Benta News

The government on Saturday raised the price of petrol by Rs8 per litre and that of high-speed diesel (HSD) by Rs5.16 per litre for the next fortnight, according to a press release issued by the Petroleum Division.

Following the increase, the price of petrol has jumped from Rs258.17 to Rs266.17 while the HSD price now stands at 280.86.

According to the press release, the government has revised the petroleum products’ prices based on the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority’s recommendations.

The new prices are effective from March 1, the press release said.

Petrol is mostly used in private transport, small vehicles, rickshaws and two-wheelers and has a direct bearing on the budget of the middle and lower-middle class.

While the heavy transport sector runs on HSD, its price is considered inflationary as it is mostly used in heavy transport vehicles, trains and agricultural engines like trucks, buses, tractors, tube-wells and threshers, and particularly adds to the prices of vegetables and other eatables.

ISLAMABAD: The upper House of Parliament on Friday passed a bill for regulating virtual assets as well as the ‘establishment’ of the Pakistan Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (PVARA) — a body already set up under an ordinance approved by the president in July last year.

The development comes as the ordinance was set to lapse in early March.

The rules were suspended in the Senate to take up the bill, which was moved by Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb, for immediate consideration.

The preamble of the bill, a copy of which is available with Dawn, stated that it was expedient to establish a dedicated virtual assets regulatory authority to licence, regulate and supervise virtual assets and virtual asset service providers to “ensure investor protection, transparency and market integrity in Pakistan”.

It further stated that it was necessary to provide a comprehensive legal framework to empower the said authority to combat money laundering, terrorist financing, proliferation financing and other illicit activities involving virtual assets, in accordance with international standards.

Regulatory authority

The bill provides for the establishment of the Pakistan Virtual Asset Regulatory Authority, envisioning it as an autonomous corporate body empowered to licence, regulate and supervise virtual asset service providers and issuers in the country.

Elaborating on the body’s functions, the legislation says it will “protect customers and investors and the integrity of Pakistan’s virtual asset markets by establishing and enforcing appropriate safeguards and conduct of business requirements, prudential and operational-resilience, risk-management standards, and measures to prevent money laundering, terrorist financing and other illicit use of virtual assets”.

It shall also attract investment and encourage companies operating in the field of virtual assets to base their businesses in Pakistan.

Moreover, PVARA shall “promote responsible innovation, digital financial inclusion and the development of compliant virtual asset markets within a framework that manages risks and supports financial stability and market integrity”.

The body shall promote, develop, govern, and regulate the adoption, deployment, and scalable use of blockchain technology and distributed ledger technology across Pakistan, the bill further states.

The legislation also states that PVARA will coordinate with the Financial Monitoring Unit, National Anti-Money Laundering and Counter Financing of Terrorism Authority and other relevant authorities, as well as law enforcement agencies, to combat money laundering, terrorist financing and other illicit activities associated with virtual assets, in accordance with the Anti-Money Laundering Act, 2010, other applicable laws and international standards.

The regulatory body will also advise the government on “regulatory, supervisory, technical or emerging-risk matters relating to virtual assets, digital asset markets, tokenisation, stablecoin structures, blockchain, distributed ledger technology, cyber-risks or any matter connected with its mandate”.

The bill also authorises PVARA to devise “regulations, standards, directives, guidelines, handbooks and circulars, or any other instrument”, consistent with the objectives of the legislation and other applicable laws.

It will also be authorised to set risk-management, cybersecurity, data protection and technical standards and “issue, vary, suspend or revoke licences, approvals or directives under this Act and prescribe conditions for such actions”.

The bill further states that it may prescribe licencing conditions, eligibility criteria, renewal requirements and any additional obligations for those issued licences under the yet to be formalised PVARA law.

It will also be authorised to conduct on-site inspections and off-site monitoring of licencees and other entities to ensure compliance with this PVARA law and other relevant rules and regulations.

Moreover, the bill states, the body may also ensure compliance with “data protection, data governance and cyber security obligations by virtual asset service providers subject to supervisory follow-up”.

It will also be empowered to impose administrative sanctions in accordance with the provisions of the PVARA law and “levy such fees, charges and penalties as may be prescribed by rules” devised under this law.

PVARA will also operate regulatory sandboxes in a “transparent and accountable manner” and “enter into cooperation or mutual assistance arrangements with domestic and foreign regulators and law enforcement agencies to facilitate information sharing and coordinated action, including mutual recognition of regulations and licences”, the bill states.

It further details that the body will comprise a chairperson — who will be appointed by the federal government — two secretaries, from the law and finance ministries each, State Bank of Pakistan’s governor, Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan chairperson, National Anti-Money Laundering and Counter Financing of Terrorism Authority chairman, Pakistan Digital Authority chairperson and two independent directors “with proven expertise and a strong track record possessing expertise relevant to virtual asset markets, digital technology and digital finance”.

The directors will also be appointed by the federal government.

“The members of the authority, other than ex-officio members, shall hold office for a term of three years and shall be eligible for one further term of three years,” the bill states.

Penalties

The bill states that “whoever, willfully, provides an unlicenced virtual asset service shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term up to five years, or with fine up to Rs50 million, or both”.

It adds that whoever conducts an initial virtual asset offering in contravention” of the rules and regulations established under the PVARA law shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term up to three years or with fine up to Rs25m or with both.

The bill also penalises market manipulation and insider trading.

It further states that “a virtual assets appellate tribunal shall be established and no court shall take cognisance of a legal dispute under this Act or the rules or regulations made thereunder to which the jurisdiction of the Virtual Assets Appellate Tribunal extends”.

The tribunal’s jurisdiction has been described as: “Any virtual asset service provider, licencee, or any other person aggrieved by an order of the PVARA may prefer an appeal before the Virtual Assets Appellate Tribunal within 30 days of the date on which the order was communicated.”

In July last year, the government had announced that President Asif Ali Zardari had approved the ‘Virtual Assets Ordinance, 2025’ to establish an independent regulator for virtual assets and cryptocurrencies.

However, an official statement from the office of the state minister referred to it as the ‘Virtual Assets Act, 2025’, leading to confusion and concerns about why the draft law had not been moved to the National Assembly or Senate, as required for a bill to become an act of parliament.

The confusion was clarified later when the authorities confirmed to Dawn that the regulation was not an act of parliament but rather an ordinance, issued under Article 89 of the Constitution. The provision allows the president to issue an ordinance in urgent matters when both houses are not in session; such ordinances remain in effect for 120 days and do not require passage through the National Assembly and Senate.

In November last year, the Senate extended the Virtual Assets Ordinance, 2025, for another 120 days.

EVERY body part is important, but few are as important as an eye. I use the singular for a body part that comes in pairs because its function is so crucial that one outweighs the combined functions of many others. Even diminished sight is so essential that ‘in the land of the blind, one-eyed man is king’ has become an idiom. Its vernacular version goes something like ‘andhon mein kana raja’ (‘among the blind, the one-eyed rules’).

In an old interview, one of Imran Khan’s sisters reminisced that even as a child he likened himself to a tiger. It’s a coincidence that a very charismatic Indian cricketer of the 1960s and 1970s, Nawab Mansoor Pataudi, was nicknamed Tiger Pataudi. He was a stylish right-handed batsman and considered the best fielder of his day, despite losing vision in his right eye in a traffic accident. He was named captain of the national team at the age of 21. Gen Amir Abdullah Niazi, who surrendered during the 1971 war, also styled himself as ‘Tiger Niazi’. Though his sight was not impaired, he was handicapped in vision and character.

Some physical features are stereotyped in history as characteristics; some archetypes are restricted to a geographical region, while others have universal appeal. For instance, what would a pirate be without an eyepatch? In modern times, the look became notorious when Israeli Gen Moshe Dayan wore an eyepatch. Salman Rushdie lost an eye to a knife attack and uses a dark lens on that side of his spectacles.

Maharaja Ranjit Singh, the famous Sikh ruler who extended Punjab’s borders to Kashmir and the Khyber Pass, did not cover his bad eye. In his early years, he may have been conscious of it, leading to his profile portraits which show only the good eye. Later in life, he wore his disability with aplomb and turned it to his advantage, asserting, “I look at all my subjects with one eye.”

Some physical features are stereotyped in history.

In the olden days, disabilities were described by their attributes, as in the Central Asian tyrant Temur’s name, ‘Lang’, which refers to the limp he walked with. In the Western canon, ‘lame’ became ‘lane’; Tamerlane is the distorted version of Temur-lang. It is another matter, though, that his brutal ways could have earned him the epitaph ‘Temur-out-of-lane’. There was a time when cinegoers were enticed by vernacular translations of English titles. A blockbuster martial arts movie One-Armed Boxer was translated as Tunda Badmash in Pakistan.

Etymology, an utterly fascinating field, does not always make it entirely clear how a particular word or term develops. For instance, in colloquial Urdu, making someone an accomplice to keep them in check is referred to as ‘kana karna’ (blinding someone in one eye). Another proverb in this vein is ‘kana mujhey bhai nahin; kaney bina suhaey nahin’. It roughly translates to ‘cannot live with them, and without them.’ Its applicability in the current political context cannot be denied.

In the game of thrones, especially in South Asia, succession politics included blinding the heir apparent or a pretender by gouging out their eyes. This barbaric practice of rendering the opponent unfit to rule in the rough-and-tumble of dynastic politics and the battlefield demands of physical fitness is generally thought to be a male preserve; however, mothers and even grandmothers are known to have resorted to this.

Allama Iqbal, in his poem ‘Ghulam Qadir Rohilla’, depicts the revenge the Afghan chieftain exacted against the Mughal king Shah Alam II — gouging out his eyes and ordering the women of the royal household to dance in court to entertain the victor. The Rohilla was captured from the battlefield as an eight-year-old boy when the uprising by his father Zabita Khan, an erstwhile army chief of Shah Alam, was crushed. The boy was raised in the royal household and was purportedly castrated. He was returned to his father as a youth after a patch-up with the Mughal ruler. After the elder Rohilla’s death, Ghulam Qadir attacked Delhi and exacted his revenge on the king. As he retreated, he was pursued and captured by the Maratha. Shah Alam II was restored to the throne. He demanded that the Maratha leader, Mahadaji Shinde, send him the Rohilla’s eyes, who obliged. The first line of Iqbal’s poem goes, ‘Rohilla kis qadar zalim, jafaju, keena parwar tha …’ (how brutal, unjust, and begrudging was the Rohilla…). One hopes that an eye-for-an-eye vendetta stops.

As for the pirates, they didn’t always wear an eyepatch because of injury; it gave them a tactical advantage in combat. The human eye takes time to adapt between bright light and pitch darkness. Moving between the mayhem on the upper and lower decks of ships, all they had to do was to switch the patch and strike.

The writer is a poet. His latest publication is a collection of satire essays titled Rindana.

shahzadsharjeel1@gmail.com

Published in Dawn, February 24th, 2026

Ramazan, the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, is a time when Muslims fast from dawn to sunset, focusing on prayer, charity and deepening their connection with the Almighty.

Homes and mosques come alive with pre-dawn meals (sehri) and the evening ritual of breaking the fast.

Across Pakistan, communal iftars bring people together, as neighbours, friends and even strangers share meals to end the day’s fast. Held in mosques, community centres and public spaces, these gatherings are about more than just food, as they nurture unity, strengthen bonds, and foster a sense of togetherness.

They also create spaces for conversation, understanding and generosity, embodying the spirit of the holy month.

Photographs from cities across Pakistan capture these quiet, meaningful moments: prayers in reflection, the preparation of iftar, the laughter and chatter around shared tables, and the calm anticipation as the sun sets.

Together, they paint a picture of Ramazan as a time of patience, gratitude, humility and spiritual renewal.

Header image: Muslim devotees break their fast on the first day of the Islamic holy fasting month of Ramazan at Lahore’s Data Darbar. — Arif Ali / White Star

Pakistan has struck seven “terrorist camps and hideouts belonging to Pakistani Taliban of [Fitna al Khwarij] and its affiliates and [the Islamic State-Khorasan Province] at the border region of Pakistan Afghan border,” the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting announced in an post early Sunday on social media platform X.

The statement asserted that “Pakistan has always strived for maintaining peace and stability in the region, but at the same time, the safety and security of our citizens remains our top priority.”

The press release stated that the action against the seven camps and hideouts was “a retributive response”, carried out based on “intelligence-based selective targeting”.

More to follow.

US President Donald Trump on Thursday promised $10 billion and Muslim-majority nations offered funding and troops for Gaza at the inaugural Board of Peace meeting in Washington.

Pakistan, however, was not named among the five nations who have committed troops for the International Stabilisation Force, which will be tas­k­ed with securing reconstruction zones and supporting a post-conflict governance arrangement in Gaza.

Trump brought together allies from around the world — many authoritarians, with few Western democrats who traditionally ally with the United States — to hail his peacemaking at the first Board of Peace meeting.

Presiding with a gavel over the meeting in the gleaming Washington building of the former US Institute of Peace, which has been gutted and renamed after the 79-year-old Republican, Trump hailed the “powerful people” who joined his board.

“We will help Gaza. We will straighten it out. We’ll make it successful,” Trump said, holding up a document with pledges before the disco beats of his adopted theme-song “YMCA” came on the speakers.

“We will make it peaceful, and we will do things like that in other spots. Spots will come up, things will happen,” Trump said.

Troops pledges

The Board of Peace came together after the Trump administration, teaming up with Qatar and Egypt, negotiated a ceasefire in October to halt two years of devastating Israeli onslaught in Gaza.

The plan’s second phase calls for the disarmament of Hamas.

In a first for an Arab country, Morocco announced it was ready to send police as well as officers to the nascent International Stabilisation Force.

The force’s American commander, Major General Jasper Jeffers, said that Albania, Indonesia, Kazakhstan and Kosovo were also sending troops and announced that an Indonesian officer would serve as his deputy.

Indonesia, the world’s largest Muslim-majority country, earlier said it was ready to send 8,000 troops — nearly half of the 20,000 sought.

Trump hailed Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto, who attended, calling the former military officer accused of human rights abuses in East Timor a “tough cookie.”

Nickolay Mladenov, a veteran Bulgarian diplomat named high representative for Gaza by the United States, also announced the beginning of recruitment for a post-Hamas police force in Gaza and said 2,000 people had applied in the first hours.

Foreign Office spokesperson Tahir Andrabi was also asked about the ISF and Pakistan’s view on it during a weekly briefing in Islamabad today.

In response, he said: “We understand that a decision is awaited on the contours of the mandate of the International Stabilisation Force, and till such time, we’re not in a position to take any decision on this matter.

“We have identified our red lines quite explicitly. The deputy prime minister and the foreign minister has done so here from this platform, and elsewhere. Pakistan can be part of a peacekeeping mandate, but we would not be part of any disarming/ demilitarisation mandates. This discussion at [the Board of Peace meeting in] Washington might take place today. We will update you as and when these developments take place.”

For his part, Trump said during the moot in Washington that he hoped the use of force to disarm Hamas would not be necessary. He said Hamas had promised to disarm and it “looks like they’re going to be doing that, but we’ll have to find out.”

Foreign Minister Gideon Saar, representing Israel at the meeting, demanded disarmament of Hamas and “a fundamental deradicalisation process” in Gaza.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in Israel that Hamas will be disarmed one way or the other. “Very soon, Hamas will face a dilemma - to disarm peacefully or disarmed forcefully,” he said.

In Gaza, Hamas spokesperson Hazem Qassem said any international force must “monitor the ceasefire and prevent the (Israeli) occupation from continuing its aggression”. Disarmament could be discussed, he said, without directly committing to it.

Gaza reconstruction

Trump, who has sharply curtailed foreign aid, said the United States would contribute $10bn to the Board of Peace. He also announced that contributing nations had raised $7bn as an initial down payment for Gaza reconstruction.

Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates each promised at least $1bn. White House Press Secretary said more than $6.5bn was pledged, presumably excluding Trump’s offer.

Trump also said FIFA will raise $75 million for soccer-related projects in Gaza and that the United Nations will chip in $2 billion for humanitarian assistance.

“Together we can achieve the dream of bringing lasting harmony to a region tortured by centuries of war, suffering,” said the realtor-turned-president, who has spoken improbably of building tourist resorts in Gaza.

Trump did not explain exactly where the money would go and whether Congress had approved the contribution he announced for the institution, which has drawn criticism for its opaque nature.

Trump will wield veto power over the Board of Peace and can remain its head even after leaving office, while countries that want to stay on permanently rather than enjoy a two-year stint will need to pay $1bn.

Critics say the Board of Peace remains vague, including how it would interact with existing institutions, including the United Nations, to which Trump has drastically cut support.

“It’s a confused mix of ambition and narcissism, unleavened by any effort at intellectual coherence,” said Bruce Jones, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.

Initial input from Reuters

LAHORE: Punjab officials are tight-lipped on reports that claim the provincial government has acquired a Gulfstream aircraft for “VIP transport role”.

Meanwhile, the alleged move continues to draw criticism.

On Monday, it was claimed by an X account, The Stratcom Bureau — which mainly shares defence and security news — that the “government of Punjab, Pakistan has acquired a new, 2019-manufactured Gulfstream GVII-G500 aircraft for their VIP transport role”.

In a separate post by the same account, it was claimed that “the registration number of the luxury plane is N144S” and its “old Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) registration would be changed to Pakistani registration soon”.

The post also said that the approximate asking price for the aircraft was $38 million to $42m.

Meanwhile, the US FAA registry shows that the aircraft is currently owned by TVPX Aircraft Solutions Inc. Trustee, which, as per its website, commonly acts as the registered owner for aircraft trusts, facilitating the buying, selling, and leasing of planes, particularly for non-US citizens or for privacy reasons.

According to flight tracking service Flight Radar, the aircraft has been flying between various airports in Punjab since at least February 12.

Dawn reached out to several officials for a confirmation of the purchase’s claims, but they remained tight-lipped on the matter.

Punjab Chief Secretary Zahid Akhtar Zaman and Additional Chief Secretary Ahmad Raza Sarwar did not respond to calls and text messages to clarify the Punjab government’s position.

Additional Secretary (Welfare) Waseem Hamid, however, denied the claims of the aircraft’s purchase and abruptly disconnected the call.

Dawn also tried to contact Punjab Information Minister Azma Bokhari, but she, too, did not respond to any calls or the query sent to her as a text message.

Amid this silence by the officials, the reported purchase of the aircraft continues to draw criticism, including by former finance minister Miftah Ismail and ex-Sindh governor Mohammad Zubair.

Sharing the Stratcom Bureau’s post on X, Miftah juxtaposed the reported purchase of the aircraft with the recent hike in petroleum prices by the government.

“So while Pakistanis are supposed to tighten our belts and sacrifice, Punjab’s entitled VIPs are fastening their seatbelts for taking off in luxury private jets,” he said.

Similarly, Zubair posted on X: “Such a beautiful plane worth more than 1,000 crore, which has been bought by the Punjab govt for the use of its CM and party’s elite.”

He questioned whether a nation facing economic difficulties, with 45 per cent of the people living below the poverty line and amid record unemployment — afford this luxury.

“Punjab government aay issue a denial if not true,” he said about the claims of the aircraft’s purchase.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi apologised to the people of his province on Monday, saying that PTI workers had taken to the streets of their own accord.

His statement comes against the backdrop of protests at multiple places by PTI activists in KP. The party workers have blocked entry and exit points to the province, resulting in inconveniences for the people and KP being cut off from the rest of the country.

The protests began on Friday, simultaneously with sit-ins by opposition parliamentarians and Tehreek Tahafuz-i-Ayeen Pakistan leaders in Islamabad, over PTI founder Imran Khan’s health.

When KP CM was asked today about what would be the next line of action for PTI workers, he said: “We have not given any line of action to the workers. The workers have come out on their own. Our strategy was just for the parliamentarians.”

He said the plan devised for parliamentarians was to stage a “peaceful sit-in” outside the Parliament in Islamabad. “But, unfortunately, some of us were stopped at the KP House, some at the Parliament Lodges and some at the Parliament House.”

He again reiterated that “no official call” had been given to party workers for the protest, and they had taken to the streets of their own accord.

“They have shut down KP,” he acknowledged, apologising to the people of the province.

He said the PTI was facing a hard time, with its leader jailed and facing health issues.

“The [PTI] workers might have acted emotionally, but you [the people] please have patience. You have voted for the PTI, and you love Imran Khan. So if you have faced difficulties for two or three days for his sake, I apologise. Please wait a little more, and the situation will get better,” Afridi said.

JHELUM: A man was arrested on Sunday after he reportedly attacked cleric Engineer Muhammad Ali Mirza, the police said.

Per a first information report (FIR), a copy of which is available with Dawn, the incident took place in Jhelum at Mirza’s Qur’an-o-Sunnat Research Academy at the end of a lecture.

According to the complainant Muhammad Kashif Qureshi, a core member of the academy, attendees were returning home after listening to the lecture, but some of them stayed back to take selfies with Engineer Mirza.

“Just then, a man attacked Engineer Mirza by grabbing his collar, throwing punches at him, and removing his turban,” the FIR quoted Qureshi as saying.

“He violently threw his honourable turban onto the ground, strangled him with both hands to suffocate him, and loudly chanted slogans,” he added.

Qureshi was quoted as saying that people present at the site of the incident intervened immediately to protect the scholar.

“We then handed him over to the police on duty to ensure that legal action is taken against the criminal,” he said in his complaint.

District Police Officer (DPO) Jhelum Tariq Aziz Sindhu, while talking to Dawn, said that the police have arrested the alleged attacker and the FIR was filed against him under section 324 (attempted murder) of the Pakistan Penal Code.

“Further investigations about the background of the attacker are underway,” DPO Sindhu added.

The DPO said that a four-tier security of police had been deployed at Mirza’s academy, adding that the police had repeatedly warned him to avoid taking selfies with the strangers entering as audience at his sessions.

The officer added that the scholar had previously been attacked too and was taken into the police’s protective custody last year under the Maintenance of Public Order (MPO) by Jhelum’s deputy commissioner after an activist of the banned Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) accused him of blasphemy and registered a case against him. He was later released on bail.

Section 3 of the MPO ordinance gives authorities the power to arrest and detain suspected persons to prevent “any person from acting in any manner prejudicial to public safety” or to maintain public order.

Mirza, a resident of Machine Mohallah of Jhelum city, frequently uploads his lectures and speeches on his social media accounts and has amassed 3.1 million followers on his YouTube channel.

In 2024, he was among 17 clerics whose speeches were banned by then-Jhelum DC during Muharram to prevent any potential sectarian violence.

The popular cleric survived an assassination attempt at a religious academy in March 2021. The suspect was taken into custody, and a case of attempted murder was registered against him.

The cleric had also been booked and arrested by the Jhelum police in May 2020 for derogatory remarks against some religious figures. However, he was later released on bail.

There are nights when Pakistan versus India feels like theatre: breathless, chaotic, hanging by a thread. And then there are nights like the one in Colombo.

At the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, this was not a last-over classic or a heart-stopping choke. It was clinical. India posted 175, Pakistan were rolled for 114. A 61-run defeat. No controversy to dissect, no umpiring debate to hide behind, no “if only” moments to cling to.

Just a gulf.

Here are five takeaways from a game that was disappointingly straightforward.

Agha’s captaincy: bold or baffling?

Salman Ali Agha did not hide behind convention and that alone deserves akcnowledgement.

He decided to chase on a slow Colombo surface that was expected to grip more under lights. Bold. He opened the bowling himself and dismissed Abhishek Sharma for a duck - poetic, especially after publicly stating he wanted the Indian opener to play. He even promoted himself to bat at no.3 earlier in the tournament, leading by example.

But bold decisions are a double-edged sword. On a wicket likely to slow further, bowling first was always going to be a gamble. When India reached 175, that decision loomed large. Tactically, there were lapses in his usage of bowlers like introducing Usman Tariq later than ideal, despite his mystery element and control, and repeatedly feeding leg-spin - Abrar, Shadab and Saim - to left-handers Ishan Kishan and Tilak Varma.

Then came Agha the batter. After Pakistan collected 13 runs off a Jasprit Bumrah over, including a boundary that briefly unsettled India’s premier pacer, he gifted his wicket away. That was reckless. If you take on Bumrah and win the round, you don’t throw the next punch blindfolded.

Shaheen Afridi: Living on past headlines

There was a time when Shaheen Shah Afridi against India felt like an event within the event. Headlines once screamed, “They cannot play him”. Now, they comfortably do.

Since returning from injury, Shaheen has looked diminished; lower pace, inconsistent lengths, and less bite. In seven T20Is against India, he now has six wickets at an average that hardly intimidates. In Colombo, he conceded 31 runs in just two overs before collecting a consolation wicket.

Ishan Kishan took 15 off his first over and flipped momentum instantly. Meanwhile, Salman Mirza - 22 wickets in 14 T20Is and three in Pakistan’s opening World Cup game watched from the sidelines. Naseem Shah’s record against India is statistically superior. Yet reputation trumped form.

Pakistan cricket has a habit of clinging to narratives. The “eagle” narrative once fit. Right now, the numbers don’t.

The Ishan Kishan gulf

Pakistan’s batting and Ishan Kishan existed in parallel universes tonight.

Kishan’s 77 off 40 balls was not just an innings; it was a statement. A fifty off 27 deliveries. Authority against pace and spin alike. He dismantled Abrar’s mystery with 11 in his first over and treated Shadab’s leg-spin as a warm-up drill, plundering 17 in one. By the time Saim Ayub removed him, India were 88/2 in 8.4 overs, scoring at over ten an over. The game was effectively sealed.

Meanwhile, Pakistan’s top order evaporated inside two overs. No scoreboard pressure. No scoreboard at all.

Usman Khan’s 44 off 34 offered some resistance, but in the context of 175, it was insufficient. When your second-highest scorer is your No. 10, the problem is not tempo, it is structure. Babar Azam had the perfect chance to anchor and remind the world why he’s elite but he faded quietly despite earlier form in the tournament.

Pakistan, at one time, was struggling to reach 100, let alone threaten 175. Embarrassing, particularly given they had no travel fatigue and were arguably more familiar with Colombo conditions than India, something Agha himself highlighted during the toss.

India bowled in units, Pakistan bowled in episodes

India’s bowling card tells a story of balance: Hardik’s variations, Axar’s control, Bumrah’s precision and Varun’s mystery, all getting two wickets apiece. No overindulgence, no panic, just pressure applied in layers.

Pakistan’s bowling, by contrast, operated in fragments. Saim Ayub and Nawaz built pressure in spells while Usman Tariq provided control but the expensive overs in the first half of the innings allowed India to surge. The trio in particular, Shaheen, Abrar and Shadab, leaked 86 runs in six overs; nearly half of India’s 175.

T20 cricket thrives on partnerships, both with bat and ball. India functioned as a unit. Pakistan swung between moments of discipline and stretches of leakage.

When one bowler tightened, the next released. When one batter resisted, the rest retreated.

Spirit of Cricket - 404 Error

India once again avoided the toss and post-match handshake with their Pakistani counterparts. In a fixture marketed as cricket’s grandest rivalry, the absence of basic sportsmanship is jarring. You can compete fiercely, you can carry political baggage, but refusing a handshake after sharing a field for three hours feels petty, not powerful.

Cricket loves preaching the “spirit of game” yet, when it comes to this clash, that spirit has gone missing for a while now. Players are not policymakers; they are professionals. And professionals acknowledge each other.

The irony remains that this contest is the financial engine of the International Cricket Council ecosystem as broadcast numbers soar, sponsorships inflate, and global attention spikes. So, if the sport can monetise the rivalry so comfortably, surely it can insist on preserving its dignity too.

Header image: The Indian cricket team celebrates their win against Pakistan at the end of the 2026 ICC Men’s T20 Cricket World Cup group stage match in the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo on Feb 15, 2026.

The United States will have to do “something very tough” if a deal is not reached with Iran, President Donald Trump told Israel’s Channel 12 in an interview published online on Tuesday.

“Either we reach a deal, or we’ll have to do something very tough,” it quoted Trump as saying.

Trump has said he is considering sending a second aircraft carrier to the Middle East, Axios and Channel 12 reported, amid simmering tensions between Washington and Tehran over Iran’s nuclear programme and over its recent crackdown on protesters.

“We have an armada that is heading there and another one might be going,” Trump told Axios, though he noted that Iran “wants to make a deal very badly”.

Trump initially threatened military action against Tehran over its crackdown on protesters last month. Subsequently, the US said that a naval strike group led by an aircraft carrier was deployed to Middle Eastern waters amid tensions between the two countries.

However, the countries held talks in Oman last week, which Iran called a good start. Trump also called the talks “very good” and pledged another round of negotiations.

On Saturday, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said he hoped talks with the US would resume soon, while reiterating Tehran’s red lines and warning against any American attack.

According to excerpts published on his official Telegram channel during an interview with the Al Jazeera network, Araghchi said that Iran’s missile programme was “never negotiable” in the talks in Oman.

He warned that Tehran would target US bases in the region if the US attacked Iranian territory.

Iran could agree to dilute its most highly enriched uranium in exchange for all financial sanctions being lifted, its atomic chief said on Monday, one of the most direct indications so far of its position at talks with Washington.

US and Iranian diplomats held talks through Omani mediators in Oman last week in an effort to revive diplomacy, after US President Donald Trump positioned a naval flotilla in the region, raising fears of new military action.

The talks follow a crackdown on anti-government demonstrations in Iran last month.

Trump joined an Israeli bombing campaign last year and hit Iranian nuclear sites. He also threatened last month to intervene militarily during the protests, but ultimately held off.

Washington has demanded Iran relinquish its stockpile — estimated last year by the UN nuclear agency at more than 440 kilogrammes — of uranium enriched to up to 60 per cent fissile purity, a small step away from the 90pc that is considered weapons grade.

The head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organisation, Mohammad Eslami, said on Monday: “The possibility of diluting 60pc enriched uranium … depends on whether, in return, all sanctions are lifted or not”.

Eslami, whose remarks were reported by Iran’s ISNA news agency, said, however, that another proposal, sending Iran’s highly enriched uranium abroad to another country, had not been discussed at the talks with US officials.

Khamenei adviser to visit Oman

Ali Larijani, a close adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and secretary of its national security council, will visit Oman on Tuesday following the US-Iranian talks there, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported.

“During this trip, (Larijani) will meet with high-ranking officials of the Sultanate of Oman and discuss the latest regional and international developments and bilateral cooperation at various levels,” Tasnim said.

The date and venue of the next round of talks have yet to be announced.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Monday that a new round of talks would be “an appropriate opportunity for a fair and balanced resolution of this case,” and that a desired outcome could be reached if the US avoids maximalist positions and respects its commitments.

Iran would continue to demand the lifting of sanctions and insist on its nuclear rights, including enrichment, he said.

Iran and the US held five rounds of talks last year on curbing Tehran’s nuclear programme, with the process breaking down mainly due to disputes over uranium enrichment inside Iran.

Since Trump struck Iran’s facilities, Tehran has said it has halted enrichment activity. It has always said its nuclear programme is solely for peaceful purposes.

The United States wants to include Iran’s ballistic missile arsenal in negotiations, but Tehran has ruled this out.

In a televised statement aired on Monday, Khamenei called on Iranians to participate in the coming anniversary of the 1979 revolution.

“The presence of the people in the march and their expression of loyalty to the Islamic Republic will cause the enemy to stop coveting Iran,” Khamenei said.

Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz on Sunday lauded the people of Lahore for abiding by the standard operating procedures (SOPs) set by the provincial government, as the three-day Basant festival approached its culmination.

“Lahore is happy today, I am happy, too. The residents of Lahore played a vital role in making this Basant successful by following all the rules and regulations,” she said in a statement, posted on PML-N’s official X account.

Maryam continued: “The idea of safe Basant will also be adopted in other cities.”

Brightly coloured kites soared through the skies over Lahore this weekend, marking the return of a festival after a 19-year ban that had been imposed over safety concerns.

Families and groups of friends gathered on rooftops, in parks and on streets for the three-day kite-flying festival.

“Everyone is excited — all of Punjab, all of Pakistan. It has become hard to find kites and strings because they sold out,” Shahzaib, a kite flyer, told AFP.

Punjab authorities banned the festival in 2007 due to a series of fatal accidents caused by glass powder-coated kite strings and celebratory aerial gunfire.

The exceptionally sharp strings, known as manjha, had badly injured and killed pedestrians and motorcyclists, prompting the crackdown.

But this year, authorities relented, allowing the festival for three days but with ramped-up safety measures in place in a move welcomed by many Lahoris and thousands who travelled to the city from across the country to take part.

“People had lost businesses when the ban happened. After the ban lifted, I sold 20,000 to 25,000 kites,” said Tariq, a kite maker.

Rights groups and cultural activists have long criticised the ban, arguing that poor enforcement rather than the festival itself was to blame for past tragedies.

Some official events planned to take place during the festival were cancelled after a suicide blast at a mosque in Islamabad on Friday killed 36 people.

Police were deployed across the city to enforce safety rules, while hospitals were placed on alert to deal with potential injuries.

Authorities also monitored kite sales — including using QR codes to track kites — and confiscated banned materials, including glass-coated strings.

Motorcycle riders placed protective rods on their bikes to intercept kite strings before they could cut riders.

Kite fighting was the main attraction of the festival, with participants manoeuvring their kites to sever the strings of their opponents’, often drawing cheers from neighbouring rooftops.

Workshops that once lay dormant were operating again to meet demand.

“Buying and flying kites should not be a one-time thing,” said Chand Ustad, 51, string maker.

“Keep buying them, keep flying them, this helps our business as well,” added Ustad.

KARACHI: A suspected robber was lynched by an angry mob in Korangi area on Saturday night, according to police.

Zaman Town Station House Officer (SHO) Rao Aurangzeb told Dawn that three suspects had attempted to rob citizens near Mutkay Wali Pull in Korangi No. 2.

People got hold of one suspect while his two suspected accomplices managed to escape, the official said. The mob beat him up, killing him on the spot, he said.

“The suspect was killed with sticks and other weapons. His identity could not be ascertained immediately, as no CNIC [card] was found in his pocket,” he said.

The SHO said that the suspect’s body was moved to Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC) for legal formalities.

Last year in May, a suspected robber was lynched by an angry mob, which also set the body on fire, after he shot and wounded two brothers during a robbery in New Karachi.

According to police, two suspects had attempted to loot a general store in Sector-11-G. Two shopkeepers, Mohammed Faisal and Mohammed Faizan, who were also brothers, put up resistance but the robbers opened fire and wounded them.

As the suspects attempted to flee, people in the area captured one of them and subjected him to a severe beating with hard and blunt objects, leading to his death on the spot. The police said that some charged youth also torched the body.

The US military on Tuesday shot down an Iranian drone that “aggressively” approached the Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier in the Arabian Sea, it said.

The Iranian Shahed-139 drone was flying toward the carrier “with unclear intent” and was shot down by an American F-35 fighter jet, it said.

“An F-35C fighter jet from Abraham Lincoln shot down the Iranian drone in self-defence and to protect the aircraft carrier and personnel on board,” said Navy Captain Tim Hawkins, a spokesperson at the US military’s Central Command.

No American service members were harmed during the incident and no US equipment was damaged, he added.

The incident came as diplomats sought to arrange nuclear talks between Iran and the United States, and US President Donald Trump warned that with US warships heading toward Iran, “bad things” would probably happen if a deal could not be reached.

The Lincoln carrier strike group is the most visible part of a US military buildup in the Middle East following a crackdown against anti-government demonstrations last month.

Trump, who stopped short of carrying out threats to intervene during the crackdown, has since demanded that Tehran make nuclear concessions and sent a flotilla to its coast.

He said last week Iran was “seriously talking,” while Tehran’s top security official, Ali Larijani, said arrangements for negotiations were under way.

Central Command said that in another incident today, hours later in the Strait of Hormuz, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps forces harassed a US-flagged and crewed merchant vessel.

“Two IRGC boats and an Iranian Mohajer drone approached M/V Stena Imperative at high speeds and threatened to board and seize the tanker,” Hawkins said.

Meanwhile, the White House said talks between US and Iranian officials were “still scheduled” this week after the drone was shot down.

US envoy Steve Witkoff “is set to have conversations with the Iranians later this week; those are still scheduled as of right now”, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Fox News.