A new UN Security Council report has 'officially attributed' the November 2025 Red Fort terror attack in New Delhi, which killed about 15 people, to Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS). The report highlights AQIS's evolution into a regional terrorist entity and its efforts to establish networks.
Pakistani security forces killed five terrorists in separate operations in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. The operations, based on intelligence reports, took place in the Tank and Dera Ismail Khan districts, targeting members of the banned Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). Weapons and ammunition were recovered from the slain terrorists.
The operation followed a militant attack on a Rangers headquarters in Karachi that killed three soldiers.
An IED blast in Lakki Marwat district, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, Pakistan, injured five police officers. The attack, claimed by Fitna-al-Khawarij (a term used for TTP terrorists), involved an IED planted on a motorcycle. Security measures have been increased in the region following a surge in violence.
'Islamabad feels it has no alternative, but to address the challenges from the Afghan-Taliban through an open war.'
Three civilians, including two women, were injured in alleged cross-border firing by Afghan Taliban forces after Pakistan's security forces foiled an infiltration bid by militants along the border in South Waziristan.
'The unexpected turn of events and assertion of sovereignty by the Taliban has baffled the Pakistan security establishment.'
'TTP has vowed to take revenge for the attacks that Pakistan is carrying out against Afghanistan.' 'To diminish this threat, Pakistan is hitting Afghanistan hard.'
'If this region destabilises, then we are not far away. This region should not destabilise.'
A special court in Nagpur sentenced two men to five years of rigorous imprisonment for allegedly making threat calls to Union minister Nitin Gadkari in 2023 from a jail in Karnataka.
Delhi Police have arrested a suspected Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) handler, Shabir Ahmed Lone, in Delhi, uncovering a terror module with links to Pakistan's ISI. Lone is accused of running a network involved in pasting anti-national posters and planning terror activities across India.
These transfers can be seen as part of a continuing process on General Asim Munir's part to keep his senior generals happy, notes Rana Banerji, who headed the Pakistan desk at RA&W.
Asim Munir and his brand of short-sighted army officers give no inkling of paying heed, changing course or learning lessons from the past, observes Rana Banerji, who headed the Pakistan desk at RA&W.
Pakistan and China have submitted a joint bid at the UN Security Council to designate the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) and its suicide wing - Majeed Brigade - as a terrorist entity under the Council's 1267 Al Qaeda Sanctions Committee.
While Asim Malik's role in Pakistan's recent warming up of relations with the US is acknowledged, army watchers note a recent distancing, what with Asim Munir not wanting his DG, ISI to share the limelight during his subsequent sojourns to Tampa and Brussels, points out Rana Banerji, who headed the Pakistan desk at RA&W.
Asim Malik's shift to the important DG, ISI post comes as something of a surprise now, but it indicates the army chief's confidence in him, notes Rana Banerji, who headed the Pakistan desk at RA&W.
Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan has showed its solidarity with the militants of Indian Kashmir and has said that the Taliban are struggling for implementing Islamic Shariah not only in Pakistan but also in the region including Kashmir.
Afghan Acting Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi met Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) members on Monday to discuss opportunities in his country, especially in the mining sector. The Taliban, who now control Afghanistan, is seeking to repair its ties with New Delhi, and is hopeful of Indian public and private sectors increasing investments in the mining and power sector, and greater trade and commerce.
Intelligence agencies investigating the November 10 Delhi terror attack involving a suicide car blast have uncovered fresh details pointing to a wider transnational terror network, a structured chain of handlers, and preparations for multiple coordinated attacks, official sources told ANI.
Developing relations with the Taliban is needed, but plunging headlong into Afghanistan without due thought will be akin to the rooster entering a KFC outlet, warns Lieutenant General Prakash Katoch (Retd).
'Five months after the elections in February 2024, the Pakistan army has not been able to break Imran Khan's resolve and break his political party.'
Pakistan Interior Minister Rehman Malik on Tuesday claimed the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan has split into two, a remark that comes amidst reports that commanders of the banned group were divided on the issue of holding peace talks with the government.
'Pakistan is uncomfortable with the Indian presence in Afghanistan. They want the Taliban to ensure that there is no Indian presence in Afghanistan.'
The Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan has never grown into a unified group and by its very nature continues to be a conglomeration of different militant tribal groups that broadly follow similar goals.
'Shock, confusion, and paralysis reigned.' 'Pakistan was caught in a most embarrassing situation. It could neither claim credit for the operation nor admit to a dismal intelligence failure and lack of army preparedness.'
Following Pakistani airstrikes in Afghanistan's Barmal district of Paktika province, which left 46 dead and six injured, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Afghanistan on Wednesday summoned the Charge d'Affaires of the Pakistani Embassy in Kabul.
A UN Security Council report states that The Resistance Front (TRF) claimed responsibility for the Pahalgam terror attack and published a photograph of the attack site. The report also cites assertions that the attack could not have happened without the support of Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Tayyiba (LeT).
Recent disclosures allege large scale corruption, nepotism and kickbacks by Pakistan air chief Air Marshal Zaheer Ahmed Babar Sidhuin housing land deals in Islamabad and in buying of new aircraft, points out Rana Banerji, who headed the Pakistan desk at RA&W.
Imran Khan on Wednesday promised to cooperate with Nawaz Sharif to tackle key challenges like terrorism despite "serious political differences" with the Pakistan Muslim League - Nawaz chief who is set to become Pakistan's next prime minister. "We have serious political differences but we decided that we will work together to solve the country's problems, including terrorism," the cricketer-turned-politician said in a video message aired at a news conference.
The result is a big blow to the military establishment, revealing the limits of 'political engineering'. It reflected the anger of the electorate, especially its younger voters, who have spoken decisively against the persistent harassment and victimisation of Imran Khan's political party, asserts Rana Banerji, who headed the Pakistan desk at RA&W.
The timing of these transfers, while being projected as routine, is significant in both strategic and political terms, asserts Rana Banerji, who headed the Pakistan desk at the Research and Analysis Wing, India's external intelligence agency.
Cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan, who was injured in a fall at an election meeting, has made a dramatic appeal to the people from his hospital bed to vote for his party in the May 11 polls and help build a "new Pakistan".
Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf chief Imran Khan, recovering speedily after fracturing his spine in a freak accident at an election campaign meeting, was on Wednesday discharged from a hospital.
Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf chief Imran Khan is recovering speedily after fracturing his spine in a freak accident at an election campaign meeting and is expected to leave hospital on Wednesday, party officials said on Tuesday.
It is important for India to pay close attention to both the tone and substance of authoritative remarks coming out of Pakistan, explains former foreign secretary Shyam Saran.
'We've moved from thousands killed yearly in Jammu and Kashmir to 127 last year.' 'Cross-border terrorism in Kashmir is being solved. We are winning it.'
But the ISI chief did not retire giving the impression that he has won General Asim Munir's trust, notes Rana Banerji who headed the Pakistan desk at RA&W.
'If Pakistan's army wants to escalate violence in Kashmir, they have an unlimited supply of jihadis they can train and send. That's not an issue for them.'
Banned Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan's operational commander and an unidentified foreigner have been arrested by intelligence operatives in the restive Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province, according to a media report on Thursday.
'India won't take anything from Pakistan lying down.'
