and his allies of conducting a “campaign of incitement” out of fear of Arab voters’ growing political influence.
Government officials have so far provided no evidence to back the allegations.
Opposition figures accused Netanyahu of attempting to undermine confidence in the results after failing to secure a governing majority.
“He is trying to challenge the election results,” left-wing candidate Yair Golan said.
Eisenkot said he was briefed by the Shin Bet and the election committee, adding it was “too early to understand what happened, and whether anything happened at all”.
But he continued: “It’s already clear that Likud and Netanyahu have embarked on a coordinated, organised campaign seeking to delegitimise the results of the election.”
Netanyahu himself has long been under the cloud of allegations related to Qatar after the arrests last year of two of his aides for allegedly receiving payments from the Gulf state.
Qatar called the latest accusations “ridiculous and dangerous”.
Kingmakers under pressure
Yousef Jabareen, head of the Joint List, told AFP that he is willing to cooperate with the opposition to bring down Netanyahu but without joining it in a government.
Netanyahu had tried during the voting to raise allegations of fraud, saying that Arab parties were caught with envelopes of cash, and Likud peddled the accusations throughout Thursday.
Police said they arrested three suspects but the election commission called it an isolated local case.
ISLAMABAD: A private think tank has found more fiscal faults than benefits of the much-discussed creation of new provinces, advising priority to stronger local governments instead of new provinces if public service delivery was actually intended.
In its latest market analysis release on Thursday, Policy Research Institute of Market Economy (Prime) highlighted the additional annual recurring cost of Rs47 billion to Rs57bn in case of creation of two more provinces — South Punjab, Bahawalpur and remaining Punjab — and up to Rs730bn if 30 divisional units were to upgrade to provincial status.
“Any proposal for creating new provinces should include a formal fiscal costing exercise before constitutional or legislative changes are pursued”, the think tank said, adding that the costing should estimate the recurring expenditure required for the governor, chief minister, provincial assembly, secretariat, high court and other core institutions, together with the likely NFC resource envelope of each proposed unit. This would make it possible to assess whether the expected administrative benefits justify the additional recurring burden,” it said.
If the number of provinces increases to six, South Punjab receives an illustrative allocation of Rs1tr under the existing NFC, while Bahawalpur receives Rs537bn. In case of 30 provinces, allocations differ considerably, ranging from Rs7201bn for Lahore and Rs691bn for Karachi to Rs46bn for Loralai and Rs50bn for Zhob. Thus 11 of the 30 proposed units receive less than Rs150bn per annum.
Think tank puts annual recurring bill at Rs47-57bn for two provinces and up to Rs730bn for 30
The estimated annual recurring cost of a new provincial government is Rs22.4bn under the low-cost scenario and Rs25.9bn under the high-cost scenario, therefore Rs47-56bn per annum for two and Rs610-730bn for 30 provinces.
Using a 10pc fiscal sustainability benchmark based on the low recurring-cost estimate, 16 of the 30 proposed provinces would remain at or below the threshold, while 14 exceed it. The burden is particularly high in the smallest units: the core provincial structure would absorb around 49pc of Loralai’s allocation, 45pc of Zhob’s and 37pc of Rakhshan’s even under the low-cost estimate.
Every proposed province with a population below 1.2 million would require more than one-third of its NFC allocation to finance the core provincial government structure.
The findings therefore show that the fiscal implications of restructuring depend strongly on the number and size of the provinces created. Limited restructuring involving relatively large units produces a much smaller recurring burden, whereas several smaller division-based provinces would face disproportionately high administrative costs relative to their expected NFC resources.
Therefore, at the fiscal level, creation of new provinces will put additional pressure on fiscal resources of smaller provinces, especially those with lower NFC allocations and constrained revenue generation capacity. A greater portion of their available resources would be consumed by ongoing government expenses, resulting in reduced fiscal room for other provincial spending, such as public service provision and developmental expenditure, the analysis showed.
Therefore, the think tank emphasised that provincial restructuring should be evaluated not only in political and administrative terms, but also through a clear fiscal framework.
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