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ISLAMABAD: The two Pakistanis, who were stranded on a ship seized by the Iranian forces, will be released after the confirmation of their nationalities and completion of legal formalities.  Speaking to Geo News, Iranian envoy to Pakistan, Reza Amiri Moqadam, said that they were waiting for the confirmation of the presence of Pakistani nationals on the ship. The diplomat confirmed that the Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Iran has shared the details with higher officials in Tehran. “If there’s a Pakistani on the ship, we will free the national after completing legal formalities considering brotherly ties,” Moqadam said. On Sunday, the Foreign Office had taken up the matter with Iranian authorities in Islamabad and shared details with them, sources told the TV channel. The development came after the family of the Chief Operating Officer (COO) of the Israel-linked container ship seized by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) asked the government of Pakistan for help. Family seeks Pakistani govt help Family sources told Geo News that there are two Pakistanis who were on the ship seized by the Iranian forces and one of them is Muhammad Adnan Aziz —the COO of the Portugal-flagged MSC Aries. His family lives in Karachi and Azad Kashmir and some of his relatives live in London who shared their worries with the media. They confirmed that Aziz, along with another Pakistani, was on the ship seized by Iran’s forces. “We approached the Foreign Office seeking help for the safe return of Muhammad Adnan Aziz as soon as possible. The FO has assured us of all help. We understand that the matter has been taken up with the Iranian authorities already.” The family members said they were shocked after learning that Iran had seized the ship near the Strait of Hormuz amid rising tensions across the region after a deadly Israeli attack on Iran’s consulate in Syria. They clarified that Aziz had nothing to do with the ownership of the ship or the regional issues. “He was just doing his job as a professional and was seized. We want his release and return,” shared the family members. The ship was commandeered by the IRGC, the elite force that lost seven members, including two generals, in the Syria strike. “The ship has now been guided towards the territorial waters of our country,” state-run IRNA reported. Who owns the vessel? The vessel — identified as the Portugal-flagged MSC Aries — had departed from a port in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) en route to India. It is associated with the London-based Zodiac Maritime, a part of the Zodiac Group run by Israeli billionaire Eyal Ofer and his family. White House National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson said the ship’s crew comprised of Indian, Filipino, Pakistani, Russian, and Estonian nationals, and pushed back against the vessel’s seizure. Footage from the deck of the vessel showed soldiers rappelling down from a helicopter. The helicopter appeared to be a Soviet-designed Mil Mi-17, which is operated by the naval forces of the IRGC. Zodiac Maritime said in a statement that MSC, an Italian-Swiss shipping group, was responsible for all vessel activities. MSC confirmed there were 25 crew members on board the ship, adding in a statement that it is “working closely with the relevant authorities to ensure their wellbeing, and safe return of the vessel”. The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) had said a vessel was seized by “regional authorities” 50 nautical miles (92km) northeast of the UAE’s Fujairah in a waterway vital to world trade. Source: https://www.thenews.com.pk/latest/1178575-pakistanis-stranded-on-ship-seized-by-iranian-forces-to-be-released

Fighting Politics and diplomacy Weapons Source: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/4/15/russia-ukraine-war-list-of-key-events-day-781

Source: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/4/15/israels-war-on-gaza-live-five-killed-in-nuseirat-as-israel-strikes-camps

The CCTV footage of the incident showed the veiled woman walking down the deserted street when suddenly a man comes running from behind and harasses the woman. Another incident of harassing a woman walking down the street has surfaced in Karachi. In the area of Old Golimar, a man sexually harassed a veiled woman walking down the street. When the woman resisted, the culprit fled. The CCTV footage of the incident showed the veiled woman walking down the deserted street when suddenly a man comes running from behind and harasses the woman. The man approached the woman from behind and cornered her. After harassing the woman, he quickly escaped from the scene. The police arrested the suspect, identified as Raza, with the help of CCTV footage. During the initial interrogation, the suspect confessed to his crime. Source: https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/1175759-man-held-for-sexually-harassing-woman-in-golimar

A 4.8 magnitude earthquake rattled the northeastern US Friday morning, the US Geological Survey (USGS) said, sending tremors along the Atlantic coast between Boston and Philadelphia. The quake’s epicentre was about 45 miles (72km) west of New York City in Lebanon, New Jersey, rocking buildings in densely populated Manhattan and throughout the five boroughs. As many as 45 million people may have felt the shocks, according to the USGS. Still, no casualties or major structural damage were immediately reported after the 10:23am local time (14:23 GMT) earthquake, according to the New York City Fire Department. In a post on the social media platform X, the New York City mayor’s office said it was still “assessing the impact”. Authorities were scheduled to hold a news conference at 12pm local (16:00 GMT) to provide updates. Meanwhile, the NYC Emergency Management agency urged anyone “in danger” to call the emergency 911 number, and to report any other non-emergency impacts to the city’s services hotline. A spokesman for NYC Public Schools said that teams were assessing school building facilities out of “an abundance of caution”. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey said it was temporarily closing the Holland Tunnel, an arterial commuter route connecting New Jersey and Manhattan, for inspection. Some flights bound for New York were also diverted to other airports, according to the tracking website FlightAware. Residents of the city reported feeling their buildings shake for several minutes. “I noticed the door trembling on its frame,” India Hays, a barista in lower Manhattan, told The Associated Press news agency. “I thought surely there couldn’t be an earthquake here.” Charita Walcott, a 38-year-old resident in the Bronx borough, said the quake felt “like a violent rumble that lasted about 30 seconds or so.” “It was kind of like being in a drum circle, that vibration,” she told the Reuters news agency. At the United Nations in midtown Manhattan, Save the Children CEO Inger Ashing abruptly stopped an address to the Security Council on the war in Gaza. “You’re making the ground shake,” Palestinian UN envoy Riyad Mansour quipped. People in Baltimore, Philadelphia, Connecticut and other areas of the Northeast also reported feeling the quake, with tremors lasting for several seconds felt more than 200 miles (322km) away near the Massachusetts-New Hampshire border. In a post on X, New York governor Kathy Hochul said she had been in touch with the White House, which said that President Joe Biden had also been briefed.Play Video For its part, the USGS noted that “earthquakes are uncommon but not unheard of along the Atlantic Coast”. There is no active tectonic plate boundary along the coast, “but there are stresses,” it said in a post on X. The earthquake evoked memories of an August 23, 2011, earthquake that jolted tens of millions of people along the Atlantic coast from Georgia to Canada. That earthquake registered at a magnitude 5.8 and was the strongest to hit the East Coast since World War II. The epicentre of that earthquake was in Virginia. It left cracks in the Washington Monument, spurred the evacuation of the White House and the US Capitol and rattled New Yorkers. Source: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/4/5/violent-rumble-4-8-magnitude-earthquake-rattles-new-york-city-northeast

The ongoing investigation into suspected anthrax-laced letters sent to judges of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) and Supreme Court has hit a brick wall after investigators discovered that the majority of CCTV cameras surrounding the post boxes in which the envelopes were likely deposited were non-functional, it was revealed on Thursday. On March 3, just a day after the Supreme Court of Pakistan took suo motu notice over the allegations of six IHC judges against intelligence agencies, the IHC chief justice among eight judges received suspected letters. The CTD team is racing against time to collect facts and ascertain the chemical nature of the powdery substance after the eight IHC judges received “letters containing suspected anthrax powder along with a threatening message”. According to sources, the case of suspicious letters is being investigated by the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) of the Islamabad police and a report on the progress made so far has been communicated to the Registrars of the Supreme Court and the IHC. Sources indicate that an examination of post boxes located within Satellite Town, Rawalpindi, is ongoing, with many CCTV cameras surrounding the post boxes found to be inoperative. Islamabad police have expanded the scope of the investigation using alternative means, including questioning individuals working in shops and offices in the area of post boxes. Furthermore, all staff at the Satellite Town, Rawalpindi post office have been included in the inspection. According to sources, the letters were sent by a woman named Resham without mentioning her address. They added that a staffer of a judge accidentally dropped the envelope containing the suspicious powdery substance and later felt extreme irritation in their eyes and burns on the skin around his lips. Following the incident, Islamabad Inspector General (IG) and Deputy Inspector General (DIG) police were summoned to the IHC. All the suspicious letters were handed over to the police for further investigation. It is noteworthy that initially, eight judges of the Islamabad High Court received suspicious letter, later judges of the Lahore High Court and even judges of the Supreme Court of Pakistan also got similar mail. Source: https://www.thenews.com.pk/latest/1175631-anthrax-letters-probe-hits-brick-wall-as-cctv-cams-near-post-boxes-found-faulty

At least 11 Iranian security force members have been killed in an attack on an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) headquarters in the southeastern border province of Sistan-Baluchestan, state media reported. In the ensuing overnight clashes with security forces, 16 members of Jaish al-Adl (Army of Justice) – a Sunni armed group – were killed, Iranian state TV reported on Thursday. The attack took place in the towns of Chabahar and Rask in Sistan-Baluchestan which borders Afghanistan and Pakistan. Reporting from Tehran, Al Jazeera’s Dorsa Jabbari said it was one of the deadliest attacks carried out by Jaish al-Adl. “Gunmen stormed various security and military compounds simultaneously … and they also had suicide vests on,” Jabbari said, adding that the fighting continued for several hours. “The terrorists failed to succeed in achieving their goal of seizing the Guards headquarters in Chabahar and Rask,” Deputy Interior Minister Majid Mirahmadi told state TV. Ten security officers were injured in the fighting in the impoverished region, which has a predominantly Sunni Muslim population.Play Video Jabbari said the attack took place at a very “critical time” for Iran, coming days after its consulate in Damascus, Syria, was hit in a suspected Israeli missile strike for which Iran pledged revenge. Brigadier-General Mohammad Reza Zahedi, a senior commander in the IRGC’s Quds Force, and his deputy, General Mohammad Hadi Hajriahimi, were killed in Monday’s attack. “Many questions will be asked about how this attack was able to be carried out at this time,” Jabbari said. Jaish al-Adl was formed in 2012 and is blacklisted by Iran as a “terror” group. The group claimed responsibility for an attack in December that killed 11 officers, one of the deadliest assaults in years, at a police station in Sistan-Baluchestan’s city of Rask, about 1,400km (875 miles) southwest of the capital, Tehran. It also said it was behind a strike on a police station in Rask that killed one officer on January 10. Later that month, Iran struck two bases of the group in Pakistan with missiles, prompting a rapid military riposte from Islamabad targeting what it said were separatist armed rebels in Iran. Jaish al-Adl says it seeks greater rights and better living conditions for ethnic minority Baluchis in Shia-dominated Iran. It has claimed responsibility for several attacks in recent years on Iranian security forces in Sistan-Baluchestan. The area has long been plagued by unrest and the site of frequent clashes between Iranian security forces and Sunni fighters, as well as drug traffickers. Iran is a key transit route for narcotics smuggled from Afghanistan to the West and elsewhere. Source: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/4/4/at-least-11-killed-in-attack-on-irans-irgc-in-border-province-state-media

Source: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/4/4/israels-war-on-gaza-live-israel-accused-of-ai-assisted-genocide-in-gaza

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) chief justice and seven judges have received “suspected anthrax-laced letters” with “threatening messages” just a day after the Supreme Court of Pakistan took suo motu notice over the allegations of the high court jurists against intelligence spy agencies. A police team comprising experts launched a thorough probe to collect facts and ascertain powdery substance after the eight IHC judges received “suspicious letters containing suspected anthrax powder along with a threatening message”, Geo News reported citing sources. The letter was sent by a woman namely Resham without mentioning her address, the sources said. They added that a staffer of a judge accidentally dropped the envelope containing the suspicious powdery substance and later he felt extreme irritation in eyes and burns on skin around his lips. Following the incident, Islamabad Inspector General (IG) and Deputy Inspector General (DIG) police have been summoned to the Islamabad High Court. All suspicious letters have been handed over the police for further investigation. Subsequently, a case was lodged at the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) Police Station in the federal capital over complaint of a branch clerk Qadir Ahmed who received and dispatched the post. The development came just a day after the Supreme Court took suo motu notice and formed a seven-member bench led by Chief Justice of Pakistan Qazi Faez Isa to hear the matter after the six IHC judges blamed spy agencies for meddling in judicial affairs. The seven-member bench will hold the maiden hearing on the issue tomorrow (Wednesday). Apart from the CJP the bench also comprises Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah, Justice Yahya Afridi, Justice Athar Minallah, Justice Mussarat Hilali, Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail and Justice Naeem Akhtar Afghan. The explosive letter which surfaced last week triggered a crisis and the Supreme Court led by CJP Isa has been under pressure to hear the matter under Article 184(3) of the Constitution. Just a day earlier, over 300 lawyers belonging to different bar associations across the country lauded the judges’ and called upon the apex court to hear the matter under its suo motu jurisdictions. The IHC judges — Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kiyani, Justice Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri, Justice Babar Sattar, Justice Sardar Ejaz Ishaq Khan, Justice Arbab Muhammad Tahir, and Justice Saman Rafat Imtiaz — wrote the letter to the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC), urging the body to convene a judicial convention over the alleged interference of intelligence agencies in judicial affairs. Source: https://www.thenews.com.pk/latest/1174961-ihc-cj-among-eight-judges-receive-threatening-letters-containing-suspected-anthrax-powder