Pakistan condemns Israel’s ‘barbaric act’ of sending 88 decomposed bodies to Gaza

ISLAMABAD: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan gifted a model of the Turkish homegrown electric vehicle Togg to Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif during his two-day visit to Islamabad this week. 

Erdogan gifted Sharif the T10X model Togg SUV, with a video clip showing both leaders examining the SUV’s black exterior. Sharif can be seen in the video, sitting behind the wheel with Erdogan beside him in the passenger seat as the Pakistani premier drove it. 

Later, First Lady Aseefa Bhutto-Zardari drove Erdogan and her father, President Asif Ali Zardari, in a Togg SUV as media persons watched. 

“I thank my dear brother President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and my respected sister Madam Emine Erdogan, for honoring us with their gracious presence and for bringing along a high-powered delegation from Turkiye,” Sharif wrote on social media platform X on Thursday after the Turkish president departed. 

Pakistan was Erdogan’s third stop in his three-nation Asia tour this week. In his first two stops in Malaysia and Indonesia, Erdogan gifted a similar model of the electric vehicle to Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim and Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto. 

Pakistan and Türkiye signed 24 agreements and memorandums of understanding (MoUs) on Thursday as Erdogan arrived in the country to discuss how to boost trade and economic ties between the two nations. 

Erdogan said he had also held extensive discussions with the Pakistani prime minister on bilateral, regional and global issues.

ISLAMABAD: Security forces killed 13 militants in five separate counterterrorism operations in the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province this week, Pakistan army’s media wing said on Thursday, vowing to eliminate militancy from the country. 

Security forces conducted five different operations between Feb. 12-13, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said in a statement, with the first one taking place in Dera Ismail Khan district in which five militants were killed. 

In North Waziristan district, another five militants were killed in two separate gunbattles while two other militants were killed in Lakki Marwat district. In the last operation, one militant was killed in the Khyber district. 

“Weapons and ammunition were also recovered from the killed khwarij, who remained actively involved in numerous terrorist activities against the security forces as well as killing of innocent civilians,” the ISPR said, referring to the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militants. 

The army said it was launching sanitization operations to eliminate other militants found in the area.

“Security forces of Pakistan are determined to wipe out the menace of terrorism from the country,” the ISPR said. 

Pakistan has seen a surge in militancy in KP since a fragile truce between TTP and the state broke down in November 2022. The militants have stepped up attacks against police and security forces in recent months, with the military reporting deaths of 383 soldiers and 925 militants in various clashes in the country in 2024.

The Pakistani Taliban have frequently targeted security forces and police convoys and check-posts, besides targeted killings and kidnappings of law enforcers and government officials in the region.

Islamabad has frequently blamed the surge in militancy on Afghanistan, accusing it of sheltering and supporting militant groups that launch cross-border attacks. 

Afghan officials deny involvement and insist that Pakistan’s security issues are an internal matter of Islamabad.