DERA ISMAIL KHAN: Police in the Lakki Marwat district of Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province said they were calling off a days-long protest against a spike in militant attacks and targeted killings of police officers after the army agreed to leave check posts in villages and city centers of the restive area.
Pakistan’s army has a heavy presence across KP, where it has been battling militants from the Al-Qaeda, Pakistani Taliban and other groups for nearly two decades. The province, which borders Afghanistan, has witnessed a number of attacks on police, security forces and anti-polio vaccination teams as well as kidnappings of officials in recent months.
There have been protests in several districts of KP since July, when Pakistan’s cabinet announced that a new military operation would be launched amid a surge in terror attacks across the country. People in KP have rejected plans for an armed operation and demand that civilian agencies like the provincial police and the counter-terrorism department be better equipped.
In Lakki Marwat, police launched a sit-in on Monday and blocked the Peshawar-Karachi Indus Highway for all types of vehicular traffic. The sit-in continued for almost four days and ended late Thursday after the police said they had reached an agreement with the district administration, following the intervention of elders from the native Marwat tribe.
“Pak Army will leave Lakki Marwat within six days. Police must be empowered and given armored vehicles and other resources,” the district police spokesman said in a statement, detailing conditions of the agreement.
“External interference in police must be eliminated, injured policemen should be taken care of, and no disciplinary action should be taken against the police personnel and civilians who participated in the sit-in.”
The statement said police would relaunch their sit-in if the agreement was not implemented.
Lakki Marwat Police Spokesman Shahid Marwat told Arab News the army would not “totally withdraw” from the district but will leave check posts in villages and city centers.
The army and the provincial government have not yet commented on the military’s plans to exit Lakki Marwat.
The protest, which was joined by representatives of civil society and political parties as well as tribal elders and members of the public, came days after unidentified gunmen attacked a police van in Lakki Marwat, killing an officer, while two brothers of a serving policeman were also killed in a separate attack in the district last week.
Hours after the sit-in was called off, a police constable, Hikmat Ullah, was gunned down at a shop in the Samandar village of Lakki Marwat, according to police. The death brought the number of police killings in KP to 78 this year, police data showed.
The volatile Lakki Marwat district is located on the edge of Pakistan’s restive tribal regions that border Afghanistan, from where Islamabad says militants mainly associated with the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan frequently launch attacks, targeting police and security forces.
Islamabad has even blamed Kabul’s Afghan Taliban rulers for facilitating anti-Pakistan militants. Kabul denies the charges.
Police call off anti-militancy protest, say army will decrease presence in northwestern Pakistani district
https://arab.news/wnbmx
Police call off anti-militancy protest, say army will decrease presence in northwestern Pakistani district
- Army has heavy presence in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa where it has been battling militant groups for nearly two decades
- Army has not yet commented on the agreement, at least 78 policemen have been killed in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa this year
Pakistan, other Muslim states raise alarm over Gaza situation after heavy flooding
- Cold winter rains have repeatedly lashed the sprawling tent cities, turning Gaza’s dirt roads into mud and causing damaged buildings to collapse
- The situation has been compounded by lack of sufficient humanitarian access, acute shortages of essential life-saving supplies and materials
ISLAMABAD: Foreign ministers of Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and other Muslim nations on Friday voiced concern over the situation in Gaza, following severe flooding triggered by heavy rains in the territory.
As 2026 begins, the shaky 12-week-old ceasefire between Israel and Hamas has largely ended large-scale Israeli bombardment of Gaza. But Palestinians are still being killed almost daily by Israeli fire, and the humanitarian crisis shows no signs of abating.
Cold winter rains have repeatedly lashed the sprawling tent cities over past weeks, turning Gaza’s dirt roads into mud and causing buildings damaged in Israeli bombardment to collapse. UNICEF says at least six children have now died of weather-related causes.
In a joint message, foreign ministers of Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Indonesia, Jordan, Qatar, Türkiye, the United Arab Emirates, expressed their “deepest concern” over the situation, compounded by lack of sufficient humanitarian access, acute shortages of essential life-saving supplies, and the slow pace of the entry of essential materials required for the rehabilitation of basic services.
“The ministers highlighted that the severe weather has laid bare the fragility of existing humanitarian conditions, particularly for almost 1.9 million people and displaced families living in inadequate shelters,” the Pakistani foreign ministry said in a joint statement.
“Flooded camps, damaged tents, the collapse of damaged buildings, and exposure to cold temperatures coupled with malnutrition, have significantly heightened risks to civilian lives, including due to disease outbreaks, especially among children, women, the elderly, and individuals with medical vulnerabilities.”
The statement came a day after UNICEF said a 7-year-old, Ata Mai, had drowned Saturday in severe flooding that engulfed his tent camp in Gaza City. Mai had been living with his younger siblings and family in a camp of around 40 tents.
They lost their mother earlier in the war, according to the UN agency.
Video from Civil Defense teams, shown on Al Jazeera, showed rescue workers trying to get Mai’s body out of what appeared to be a pit filled with muddy water surrounded by wreckage of bombed buildings. The men waded into the water, pulling at the boy’s ankle, the only part of his body visible. Later, the body is shown wrapped in a muddy cloth being loaded into an ambulance.
Foreign minister of Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and other states appreciated the efforts of all United Nations (UN) organizations and agencies as well as non-government organizations (NGOs) in continuing to assist Palestinian civilians and deliver humanitarian assistance under extremely difficult and complex circumstances.
“They demanded that Israel ensure the UN and international NGOs are able to operate in Gaza and the West Bank in a sustained, predictable, and unrestricted manner, given their integral role in the humanitarian response in the Strip. Any attempt to impede their ability to operate is unacceptable,” the statement read.
The foreign ministers reaffirmed support to President Donald Trump’s plan for Gaza, with a view to ensuring the sustainability of the ceasefire, bringing an end to the war in Gaza, to secure a dignified life for the Palestinian people who have endured prolonged humanitarian suffering, and leading to a credible pathway to Palestinian self-determination and statehood.
“In this context, they stressed the urgent need to immediately initiate and scale up early recovery efforts, including the provision of durable and dignified shelter to protect the population from the severe winter conditions,” the statement read further.
“The ministers called on the international community to uphold its legal and moral responsibilities and to pressure Israel, as the occupying power, to immediately lift constraints on the entry and distribution of essential supplies including tents, shelter materials, medical assistance, clean water, fuel, and sanitation support.”
