Author: Theph

Bangladesh challenged on Monday ousted leader Sheikh Hasina to seek extradition from India if she was serious about returning home, while reviewing an application to renew her passport.

Hasina, whose 15-year rule was ended by a mass uprising she tried to crush, has vowed to return in December to Bangladesh, where she was sentenced to death for crimes against humanity over the 2024 crackdown on protesters.

Home Minister Salahuddin Ahmed told reporters on Monday that authorities were looking into Hasina’s request for a new passport, adding that she was a convicted offender who had taken refuge abroad.

“The legal basis of the application, whether it followed due process, and whether there is a right to apply for a passport — all those matters are being reviewed,” he said.

“We had already sent a letter to that country (India) seeking her extradition through due process,” he added.

Hasina’s British lawyers have requested to renew her documents after the “reported revocation” of her passport.

A letter by law firm Matrix Chambers, addressed to Bangladesh’s high commission in New Delhi and seen by AFP, requested her passport renewal — but made no mention of when or where she planned to travel.

Md Aminul Islam, chief prosecutor of the court that sentenced Hasina to death in November 2025, dismissed the application as “nothing but a political stunt”.

Hasina has said several times she intends to return, telling AFP in an email that she was “fully aware” she faced being hanged.

She has told Reuters she plans to return to surrender before a court, and her aides said on Monday the date would be announced once various formalities were completed.

Humaiun Kobir, Bangladesh’s junior foreign minister, said she should simply surrender herself to face justice.

“Let her tell India: ‘Yes, there is an extradition treaty. Please hand me over. I killed this many people, and I am ready to face the sentence. Please execute me there’,” he told reporters.

“She is a thief, a bandit and a terrorist who fled… How could she, having fled, want to come back?”

‘Trying to create panic’

Hasina fled to old ally India in 2024, and has not been seen in public since but has taken part in online news conferences by telephone.

She was convicted and sentenced in absentia.

Her continued presence in India has strained ties between Dhaka and New Delhi, which says the extradition request is under legal review.

The government of Tarique Rahman, whose party won elections in February in which Hasina’s Awami League was barred from contesting, has said it would ensure the former prime minister receives due legal process in all cases against her should she return.

“In view of the reported revocation of her existing Bangladeshi passport and National Identity Card (NID) by the interim government and other authorities, I respectfully request that you take the necessary steps to issue a new Bangladeshi passport and national identity card for our client,” Hasina’s lawyers at London-based Matrix Chambers wrote to Preeti Rahman, acting high commissioner at Bangladesh’s embassy in Delhi.

The letter asked for the applications to be processed “expeditiously” on the basis of her Bangladeshi nationality and in accordance with “obligations arising under international human rights instruments”.

But Hasina’s pledge to return presents a political challenge for Rahman’s government.

Many Bangladeshis want to see her hanged, while others fear her return could galvanise her former supporters and trigger a fresh confrontation between rival camps.

Police on Monday said they had arrested 12 people for a series of petrol bomb attacks, including against property, an empty bus and police vehicles this month, without causing any casualties.

Dhaka police spokesman Md Akhtar Hossain said the suspects were members of Hasina’s banned Awami League party.

“They are trying to create panic among people,” he told AFP. “We are remaining vigilant to deal with any untoward situation.”

Source: dawn

A joint council of Saudi Arabian and Pakistani investors launched a private equity fund on Monday as part of the countries’ wider push to deepen two-way private sector trade and investment.

The Saudi-Pakistan Joint Business Council, formed by the governments of both countries, said the fund’s initial size is “multi-hundred million”, which is expected to expand based on opportunities across sectors.

In a statement, it said three-quarters of the fund will be invested in Pakistan, while the rest will go to Saudi Arabian projects.

Islamabad and Riyadh share robust bilateral cooperation, with frequent high-level diplomatic exchanges on both sides.

In August this year, the council’s chairman, Prince Mansour bin Mohammad Al Saud, called on Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif while visiting Pakistan, according to a statement from the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO).

During their meeting, PM Shehbaz discussed avenues to expand economic cooperation and investment between the two nations.

“The Saudi side conveyed interest in investment opportunities in agriculture, ports, highways and airport outsourcing [and the] real estate sector, as well as in the energy, power distribution, and information technology sectors,” the statement read.

On August 7, ​​​​​​​Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, alongside Turkiye, also signed a joint defence agreement pledging to strengthen collective security, deepen defence cooperation and promote peace and stability in the region and beyond.

Later that month, the two countries agreed to boost Pakistani agricultural and food exports to the Gulf state up to $3 billion.

Earlier in June, Pakistan invited Saudi investors to participate in the construction of the long-awaited Sukkur-Hyderabad Motorway (M6) and two other major highway projects, with the motorway expected to provide uninterrupted motorway connectivity from Karachi Port to Peshawar and onward to Gilgit.

Source: dawn

Captain Babar Azam and two debutants were among four batters to hit half-centuries as Pakistan reached 281-5 on day one of the first Test against Sri Lanka on Monday.

Opener Tayyab Arif scored an impressive 57 and Mohammad Taha a patient 51 — both playing their first Test — while Azam hit 50, with Sri Lanka’s decision to bowl on what appeared to be a green pitch in Rawalpindi seemed to backfire.

Saud Shakeel was unbeaten on 57 when bad light stopped play 15 minutes before schedule, with Ghazi Ghori seven not out.

Sri Lanka’s decision to go with a pace quartet and without a frontline spinner could also prove costly, with the pitch not offering much to the fast bowlers.

Asitha Fernando was the pick of bowlers with 2-64.

Azam looked in good touch but still failed to score an elusive century, and was dismissed by Dilshan Madushanka after the lunch break.

He hit seven fours in his 58-ball innings.

Azam has now gone 41 innings without a Test century, his last coming against New Zealand in Karachi in December 2022.

Salman Agha made 16 before giving Sri Lankan wicketkeeper Kusal Mendis his fourth catch of the innings.

Arif said Pakistan has done well under the conditions.

“We have played good and positive cricket considering the conditions,” said Arif.

“I have played a lot with some of these players so I was supported well and I am happy on scoring a half century.”

Arif put on a confident 86-run opening stand with Azan Awais (30) as Sri Lanka’s pace bowlers struggled to break through.

The 20-year-old, playing his maiden first-class season, cracked nine boundaries and a six in his impressive 51-ball knock.

Sri Lanka had to wait until the 16th over for a breakthrough, when Milan Rathnayaka had Awais caught behind by Mendis.

Fernando found an edge off Arif’s bat to Mendis, making it 90-2.

Sri Lankan bowling coach Ryan van Niekerk wasn’t happy.

“Probably not satisfied as bowling first and with the seamers we have we should have taken a couple of more wickets,” said Niekerk.

“But bowlers pulling it back in the last session was good.”

All-rounder Arafat Minhas and pace bowler Saqib Khan are also making Test debuts for Pakistan.

The second and final Test is in Lahore from November 17.

Source: dawn

In a village nestled in rice fields, Abdul Hafeez Khoso remembers the vast industrial zones he saw in Germany when he visited to file a pioneering climate legal case.

“They’re spreading pollution: up in the sky there are no borders, it can affect anywhere,” the 43-year-old said, describing areas far larger than his village of 800 people.

“This is a problem for the whole world — that is why it should be resolved at the global level.”

Khoso and 38 other farmers from Sindh who were devastated by “apocalyptic” flooding in 2022 are suing German energy firm RWE and cement maker Heidelberg Materials in a rare bid to make big polluters pay damages for climate impacts.

The companies are being targeted not over specific operations in Pakistan, but because of their climate-warming emissions. They are headquartered in Germany, where a recent legal case opened the door to such suits.

The litigation argues that the companies’ emissions contributed to climate change and turbo-charged rain that wiped out their crops, livestock and homes.

“The year 2022 was an apocalyptic scene — not even our elders had ever witnessed such weather,” Khoso, who lives in the district of Jacobabad with his wife and toddler, told AFP.

“We had nothing left.”

Both firms, which the plaintiffs estimate contributed 0.68 per cent and 0.12pc to global industrial emissions respectively, deny wrongdoing.

Khoso’s case is backed by Pakistani and European organisations hoping to win compensation and build on nascent but vigorous international efforts to extract climate damages from corporations.

“We always blame natural disasters, and sometimes we blame God, but science tells us that climate change is increasing the risks and intensity of extreme weather events,” said Mir Keerio, a development expert at HANDS Welfare Foundation, which mobilised communities for the lawsuit.

“Those who have contributed significantly to this crisis must be held accountable … we realised we must take our fight for climate justice to the major polluters.”

Debt and damages

Climate litigation is a growing field globally, but action has so far largely targeted governments, with only a handful of firms such as Shell and cement maker Holcim facing suits for climate disaster compensations.

Lawyers say a ruling requiring a company to pay out compensation proportionate to its greenhouse gas emissions would mark a major breakthrough.

Germany’s judiciary moved towards that principle last year in a case brought by a Peruvian farmer, also against RWE.

His compensation claim was rejected, but the courts left the door open to holding emitters liable.

Roda Verheyen, a German lawyer involved in both cases, told AFP the farmers’ lawsuit builds on that ruling and further accuses companies of “wrongful behaviour”.

“Large companies knew about the general impacts of climate change since the 1960s,” said Verheyen.

“They should have exercised due diligence and actually at least tried to reduce emissions, which they didn’t do enough.”

The lawsuit also draws on research documenting farmers’ losses in the floods, which hit a third of the country, killed 1,700 and affected 30 million.

Munawar Khatoon, a rare female landowner in a conservative area, said the floods struck just before the wheat harvest, submerging seeds and wiping out her family’s main source of income.

“We worry about how the next generation will manage to live if this continues,” the 43-year-old told AFP in her village Usman Samtio. “Now when the rainy season comes, we feel fear.”

In nearby Dadu district, litigant Abdul Khalique Laghari said the floods affected the region for years.

“To this day, we are unable to repay our debt,” said the 55-year-old, who estimates he lost $14,000 in assets including his house, 40 acres (16 hectares) of crops and livestock.

“When we wake in the morning, we start getting calls from the people we owe money to,” he said, pointing to crumbling walls and the remnants of flood-damaged houses.

“This has caused us serious mental harm.”

‘For justice’

RWE and Heidelberg Materials both call the claims in the suit “unfounded”.

Heidelberg Materials told AFP its operations were compliant with German laws and that firms could not be expected to retroactively face different standards.

RWE referred AFP to a statement describing the lawsuit as “yet another attempt to shift climate policy demands to German courtrooms”.

“It would be a contradiction in terms if the state allowed CO2 emissions, regulated them by law and even demanded them in some cases, but at the same time allowed retroactive civil liability for them,” it said.

Even if the case succeeds, an uphill battle remains for millions across Pakistan, ranked among the countries most affected by climate change despite contributing less than one per cent of global emissions.

The case will be considered in a civil process likely to take years. But for the litigants, the attempt is worth it.

“This case is for justice,” said Khatoon. “We hold these companies responsible for our destruction.”

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Header image: This photograph taken on July 27, 2026 shows Gul Hassan Babar, one of the 39 farmers pursuing a climate lawsuit in Heidelberg against German energy firm RWE and cement producer Heidelberg Material for climate-warming emissions and over losses incurred during the 2022 floods, walking across his agricultural field at Baid Sharif village in Dadu district. — AFP

Source: dawn

SWABI: A rock mass collapsed at the Tarbela Dam 5th Extension Project (T-5) construction site on Monday, causing a surge of water to enter nearby work areas, said the Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda).

An emergency was declared following the collapse; construction work was suspended and workers were directed to move to safer areas. However, no loss of life was reported in the incident.

In a statement, Wapda said that water entered the under-construction power house area and a tunnel of the T-5 project after a weak rock mass collapsed during excavation work, prompting the evacuation of workers.

The authority said the incident occurred during excavation of the 2nd Bench Connecting Tunnel, when the collapse allowed water from the Intake Pit to enter the tunnel and power house area.

“All workers were immediately evacuated safely,” the statement said, adding that the water from the Intake Pit had been completely drained and no further water was entering the downstream work sites.

Wapda said dewatering work at the under-construction power house had also started.

Authorities were assessing whether the tunnel, power house and other structures in the working area had sustained any damage, Deputy Commissioner Haripur Waseem Ahmed said, quoting officials of the T-5 project.

Senior Wapda officers, the project engineer and the contractor were assessing the situation to address any challenges to the T-5 project, the statement added.

The authority also dismissed reports circulating about the collapse of the T-5 tunnel, saying the main tunnel, under-construction power house, tailrace culvert and switchyard had not been damaged.

It further said there had been no injuries or loss of life among the workforce.

There is no threat of flooding or inundation in areas downstream of Tarbela at present, a senior district administration official said.

Meanwhile, Swabi Deputy Commissioner Nasarullah Khan said that additional water had been released from Tarbela Dam due to “unavoidable” reasons and was expected to increase the flow and level of water in the Indus River.

“All citizens are requested to take precautionary measures and completely avoid bathing, swimming and boating in the Indus River to prevent any untoward incident,” he said.

The deputy commissioner also urged the public to ensure their own safety and that of their families and follow public safety notices.

“Citizens should not pay heed to rumours and should visit our official page for authentic information,” Khan added.

Earlier in July, a government-constituted inquiry committee held all three key stakeholders — the contractor, consultant and employer (Wapda) — responsible for the cofferdam collapse at the 1,530MW T-5 Project, citing post-contract unauthorised design changes as one of the main reasons for the incident.

The collapse contributed to at least a two-year delay and more than 285 per cent cost escalation in the project, whose cost has risen from Rs82 billion to Rs317bn.

The project, which involves $700 million in loans from the World Bank and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, was scheduled for completion by the end of June 2028, instead of 2026, before Monday’s incident.

Source: dawn

ISLAMABAD: The Tehreek Tahafuz-i-Ayeen Pakistan (TTAP) on Monday hinted at starting a movement against the incumbent government, with hopes that Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman may lead it.

Last week, opposition leaders and JUI-F agreed to strengthen their alliance and parliamentary coordination amid recent tensions between the latter and the federal government.

Fazl has been critical of the federal government over the imposition of governor’s rule in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. He has accused the Centre of reneging on its commitments amid his efforts to mediate between the federal and KP governments.

Since mid-October, the veteran politician and key federal ministers have also made harsh remarks against each other, after Fazl accused the Centre of depriving the provinces of their rights.

Speaking to Dawn, TTAP spokesperson Akhundzada Hussain Ahmed Yousufzai warned that it had become apparent that JUI-F would “meet the same fate as PTI”.

“It is a war between democratic and undemocratic powers and TTAP will stand by the democratic people,” the TTAP spokesperson said, adding: “We will always support those who are being suppressed.”

Replying to a question, Yousufzai said that during a recent meeting between JUI-F Senator Kamran Murtaza and TTAP leaders, it was agreed in principle to gather on one platform.

“It was also decided that soon we will hold a multiparty conference (MPC), so a movement can be started against the government after that.

“We hope that Maulana Fazlur Rehman will be one of the figures who will be leading the movement,“ he said.

On Oct 16, without naming anyone, Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi had claimed that a “head of a party” was “extremely upset over being denied a role in the new setup in KP and not getting the governorship”.

The next day, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif and State Minister for Interior Tallal Chaudhry rebuked Fazl directly, who later clarified his criticism was aimed at policies, not state institutions.

The row played out in the Parliament as well, where Fazl questioned Asif’s absence and Naqvi’s presence at a meeting of the Makkah pact countries and Iran in Tehran.

In his response the next day, the interior minister explained his participation and went on to assail the JUI-F for “continuously crossing the line” and accused it of “extracting wealth from the state”.

On Friday, JUI-F staged protests in different parts of Sindh and Balochistan, decrying what it called a “coordinated character assassination campaign” against its leader.

The JUI-F chief had hinted at launching street agitation while addressing a workers’ convention in Mansehra earlier this month.

Fazl urged workers to stand firmly with him as he prepared to launch a street agitation. “I see you as the strongest force in the country. You must stand firm against oppression and adversity, as activists of no other party dare to stand up at this critical juncture,” he said at the event.

‘Political dialogue, not personal attacks’

In a separate statement, the TTAP claimed that “disgraceful, derogatory and baseless allegations were being levelled against a distinguished religious scholar, senior politician and respected national political figure”, terming the allegations as “deeply regrettable, shameful and highly condemnable”.

“Political differences are the beauty of any democratic society; however, targeting someone’s honour, dignity, character and family under the pretext of political disagreement is not only contrary to religious, moral and social traditions but also pushes politics further into the depths of hatred, discord and division.

“Differences of opinion must be addressed through arguments, logic and political dialogue rather than character assassination, slander and personal attacks. Such a disgraceful and organised campaign must be stopped immediately, and those involved must abandon this reprehensible practice,“ it stated.

The opposition alliance also paid tribute to the JUI-F chief for his stance against the governor’s rule and emergency in KP.

The statement said that the important constitutional and democratic questions raised by Fazl and his party on the matter should be addressed by the government through “reason, constitutional arguments and the rule of law instead of resorting to character assassination and pressure tactics”.

“No political leader can be compelled to abandon a principled position through pressure, threats or organised character assassination.”

“Measures such as governor’s rule and emergency in KP are contrary to the spirit of provincial autonomy, the people’s mandate and parliamentary democracy, raising serious constitutional and democratic questions,” the statement said.

“The TTAP will vigorously oppose these measures at every constitutional, political, parliamentary and legal forum and continue to highlight their constitutional and democratic implications before the public,“ it stated.

In its statement, the TTAP also expressed “deep concern and regret” over the suspension of hearings by the Peshawar High Court (PHC) in cases filed under Article 199 of the Constitution following the decision of the Federal Constitutional Court (FCC).

The statement said that closing the doors of justice to citizens and political workers who had approached the PHC was “extremely alarming”.

It emphasised that the fundamental responsibility of the judiciary was to protect citizens’ fundamental rights and examine state actions in the light of the Constitution and the law.

It demanded that the complete medical reports of PTI founder Imran Khan and his wife, Bushra Bibi — following the medical tests conducted at Adiala jail yesterday — be made public immediately to address the concerns and apprehensions surrounding their health.

The TTAP also demanded that the government ensure full and immediate implementation of the Supreme Court’s decision regarding Imran’s transfer to Shifa International Hospital and the provision of medical treatment in the presence of his personal physicians.

Source: dawn