KHYBER: The Peshawar-Torkham Highway was reopened on Sunday following a temporary closure by Sultan Khel tribesmen protesting the handling of ‘targeted killings’ in their area by Zaka Khel elders and government authorities.
Two Sultan Khel residents were gunned down by unidentified assailants on Friday evening — in the same area where two policemen had been targeted over the last few months.
The fresh violence prompted Sultan Khel residents from the Zaka Khel tribe to block the Peshawar-Torkham Highway by staging a protest on Saturday. The road closure also temporarily suspended the repatriation of Afghan families via the Torkham border.
Murad Hussain, a leading figure among the protesters, told Dawn on Sunday that a negotiating committee comprising young Sultan Khel tribesmen was formed to hold talks with government functionaries to find ways to restore peace in the Landi Kotal tehsil, while also securing the main Peshawar-Torkham Highway from nighttime terrorist movement reported in the area.
The committee demanded that the local administration either completely ban pillion riding on the main road or allow it only for those who were officially registered with the traffic police and security forces.
The committee also agreed to end residents’ boycott of the polio vaccination drive, and stated that all government and private educational institutions would be reopened on Monday.
Sources among the protesters said that the majority of residents —mostly youngsters — were outraged as elders had not taken them into confidence while negotiating with government officials over putting an immediate end to targeted killings.
No date for negotiations between the concerned authorities and the newly formed committee was announced.
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Local sweets-fan favorite serves as inspiration for one of two donuts not available anywhere else in the world.
You’d think it’d be hard for a city of nearly two and a half million people to get overlooked, but that’s the position Nagoya often finds itself in. Despite having some very cool stuff (like a castle and good access to the Studio Ghibli anime theme park), Nagoya is often skipped by travelers and pop stars alike, perhaps because it can’t match the big-city glamor of Tokyo and Osaka, but also doesn’t have the same traditional mystique as Kyoto or Nara.
But you know who never forgets about Nagoya? Krispy Kreme. The donut chain’s Premium Nagoya series is a selection of special, extra-decadent donuts that are only offered in Nagoya, and specifically only at the JR Nagoya Takashimaya branch in the Takashimaya department store that’s attached to Nagoya Station.
With the weather getting warmer, two new Nagoya-exclusive treats are on their way, one of which makes use of the city’s best-loved sweets themes: an (sweet bean past) and butter.
The Krispy Kreme Nagoya Premium Lemon and An Butter is a bun-style donut that wraps around a filling of sweet and tart lemon jam, an, and butter. While many Nagoya sweets shops combine butter and red an (such as in the an butter toast served by many cafes in the city), for this donut Krispy Kreme uses white an, which has a more refined sweetness and cleaner finish. Add in the richness of the butter, and you’ve got a complex flavor profile that also promises to be refreshingly citrusy as we head into the hottest time of the year.
Joining the lemon an butter donut on the menu will be the Krispy Kreme Nagoya Premium Peach and Vanilla. Aichi actually supplies quite a bit of Japan’s produce, including white peaches, and this donut is filled with peach jam with pieces of fruit in it, and also vanilla cream. You also get a swirl of cream around the top of the donut plus a pistachio accent, making the Nagoya Premium Peach and Vanilla very pretty to look at in those scant few seconds before your willpower crumbles and you dig in.
Shop information
Krispy Kreme Donuts (JR Nagoya Takashimaya branch) / クリスピー・クリーム・ドーナツ（ジェイアール名古屋タカシマヤ店）
Address: Aichi-ken, Nagoya-shi, Nakamura-ku, Meieki 1-1-4 JR Nagoya Takashimaya 1st floor North Block
愛知県名古屋市中村区名駅1-1-4ジェイアール名古屋タカシマヤ1F北ブロック
Open 10 a.m.-8 p.m. Website
Bangladesh and India have agreed to deepen cooperation along their shared border with improved intelligence sharing and coordinated patrols, according to a joint statement released on Friday, amid strained relations over alleged undocumented migration.
Dhaka has accused Indian authorities of attempting to force migrants across the border without due process, complicating efforts to stabilise ties following the 2024 ousting of Sheikh Hasina and India’s broader effort to identify and deport undocumented migrants.
Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) and India’s Border Security Force (BSF) described the discussions as “cordial, positive and forward-looking”, according to the statement released at the end of a four-day meeting of top border officials in New Delhi.
The regular talks also covered “illegal, inadvertent and forcible crossing at border areas,” an increasingly contentious issue in recent months.
Bangladesh and India share a more than 4,000-kilometre border, one of the world’s longest. India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which governs key border states including Tripura, West Bengal and Assam, has said tackling alleged undocumented migration is a priority and has been trying to push Bengali-speaking Muslims branded “illegal infiltrators” into Bangladesh since last year.
Bangladesh has said it has sent more than a dozen letters to New Delhi seeking an end to the practice.
The BGB has reported foiling several alleged attempts in recent weeks and has stepped up deployments, intelligence operations and drone surveillance in border areas.
Earlier this week, Bangladesh’s State Minister for Foreign Affairs Shama Obaed Islam said that any push-ins without due process were “absolutely unacceptable,” warning they could undermine efforts to improve bilateral ties.
Bangladesh said it had intensified patrols and launched awareness campaigns along parts of the frontier to tackle the alleged forced crossings, while India said in May it had asked Dhaka to verify the nationality of more than 2,860 suspected Bangladeshi nationals living in India without formal documentation.
The joint statement said the two sides also discussed human trafficking, border deaths, smuggling, infrastructure and implementation of the Coordinated Border Management Plan.
“Both sides reaffirmed their commitment to maintaining peace, tranquillity and stability along the India-Bangladesh border,” the statement said, adding they would strengthen coordinated patrols, enhance vigilance, improve real-time information sharing and step up joint action against trans-border criminal networks.
The top border officials will next meet in Dhaka in November, the statement said.
ISLAMABAD: The PTI on Saturday accused the federal and Gilgit-Baltistan governments of “pre-poll rigging” over the deployment of 5,600 local police personnel and over 13,000 additional security personnel from outside the region ahead of the polls.
Elections in GB are scheduled for Sunday (June 7), after a four-month delay attributed to harsh winter weather. The PPP and other political parties have staged a series of rallies across the region and ramped up efforts to garner support ahead of the polls.
The PTI called upon the international community, human rights organisations and all democratic forces to take immediate notice of the gross violation of fundamental rights and the “blatant murder of democracy” in the region.
Meanwhile, the party’s Information Secretary Sheikh Waqas Akram criticised the unprecedented deployment of external forces and the “systematic suppression” of the PTI.
“In a region with a total population of approximately 900,000 and only 5,600 GB police personnel, the federal government has deployed over 13,000 additional security personnel from outside Gilgit-Baltistan, including 11,000 from the Punjab Police, 1,000 from the Sindh Police, 700 from the Frontier Constabulary (FC) and 140 from the ICT Police,” he said.
“This overwhelming presence of external forces, far exceeding the requirements of the local population, lays bare the regime’s alleged intent to seize control of polling stations, disrupt the voting process with the help of local proxies and engineer a pre-determined outcome on election day,” he alleged.
Akram further claimed: “This massive influx of police is not for maintaining peace but for orchestrating large-scale rigging. The Form-47 government is deliberately pushing the peaceful region of Gilgit-Baltistan into an atmosphere of fear and hostility by attempting to prevent genuine voters from exercising their right to vote for the PTI.”
He alleged systematic pre-poll rigging, saying internet services and landlines had been disrupted across Gilgit, noting that it was “a classic tactic to sever communication among PTI workers and supporters”. He further claimed that key PTI workers had been arrested in Gilgit over the past two days, even as the situation, according to him, had been improving for PTI candidates.
“PTI MLAs (Members of the Legislative Assembly) were coerced and bribed to abandon the party. Leaders and workers loyal to Chairman Imran Khan were forced into exile from GB. The PTI election symbol was arbitrarily banned,” Akram claimed.
“A last-minute alliance with the Gilgit-Baltistan Democratic Party was sabotaged when its symbol was abruptly withdrawn at midnight via a single text message to returning officers, without any written orders or legal justification from the Election Commission,” he claimed.
“Polling schemes were manipulated to target PTI and local nationalist candidates. Postal ballots for PTI have been blocked under fabricated pretexts, while PPP and PML-N candidates enjoy unrestricted access,” Akram alleged.
The party’s information secretary further alleged that PTI leaders and workers were barred from campaigning on “flimsy and unlawful grounds”, with no supporting notification or law produced by the Election Commission despite repeated demands by PTI lawyers.
“Rallies have been stopped and public movement restricted. Even the chief election commissioner told PTI lawyers that the party’s candidates should be ‘thankful’ for being allowed to submit nomination forms — a shocking admission of the commission’s alleged partisan role and complete abandonment of neutrality,” he said.
Akram alleged that in the final days of nominations, government ministers ensured that no viable PTI candidate remained in the field, further claiming that the administration was openly pressuring voters to vote for the PML-N and PPP, while widespread pre-poll rigging continued unabated in every constituency.
“It is an open secret that both the PPP and PML-N are banking on yet another Form 47-style manipulation because they know the people of Gilgit-Baltistan overwhelmingly support Imran Khan and the PTI,” he claimed.
“The message has been clearly conveyed to PTI leaders that the party will not be allowed to win any seats, and that any resistance or noise will result in the disqualification of candidates before polling. This is not an election; it is a state-orchestrated farce designed to crush the democratic will of the people,” Akram asserted.
He warned that unconstitutional and undemocratic tactics would not succeed in silencing the resilient people of Gilgit-Baltistan, who remained firmly committed to the vision of Imran Khan. He called upon the international community, human rights organisations and all democratic forces to take immediate notice of the gross violation of fundamental rights and the “blatant murder of democracy” in Gilgit-Baltistan.
The PTI also expressed concern and disappointment over the Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) government’s sudden decision to declare the Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC) a proscribed organisation.
“The party strongly believes that political, social and constitutional grievances must be addressed through democratic engagement, meaningful dialogue and constitutional means, not through bans, coercion or the use of force,” it said in an official statement.
“If JAAC was truly a terrorist organisation, why did the government spend months negotiating with it, signing agreements with it, implementing its demands, holding meetings with its leadership and treating it as a legitimate stakeholder?” it asked.
The PTI claimed that this was the “same failed model” used against itself, involving the suppression of peaceful protest, blocking of roads, suspension of communication, intimidation of citizens, and branding “every democratic demand as a threat to the state”.
Security forces killed four terrorists in two separate intelligence-based operations (IBOs) in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the military’s media wing said on Thursday.
The Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said that the four terrorists killed during the operations belonged to Fitna Al Khawarij, referring to the term used by the state to designate members of the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).
“On [the] reported presence of khwarij, an intelligence-based operation (IBO) was conducted by security forces in Dera Ismail Khan district,” ISPR said in a statement.
“During [the] conduct of the operation, own troops effectively engaged [the] khwarij location and after [an] intense exchange of fire, two khwarij … were sent to hell.”
ISPR added that another IBO was conducted in the Mohmand district of the province.
“In [the] ensuing skillful engagement, two more khwarij were effectively neutralised,” the statement added.
It further said weapons and ammunition were recovered from the dead terrorists, who remained actively involved in terrorist activities in the area.
“Sanitisation operations are being conducted to eliminate any other kharji found in the area, as [the] relentless Counter Terrorism campaign under vision ‘Azm e Istehkam’ (as approved by Federal Apex Committee on National Action Plan) by security forces and law enforcement agencies of Pakistan will continue at full pace to wipe out the menace of foreign-sponsored and supported terrorism from the country,” ISPR stated.
At the end of last month, 13 terrorists were killed during a two-day operation in KP’s Darra Adamkhel area, including two Afghan nationals who belonged to the Tariq Gidar group — a TTP affiliate.
There has been a resurgence in terrorism in Pakistan since the Afghan Taliban returned to power in Kabul in 2021.
Islamabad has repeatedly urged the Taliban administration to dismantle terrorist sanctuaries on Afghan soil, particularly those linked to the banned TTP. Officials say those appeals have gone unheeded.
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