MULTAN, Pakistan: Five Al-Qaeda operatives were arrested in a raid overnight in eastern Pakistan, an official with the country’s counterterrorism department said Friday.
According to the official, Muhammad Imran, the raid in Punjab province was carried out in collaboration with the country’s top intelligence agency, the Inter Services Intelligence.
The suspects arrested late Thursday belong to the Al-Qaeda branch active in the region and known as Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent, he said, adding that the men ran a media cell for the terror network and coordinated its militant operations in the region. One of the arrested men was an expert in forged documents, while another specialized in digital media and publications, the official also said.
Imran said electronic equipment, weapons and explosive vests were seized in the raid. He said the suspects, who were initially based in the southern port city of Karachi but recently moved to Gujranwala, were also involved in raising funds for Al-Qaeda.
Al-Qaeda founder Osama Bin Laden was killed in a US Navy SEALs operation in May 2011 in his hiding place in the garrison city of Abbottabad, not far from the capital of Islamabad.
Pakistan arrests 5 Al-Qaeda operatives in nighttime raid
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Pakistan arrests 5 Al-Qaeda operatives in nighttime raid
- One of the arrested men was an expert in forged documents
- Counter terrorism department also ceases electronic equipment, weapons and explosive vests
Pakistan says $50 million meat export deal with Tajikistan nearing finalization
- Islamabad expects to finalize agreement soon after Dushanbe signals demand for 100,000 tons
- Pakistan is seeking to expand agricultural trade beyond rice, citrus and mango exports
ISLAMABAD: Tajikistan has expressed interest in importing 100,000 tons of Pakistani meat worth more than $50 million, with both governments expected to finalize a supply agreement soon, Pakistan’s food security ministry said on Tuesday.
Pakistan is trying to grow agriculture-based exports as it seeks regional markets for livestock and food commodities, while Tajikistan, a landlocked Central Asian state, has been expanding food imports to support domestic demand. Pakistan currently exports rice, citrus and mangoes to Dushanbe, though volumes remain small compared to national production, according to official figures.
The development came during a meeting in Islamabad between Pakistan’s Federal Minister for National Food Security and Research Rana Tanveer Hussain and Ambassador of Tajikistan Yusuf Sharifzoda, where agricultural trade, livestock supply and food-security cooperation were discussed.
“Tajikistan intends to purchase 100,000 tons of meat from Pakistan, an import valued at over USD 50 million,” the ambassador said, according to the ministry’s statement, assuring full facilitation and that Islamabad was prepared to meet the demand.
The statement said the two sides agreed to expand cooperation in meat and livestock, fresh fruit, vegetables, staple crops, agricultural research, pest management and standards compliance. Pakistan also proposed strengthening coordination on phytosanitary rules and establishing pest-free production zones to support long-term exports.
Pakistan and Tajikistan have long maintained political ties but bilateral food trade remains below potential: Pakistan produces 1.8 million tons of mangoes annually but exported just 0.7 metric tons to Tajikistan in 2024, while rice exports amounted to only 240 metric tons in 2022 out of national output of 9.3 million tons. Pakistan imports mainly ginned cotton from Tajikistan.
