Spain said it had begun bringing Spanish passengers ashore from the cruise ship hit by a hantavirus outbreak on Sunday, with groups of nationals from other countries to follow.

The ship anchored near the Spanish island of Tenerife earlier in the day.

Spanish nationals were the first to disembark on small boats in groups of five and be taken to shore, where they were transferred onto buses and taken to the local airport.

The passengers, who are not showing any symptoms of the virus, will board a flight back to Madrid on a Spanish military plane and be taken to a hospital to be quarantined, government officials said, emphasising that they will have no contact with members of the public.

The luxury cruise ship left for Spain on Wednesday from the coast of Cape Verde after the World Health Organisation (WHO) and European Union asked the country to manage the evacuation of passengers following the detection of a hantavirus outbreak.

No rodents detected on the ship

Countries including Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland, the US, UK and the Netherlands confirmed on Saturday they had sent planes to evacuate their citizens aboard the ship, though local government officials in the Canaries said not all planes had arrived by Sunday morning.

The WHO said in an update on Friday that eight people no longer on the ship had fallen ill, including three who died — a Dutch couple and a German national; of the eight, six are confirmed to have contracted the virus, with another two suspected cases. It has recommended a 42-day quarantine period for passengers aboard the ship starting from Sunday.

Spain’s health ministry said in a report that the ship had passed the appropriate health checks: “There are more than 500 cruise ships a year that come from Argentina and Chile, which is home to the virus, and yet an outbreak of this illness has never happened in the European territory, so the possibility it happens in relation to this ship is remote.”

Hantavirus is usually spread by rodents, but it can, in rare cases, be transmitted person-to-person.

“According to the information provided by the experts who boarded the ship, the hygiene and environmental conditions are appropriate, and they have not detected rodents, so transmission by exposure to rodents on board is not likely,” the report read.

Passengers will not leave the boat until their allocated evacuation plane has arrived, Spanish officials said.

Passengers from the Netherlands will be the next group to leave the vessel, and their plane will also transport passengers from Germany, Belgium and Greece, Spanish Health Minister Monica Garcia said on Sunday.

After that, passengers from Turkey, France, the UK and the US will be evacuated, the minister added, speaking to reporters at the port of Tenerife.

“The final flight of the operation is departing from Australia … It is the most complex flight and is scheduled to arrive tomorrow afternoon,” Garcia said, adding that the final flight would pick up six people from Australia, New Zealand and other Asian countries.

Thirty crew members will remain on board and sail to the Netherlands, where the ship will be disinfected.

All passengers considered high-risk contacts: EU agency

Europe’s public health agency said ‌ahead of the ship’s expected anchoring on Sunday off the Spanish island of Tenerife that all passengers on the cruise ship were considered high-risk contacts as ​a precautionary measure.

Passengers without symptoms will be repatriated for ​self-quarantine via specially arranged transport, not regular commercial ​flights, by their respective countries, the European Centre ⁠for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) said on Saturday ​as part of its rapid scientific advice.

Although at disembarkation, passengers will be considered high-risk, not all will necessarily be considered high-risk upon return ​to their home ​countries, the ⁠ECDC said.

The agency urged symptomatic passengers to be prioritised for medical assessment and testing ​on arrival, adding they may isolate in ​Tenerife ⁠or be medically evacuated home, depending on their condition.

UK army in ‘daring’ parachute op to aid suspected Hantavirus patient

Earlier on Sunday, British military personnel carried out an airborne operation to deliver urgent medical support for a suspected Hantavirus patient on a South Atlantic island, ministers said.

An army specialist team parachuted onto the island of Tristan da Cunha, Britain’s most remote overseas territory, a defence ministry statement said.

One of three British nationals diagnosed with suspected hantavirus linked to the outbreak on the MV Hondius cruise ship is on the island.

The team of six paratroopers and two military clinicians, all from the 16 Air Assault Brigade, descended from a Royal Air Force (RAF) A400M transport aircraft “in a daring parachute drop”, the statement said.

Vital oxygen supplies and other medical aid were air-dropped almost simultaneously.

The urgent response came after confirmation by the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) on Friday of a suspected infection in a British national on the island.

Tristan da Cunha, a group of volcanic islands with a population of around 220 has no airstrip and is accessible only by boat.

With oxygen supplies at critically low levels, officials said an airdrop was the only viable option to deliver care in time and support the island’s two-person medical team.

Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper paid tribute to the armed forces for an “extraordinary operation”.

The drop involved a long-range flight of nearly 6,800 kilometres from RAF Brize Norton in central England to Ascension Island, followed by a further 3,000-kilometre flight to Tristan da Cunha, the statement said.

On Friday, the WHO said that the hantavirus outbreak posed a minimal risk to the general public.

“This is a dangerous virus, but only to the person who’s really infected, and the risk to the general population remains absolutely low,” WHO spokesman Christian Lindmeier told reporters.

ISLAMABAD: Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi conveyed to Bangladeshi Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Shama Obaid Islam on Sunday that there were “vast opportunities for investment”, as the two sides agreed to increase cooperation in trade and business.

Naqvi, who is on an official visit to Bangladesh, called on Islam in Dhaka, where the two held “detailed discussions on bilateral relations, the regional situation, and Pakistan’s conciliatory role”, according to an official statement released by the Ministry of Interior.

The Bangladeshi state minister appreciated Pakistan’s efforts aimed at resolving the Iran-US conflict, it said.

Pakistan has been leading the efforts for the resolution of the conflict, which began with US-Israeli strikes on Iran on February 28, and hosted the first round of face-to-face talks between Washington and Tehran in April.

The interior ministry’s statement said that during Nqavi’s meeting with Islam, both sides agreed to increase cooperation in the fields of trade, business, and culture and “on maximum mutual exchange of delegations to promote trade and cultural relations”.

“Discussion was also held regarding the visit of Bangladesh’s foreign minister to Pakistan,” it added.

Bangladesh Foreign Ministry Secretary Mohammad Nazrul Islam, Pakistani High Commissioner Imran Haider and other officials were also present at the meeting.

The meeting comes a day after Naqvi signed an anti-narcotics memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Bangladesh Interior Minister Salahuddin Ahmed and offered cooperation on the Safe City Project.

Relations between Islamabad and Dhaka have improved since the ouster of former Bangladeshi premier Sheikh Hasina, during whose tenure ties between the two countries remained shaky.

As fears of renewed conflict hang over Iran, conservationists are shoring up battered historic sites and taking stock of the damage caused by the war with the United States and Israel, though experts warn some repairs could take years.

At Golestan Palace, a defining cultural landmark in central Tehran, shattered mirrors, broken doors and debris from ornate ceilings now lie scattered across parts of the site after shockwaves from strikes on the capital following the outbreak of war on February 28.

The former royal residence, known for its sprawling gardens, pools and royal halls, has been listed as a Unesco World Heritage site since 2013.

The fragile truce in place since April 8 has allowed experts to begin gauging the scale of the damage, though the complex remains closed to the public.

“The damage has been assessed at several levels, but a more detailed specialised evaluation is still underway,” Ali Omid Ali, a restoration specialist and head of the technical engineering department at Golestan Palace, told AFP.

For now, he said, teams are focused on stabilising damaged structures and preventing further collapse before broader repair work can begin.

“We need a more stable situation to start the restoration process,” he said.

Initial estimates suggest work at the site could cost around $1.7 million, though the figure could rise following a full assessment, he added, noting that repairs could take “two or more years”.

The palace, known for blending 19th-century Persian arts and architecture with European styles and motifs, is among at least five Unesco-listed sites damaged during the conflict.

“Fifty to 60 per cent of its doors and windows are broken,” Jabbar Avaj, director of the Golestan Palace museums, told the official IRNA news agency.

The palace’s famed Mirror Hall — known for shimmering mosaics covering its ceilings and walls — and the Marble Throne, a ceremonial platform supported by statues representing mythical and royal symbols, were “seriously damaged”, he said.

‘Shadow of war lingers’

Other affected Unesco-listed sites include Chehel Sotoun Palace and the Masjed-e Jame in Isfahan, as well as the prehistoric sites of the Khorramabad Valley.

Beyond the listed sites, the war affected at least 140 culturally and historically significant locations across Iran, according to Hassan Fartousi, head of Iran’s National Commission for Unesco.

Among them are Tehran’s Marble Palace, the Teymourtash house and the sprawling Saadabad Palace complex in northern Tehran, a former royal residence set within a vast park and home to several museums.

“The shadow of war still lingers over Iran’s sky, and in this situation, we cannot plan very well for restoration,” Fartousi said.

While the ceasefire since April 8 has largely halted fighting in major urban centres housing cultural sites, sporadic clashes have occurred in coastal areas and Gulf waters, and talks have so far failed to produce a lasting settlement.

Fartousi also worries that even after repairs, damaged heritage sites may never recover their original character, noting the entire idea of cultural heritage rests on “the concept of originality”.

“Even if we do the restoration with our great artists and specialists in restoration, where will the originality be?” he said.

Funding remains a major challenge, with the Iranian government yet to announce a restoration budget as it struggles to offset the impact of the war and a US blockade that has severely disrupted exports.

“Unfortunately, Unesco and other international organisations have limited budget,” he said, adding that negotiations were ongoing to secure support.

Asked about the overall cost of restoring the damaged sites, Fartousi simply said: “All of them are priceless.”

Header image: A visitor walks through the damaged interiors of the historic Golestan Palace in Tehran on April 4, 2026. — AFP/File

Sana stood outside the gates of the police station with her young son, clutching her hand as she trembled from fear of what people would say if she went inside.

The 26-year-old had been subjected to four years of physical, emotional and financial violence at home, and now her husband was threatening to leak their private videos. What held her back was not fear of her abuser but a sentence she had heard her whole life: Sharif larkiyaan thaney nahi jaati. Good girls don’t go to police stations.

At our gate, Sana was not just dealing with her husband’s violence but also battling a deeper, more systemic violence in the shape of a belief system that decided how far she was allowed to seek justice.

This story is not an isolated one. I often hear it as a Sub-Divisional Police Officer serving with the Sindh Police. Each complainant who happens to be a woman or her family apologises to me: “We come from a respectable family. We have never stepped inside a police station.” This disclaimer signals that the act of going to the police needs to be justified.

When women say it, the police station ceases to operate as an institutional space where you can report a crime, and it morphs into a dangerous site where you imperil your social identity. There is a striking pattern to this pre-emptive stigma neutralisation. The disclaimer is the same no matter what the crime. It is given when a woman’s husband breaks her arm at home in Larkana, she is raped by her employer in Landhi, threatened by her own uncles in Mirpurkhas, and even when she loses her life savings to some scammer bro sitting in Ratodero with a 5G connection.

The subtext is always the same: If you do go to a police station, you will no longer be considered respectable. This is classic patriarchal control over a woman’s mobility and voice. A sharif aurat is constructed around notions of modesty, obedience and invisibility in public spaces. At the same time, police stations in Pakistan have been historically associated with male domination and crime. But the result is that women are left to endure injustice rather than encouraged to seek a remedy.

This barrier flies in the face of guarantees enshrined in the Constitution of Pakistan that all citizens are equal under the law and deserve its protection. The message should be that a woman going to a police station is not compromising on her dignity but exercising a fundamental right.

The persistence of this stigma is dangerous given the magnitude of violence that is widespread and under-reported. The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan and Aurat Foundation provide some sense of what is out there, but so many cases are never reported or withdrawn because of the thana stigma.

Recently, a young woman walked into a police station with her brother, seeking help for repeated physical violence by her husband. She spoke in fragments at first, hesitant, almost apologetic, describing the abuse she had been enduring. There were signs of fear, but also urgency. Before she could explain her situation, her brother interrupted. He dismissed the severity of the situation with a practised calm. They did not want to pursue legal action and instead asked if they could do something else.

“Bas usse bula ke police wali zuban mein samjha den ke theek se rahen.” Just call the husband and tell him to straighten out in the language of the law. In that moment, the woman’s plea for safety was reframed into a demand for adjustment.

What stood out was not just the violence she had faced, but the boundary her family had already drawn around justice.

Legally, the option to proceed was clear. Under the Domestic Violence (Prevention and Protection) Act and provisions of the Pakistan Penal Code, physical assault and abuse are crimes serious enough that police can arrest the person accused of them and investigate (cognisable offences). The State sees such violence as a crime, and not as a private matter, but in reality, the law often arrives second after family negotiations are held, social calculations are made, and reputational concerns weighed up.

Forty-two Women and Children Protection Cells (WCPCs) have been opened in all ranges and districts of Sindh to make reporting a crime easier (See list of officers, locations and contact numbers below). You can use the WCPC app, Zainab Alert, 1917 or IG Complaint Cell as well. But none of these diminish a physical police station as the most immediate point of access to justice.

The WCPCs have contributed to a noticeable increase in crime reporting, especially for domestic violence, harassment and child abuse, by providing a relatively more sensitive and less intimidating environment staffed by female officers. For instance, the call centre 1715 WCPC from January 1, 2025, to November 2025 received ~82,570 complaints online alone, mostly domestic violence and harassment, which were catered to accordingly. One woman was brought to a police station after making a call to 15. Her husband had thrown hot tea at her face because he claimed she had served him in old utensils. He was immediately arrested.

In that moment, the law was clear, and the institutional response was immediate, but what followed was more revealing than the crime itself. As proceedings began, the woman pleaded, “Please release my husband. He won’t do it again. Just make him understand.” The same system she had called on for help was now being asked to retreat. No wonder she was back again after a month, this time with a graver assault.

Discouraging women from going to police stations does not protect dignity. It protects the perpetrators. Cycles of violence grind on when victims or survivors are dissuaded from resorting to state institutions for support. For many women, fear of social judgement outweighs the promise of legal protection. I see women pleading for a settlement with their husbands and trying to convince them not to be violent towards them, without taking any legal action. Their only concern is to keep the family reputation intact.

They reveal that the barrier is not always access to the system; sometimes it is the conditioned belief that using it fully will cost more than enduring the violence. Families concerned about their social standing discourage the reporting of a crime even in serious abuse cases. But in doing so, they normalise a culture of silence. The media has not helped by loading with controversy a woman’s presence in a police station. This framing is being challenged, but much work remains to be done.

A notion that needs to spread to all parts of society is that a police station is not a place of dishonour. It is a public institution meant to serve citizens, and a woman who walks into a thana is not stepping outside her respectability but asserting her rights.

Meanwhile, change is being driven forward in the attitude of police officials toward female victims. Capacity-building sessions are held regularly on handling female complainants, victims of heinous crimes and other vulnerable groups. A front desk officer will pause and think before saying, ‘Aurat ne kuch to kiya hoga,’ as was the case before. (She must have done something). The rise in the number of women police officers is reshaping how women experience the system. It may not dismantle stigma overnight, but it does create an entry point, a space where hesitation softens.

I have often witnessed that shift the moment a woman steps into my office and takes a visible sigh of relief. A woman who had been defrauded by her husband at first was uncertain about proceeding, but as we walked her through the legal channels, something began to change.

With every interaction, she began to appear more assured. The last time she came to see me, her demeanour was entirely different. “Kya hum kabhi bhi aapke office aaskte hain baghair kisi rukawat ke?” she asked me. Can we come to your office without any problems? For many women, access to justice is not assumed; it is negotiated; it is uncertain and sometimes dependent on who sits on the other side of the table.

Police departments must continue to ensure professionalism, confidentiality and dignity in handling complaints. This will only be possible when the basic unit of the police station is made stronger. Women are taking up key positions and ranks. Encouraging women to report violence is not a threat to social values; it is a reinforcement of the rule of law.

Sharif aurat thaney nahi jaati is not merely outdated, it is also exclusionary. While the feminisation of policing has begun to transform the thana, the greater challenge lies in transforming the mindset that keeps women away from it.

MIRANSHAH: A large-scale security operation against militants continued for the third consecutive day in the Shewa tehsil and adjoining areas of North Waziristan, with reports claiming that seven militants, including two key commanders, were killed during search and clearance operations.

According to sources, several militant hideouts were destroyed during the operation, while security forces intensified actions in multiple localities of the region.

In the Dorwazanda area of Shewa tehsil, the Alam Khel Market was reportedly almost completely demolished during the operation. Local residents claimed that militants had allegedly been using the market as hideouts and movement routes.

Meanwhile, in the Anarkhel area, an alleged militant hideout and a residential compound were also destroyed with explosive material. Sources added that security forces had taken control of several important buildings and installations during the operation, including the Governor Model School, which militants were allegedly using for their activities.

Residents and local sources said door-to-door search operations were continuing in Dorwazanda and nearby areas, while additional contingents of security personnel had been deployed. Security forces also conducted raids on several suspected locations and reportedly seized weapons and other materials.

According to reports, militants suffered heavy casualties during the ongoing operation. Sources claimed that the slain militants were allegedly involved in attacks on security forces and police personnel, as well as incidents of targeted killings.

Security operations were also launched in the Sarkhani area, where intermittent firing and explosions continued to be heard, sources said.

A curfew remained imposed across the affected areas, severely disrupting daily life and causing difficulties for residents. Several families were said to have shifted to safer locations, while business activities remained completely suspended.

Security officials said the purpose of the operation was to eliminate militant elements from the area and restore peace and stability.

Historically, Shewa was considered one of the relatively peaceful areas of North Waziristan. Residents primarily depend on agriculture, livestock and small-scale businesses, and the area is known for its simplicity and strong tribal cohesion.

Even during the military operations launched after 2014, locals say Shewa remained comparatively less affected, and normal life returned sooner than in other parts of the district.

However, over the past year, the situation has deteriorated sharply. Residents attribute the worsening conditions to a rise in targeted killings, quadcopter attacks and increased activity by outlawed militant groups.

In March, after the evacuation of Dorwazanda, Alamkhel, Malokhel and Anarkhel villages in Shewa, families from nearby localities were also fleeing their homes to relatively safer districts.

In January, unknown attackers blew up a bridge over the Kurram River, which served as a vital link between several villages, compounding difficulties faced by residents.