Pakistan floats bitcoin mining proposal using surplus electricity at first crypto council meeting

QUETTA: At least nine people, including policemen, were injured after clashes broke out between police and protesters from an ethnic Baloch rights group, the Baloch Yakjehti Committee, late Friday night in the southwestern Pakistani city of Quetta, officials said.
The BYC accused law enforcement agencies of forcibly arresting its three central committee members on Wednesday and called for a protest on Sariab Road in Quetta, the capital of Balochistan province which has recent witnessed a spike in separatist attacks.
The call for protest followed a clash between protesters and the police after people attempted to take away bodies of deceased militants who were killed after the Jaffar Express train hijacking last week, according to authorities. The provincial government lodged a police case against the protesters who stormed the mortuary at Civil Hospital Quetta and booked 12 protesters on Thursday.
Last week, militants from the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) separatist group hijacked the Peshawar-bound Jaffar Express passenger train in the rugged, mountainous Bolan region, with more than 400 passengers onboard. The hours-long siege ended after Pakistan launched an operation and killed 33 militants. The deadliest train assault resulted in the killing of over 30 Pakistani security personnel and civilians.
“The Baloch Yakjehti Committee blocked highways in Quetta and the police took legal action against the protesters who were blocking the roads,” Shahid Rind, a spokesman for the Balochistan government, said on Friday.
“The protesters pelted stones at police and tortured policemen, injuring several cops and civilians.”
The BYC was staging a sit-in on Sariab Road with bodies of three protesters, which it alleged were killed by gunfire from the authorities.
Rind said the government was ascertaining whose bodies BYC placed in their protest: “It is impossible to know the causes of death of the bodies unless the bodies were brought to the hospital for medico-legal procedure.”
Dr. Arbab Kamran Kasi, head of Trauma Center Quetta told Arab News, they had received nine injured persons, including policemen.
“Six injured with minor wounds were discharged, two are being treated and one was referred to the Combined Military Hospital,” he shared.
Dr. Mahrang Baloch, a veteran human rights activist who heads the BYC, accused police of killing three protesters by shooting at a peaceful rally in Quetta.
“We called a peaceful sit-in today on the Sariab Road in Quetta but the police attacked our protesters,” she told Arab News. “Now we have camped at Sariab Road with the bodies of three slain protesters and we won’t end the protest until justice has been provided to our slain workers.”
The office of the Quetta commissioner denied reports of firing by authorities.
“No shelling was carried out by the administration during the BYC protest. No firearms or rubber bullets were used,” it said in a statement. “Only water cannons (non-lethal and safe method) were used to disperse the crowd.”
It said the administration respects the right to peaceful protest, however, lawlessness and attacks on state institutions cannot be permitted.
Amnesty International, a global human rights watchdog, voiced alarm over the reports of deaths of three protesters and nearly a dozen injuries following live ammunition fired by authorities against the protesters in Quetta, describing it as “a shocking indictment of the Pakistani authorities’ utter disregard for human life.”
“In blatant violation of the right to protest, the authorities conducted mass arrests and fired tear gas before resorting to unlawful use of lethal weapons against the unarmed protesters. Mobile networks in the city remain suspended, hindering free flow of information,” it said on X.
“Amnesty International urges the Pakistani authorities to immediately stop the reckless crackdown against the peaceful protesters and guarantee the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and expression, in line with Pakistan’s international human rights obligations.”
Balochistan is Pakistan’s largest province by land but its most backward by almost all economic and social indicators. For decades it has been plagued by a low-level insurgency by militants fighting for a greater share of the province’s wealth.
Separatist militants, such as the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) accuse the central government of denying locals a share of Balochistan’s mineral resources. The federal government and the military strongly deny these accusations, and say they have launched several projects in the province to support its development.
Violence by Baloch separatist factions, primarily the BLA, killed about 300 people last year, according to official statistics, marking an escalation in the decades-long conflict.

KARACHI: Pakistan’s stocks ended the week on Friday with a 2.5 percent weekly gain, with the benchmark KSE-100 Index hitting a record high as investors expected a positive outcome from the country’s ongoing talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) under the first review.
The last trading session of the week witnessed the stocks gauge rising to 119,405 points during the day before closing in the red at 118,442 points, 0.3 percent lower than the last close due to profit-taking.
An IMF staff mission left Pakistan last week after concluding a visit that lasted for over half a month, with its chief, Nathan Porter, issuing a statement saying the two sides “made significant progress toward reaching a Staff Level Agreement,” triggering a bull run at the Pakistan Stock Exchange.
“The week commenced with the completion of the IMF mission’s visit to Pakistan for the first review of the ongoing $7 billion Extended Fund Facility, though a staff-level agreement remains awaited,” he said.
Pakistan, he continued, was also in the process of securing an arrangement under the Resilience and Sustainability Facility (RSF) with the IMF for additional financing to address the impacts of climate change.
Pakistan is one of the world’s most affected nations by climate change and has witnessed extreme weather events like floods, droughts and heatwaves. The country is seeking about $1.5 billion in climate financing from the global lender, which is currently evaluating the country’s request.
The Karachi-based brokerage research firm Arif Habib Ltd. said the market remained “jubilant” during the week as investor sentiment was supported by expectations of a staff-level agreement between Pakistan and the IMF that will lead to the disbursement of $1.1 billion to Pakistan.
The IMF, it said, shared a draft of the Memorandum of Economic and Financial Policies with the authorities in Pakistan, which signaled progress.
“Furthermore, potential resolution of power circular debt charged up the overall sentiment,” it said.
The IMF has also allowed the government to recalibrate its Rs12.97 trillion tax collection target for the current fiscal year to Rs12.35 trillion.
“We expect the market to remain positive in the upcoming week,” said the research firm. “The equity investors will closely follow developments leading up to Pakistan’s pact with the IMF that is projected to keep the momentum at the bourse buoyant.”