ARREST OF PAKISTAN’S FORMER PRIME MINISTER IMRAN KHAN WAS ILLEGAL, TOP COURT RULES

Pakistan’s supreme court has ruled the arrest of the former prime minister Imran Khan was illegal and ordered for him to be released.

The chief justice of Pakistan, Umar Ata Bandial, declared that the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had acted in violation of the law by arresting Khan on the premises of the Islamabad high court without permission and that such actions would have a “chilling effect”.

A written order released by the court stated that the “manner of execution” of Khan’s arrest was “invalid and unlawful” and had violated his right to justice.

Khan was arrested by paramilitary troops on Tuesday as he entered the high court to face a corruption case. Bandial said Khan had already surrendered to the court when almost 100 rangers barged in and detained him, and he declared Khan’s arrest “unlawful” and in contempt of court.

“What dignity remains of the court if 90 people entered its premises? How can any individual be arrested from court premises?” Bandial said.

On Thursday evening, Khan was brought into the supreme court amid heavy security and produced before the three-judge panel. “There have been incidents of violence after your arrest,” Bandial said to him. “We want peace in the country.”

Khan told the judge he was unaware of what was happening in the country. “I was caught as if I am a terrorist. How am I responsible for the protests?” he said. On the request of the judge, Khan appealed for calm from his followers. “We only want elections in the country,” he said.

The judges directed Khan to appear before the Islamabad high court on Friday, where he will seek bail in several of the corruption cases against him.

Though no longer a prisoner, Khan was ordered to stay in a police guesthouse overnight “as a guest” under the security of Islamabad police to ensure his protection, and told he could bring 10 people of his choice to join him.

The government, led by prime minister Shehbaz Sharif, condemned the decision by the supreme court and made it clear that Khan was not safe from re-arrest after his release. “We will arrest him again. If he gets bail from the high court tomorrow, we will wait for the cancellation of bail and arrest him again,” said interior minister Rana Sanaullah.

The release of Khan was a significant triumph for his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party (PTI), who had alleged his arrest was an “illegal abduction”, orchestrated by the government and the country’s powerful military establishment.

The army was deployed across Islamabad and in the states of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where some of the worst violence has taken place. Police said they had arrested 1,300 people and 290 people had been injured in the violence.

In a statement addressing the unrest in Pakistan, the United Nations secretary general, António Guterres, called for “all parties to refrain from violence”.

TRUMP DIGS IN ON ELECTION LIES, INSULTS ACCUSER DURING CNN TOWN HALL EVENT

During a contentious CNN town hall on Wednesday, former president Donald Trump dug in on his lies about the 2020 election, downplayed the January 6, 2021, violence, and insulted the woman whom a civil jury this week found him liable of sexually abusing and defaming. He also refused to say whether he wants Ukraine to win the war against Russian aggression and said the US “might as well” default on its debt obligation.

The live, televised event underscored the challenges of fact-checking Trump in real time. The former president was cheered on as moderator Kaitlan Collins struggled to correct the record as Trump steamrolled with untrue statements. “You are a nasty person,” he snapped at one point.

The event also highlighted what is perhaps Trump’s most fundamental challenge as he emerged as the undisputed frontrunner for the Republican nomination.

Trump repeatedly doubled down on his lies that the 2020 election had been “rigged,” even though state and federal election officials, his own campaign and White House aides, and dozens of courtshave said there is no evidence to support his claims. He also displayed no remorse for what happened on January 6, when a mob of his supporters stormed the Capitol in a bid to halt the certification of Biden’s win. Instead, he lashed out at the Black police officer who shot and killed rioter Ashli Babbitt, calling him a “thug”. And he said he is inclined to pardon “a large portion” of the rioters charged.

U.K. GIVES CRUISE MISSILES TO KYIV; UKRAINE DELAYS COUNTER-ATTACK

The British government announced on Thursday it was giving long-range cruise missiles to Ukraine to help drive out Russia’s occupying forces, just as Kyiv delayed a possible counteroffensive more than 14 months after the Kremlin’s full-scale invasion as it awaits the delivery of more Western weapons.

U.K. Defence Secretary Ben Wallace told lawmakers in the House of Commons that Britain is donating Storm Shadow missiles, a conventionally-armed deep-strike weapon with a range of more than 250 kilometres.

That means it can hit targets deep behind the front line, including in Russia-occupied Crimea. U.K. media reported that Ukraine has pledged not to use the missiles to attack Russia itself.

The announcement came shortly after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said his country’s military needs more time to prepare a counteroffensive against Russian occupying forces.

REPORT: PAK TELLS IMF THAT IT’LL SCRAP FUEL SUBSIDY PLAN

Pakistan has told the IMF it will not implement a fuel subsidy programme as the two sides negotiate a long-delayed $1. 1 billion bailout for the country, Bloomberg News reported on Thursday. PM Shehbaz Sharif in March proposed charging affluent consumers more for fuel, with the money raised used to subsidise prices for the poor who have been hit hard by inflation. Pakistan has committed not to implement the cross-subsidy programme, an IMF spokesperson told Bloomberg. The government also will not introduce new tax exemptions and will “durably allow” a market-based exchange rate for the rupee currency, the IMF told Bloomberg.

UZBEKISTAN, ONCE A BACKER OF ANTI-TALIBAN FORCES, NOW BETS ON ENGAGEMENT

In the late 1990s, when the Taliban were in power in Kabul, Uzbekistan, along with Tajikistan, Russia, India and others, supported the anti-Taliban United Front (Northern Alliance) that had controlled parts of northern Afghanistan. Now, when the Taliban are back in Kabul, after a gap of 20 years, Tashkent is experimenting a different policy — cautious engagement.

Last month, Uzbekistan hosted a meeting of the Foreign Ministers of Afghanistan’s neighbouring countries in Samarkand, in which the Taliban Foreign Minister, Amir Khan Muttaqi, also participated. Mr. Muttaqi, who held bilateral talks with Uzbek Foreign Minister Bahtiyor Saidov, said Kabul was ready for the Trans-Afghanistan Railway project, which will connect Uzbekistan to Pakistan through Afghanistan and will significantly contribute to regional economic integration”.

“There’s a new reality in Afghanistan. The global community has demanded that the government in Afghanistan should be inclusive; rights of minorities and women should be protected and the country should not be a staging ground for terrorism. Uzbekistan has the same demands,” Manish Prabhat, India’s Ambassador in Uzbekistan, told a media delegation from India at the embassy in Tashkent. “But at the same time, Uzbekistan is sending humanitarian aid to Afghanistan, like India is also sending. It’s our shared view that terror should not spill over into Central Asia. Any instability in Afghanistan will affect us.”

ISRAEL AND GAZA MILITANTS CONTINUE TRADING FIRE, 28 DIE

Gaza/Rehovot : Israel killed two senior Islamic Jihad commanders, pressing an operation that has cost 28 lives in the Gaza Strip including women and children, while Palestinian cross-border rocket salvoes inflicted a first fatality in Israel on Thursday. Signalling no imminent let-up after three days of strikes, Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu said operations were proceeding at full pace. As the firing continued, Egypt hosted a senior Islamic Jihad official in Cairo to try to mediate an end to the flare-up, two faction officials and a foreign diplomat said. In Israel, sirens sent residents to shelters around Gaza as Iron Dome interceptors shot down some incoming rockets. In Rehovot, a city south of Tel Aviv, a direct hit on a building killed one person and injured five, medics said.

The death was the first fatality in this round of fighting in Israel. Israeli strikes hit 158 targets in Gaza as of Thursday, the military said. At least 523 rockets were launched, 380 of which crossed into Israel.

MPOX NO LONGER A GLOBAL HEALTH EMERGENCY: WHO

The World Health Organization (WHO) declared that mpox no longer constitutes a global health emergency on Thursday, almost exactly a year after the disease formerly known as monkeypox started spreading globally.

WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the decision was prompted by sharply falling case numbers worldwide, but emphasised that the disease remains a threat, particularly in areas of Africa where it has long been endemic.

This comes a week after the UN agency also declared that COVID-19 is no longer a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC), its highest level of alarm.

TURKISH CANDIDATE MUHARREM INCE DROPS OUT OF TIGHT PRESIDENTIAL RACE

ISTANBUL: Third-party candidate Muharrem Ince on Thursday withdrew from Turkey’s tight presidential election in a shock move that increased the chances of an Opposition first-round victory. The 59-year-old announced his decision after being targeted by a smear campaign that included doctored images of him meeting women.

YEMEN PEACE PUSH ‘SERIOUS’ BUT NEXT STEPS UNCLEAR: SAUDI ENVOY

ADEN: Warring parties in Yemen are “serious” about ending a devastating eight-year-old conflict but it is impossible to predict when direct talks, much less a breakthrough, might happen, Saudi Arabia’s envoy Mohammed al-Jaber (right, in the photo) said in his first comment after meeting with Huthi leaders in Sanaa last month.

AUSTRALIAN TRADE MINISTER VISITS CHINA IN A JOINT EFFORT TO REPAIR TIES

BEIJING: Australian Trade and Tourism Minister Don Farrell (left, in the photo) visited China on Thursday as part of a joint effort to repair ties scarred by political rifts over the past decade. In a statement issued by his office, Mr. Farrell said he would be “advocating strongly for the full resumption of unimpeded Australian exports to China.”

INDONESIA’S WIDODO SAYS NO REAL PROGRESS ON MYANMAR PEACE PLAN

LABUAN BAJO: Southeast Asian nations have made “no significant progress” on implementing a peace plan aimed at ending bloodshed in Myanmar, Indonesian President Joko Widodo said on Thursday, as a summit ended. Escalating violence in junta-ruled Myanmar dominated the meeting of the ASEAN on the island of Flores.