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Business Standard
4 days ago
- Politics
- Business Standard
Weeks before terror designation, India sent TRF dossier to US and UN teams
A month after the April 22 terrorist attack in Pahalgam, India submitted a detailed dossier on The Resistance Front (TRF) to both the Trump administration in Washington and the United Nations 1267 Sanctions Committee in New York, according to a report by The Hindustan Times. This move paved the way for the TRF — a front of the Pakistani terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) — to be designated as a global terrorist organisation by the US State Department earlier this week. India was notified about the designation four days before the US made the announcement official on Thursday. During his visit to Washington D.C. from May 27–29, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri handed over the dossier to the US State Department. A similar file was submitted to the UN committee for targeted sanctions against TRF, the news report said. Who leads TRF and what are its links? TRF is headed by Sheikh Sajjad Gul, a Kashmiri operative handpicked by Pakistan's ISI to serve as the group's local face. He has overseen several attacks in Kashmir between 2020 and 2024, including the Pahalgam massacre, grenade blasts, and ambushes on police forces. The 50-year-old Gul is originally from Srinagar and studied in Bengaluru and Kerala. After returning to the valley, he set up a diagnostic lab while aiding LeT. He was arrested in Delhi in 2003 with five kg of RDX and sentenced to 10 years in jail, the news report said. After his release, Gul fled to Pakistan in 2017. The ISI installed him as TRF head in 2019 to mask Pakistan-backed terrorism as a local insurgency post-Pulwama. TRF designated as foreign terrorist organisation The US has officially designated The Resistance Front (TRF) — a proxy group of Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) — as both a Foreign Terrorist Organisation (FTO) and a Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT). US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the decision reflects Washington's commitment to ensuring justice for the victims of the Pahalgam attack. 'This action underscores our commitment to counter terrorism and hold accountable those who target civilians,' he said. The State Department noted that TRF has carried out several attacks targeting Indian security personnel over recent years, including the latest one in 2024. By labelling TRF as both an FTO and SDGT — under Section 219 of the US Immigration and Nationality Act and Executive Order 13224 — the US will now be able to apply enhanced legal and financial restrictions on the group and its associates. The US has also reaffirmed that the LeT will continue to remain designated as an FTO. LeT is notorious for its involvement in numerous terror attacks, including the 2008 Mumbai attacks, and has long been under international scrutiny.
Hindustan Times
05-07-2025
- Hindustan Times
Review: Society Girl by Saba Imtiaz and Tooba Masood-Khan
In October 1970, Mustafa Zaidi, a high-ranking former bureaucrat and famous poet was found dead in his bedroom in Karachi. Shahnaz Gul, a beautiful young socialite lay unconscious on the floor. She was 26, he had been 40. Both were married with two children each, and had been having a very public affair. Scene of the crime: Karachi. Pakistan in the 1970s. (Marka/Universal Images Group via) At the time, Karachi was an exuberant city with a thriving nightlife, 'a bevy of eligible men, and more glamourous women than anyone could count.' Socialites dressed in sarees with short sleeveless blouses. There were parties, nightclubs hosting belly dancers and cabarets, and a whole lot of drinking. The Zaidi-Gul scandal shocked Pakistani society. It revealed the uninhibited excesses and the sordid underbelly of Karachi elite culture. 352pp, ₹595; Roli Books Zaidi had been 'an enforcer of the country's power structures' at a time when the 'Pakistani civil services were people who would not kowtow to politicians.' He was friends with the greatest Urdu poets of the time: Faiz Ahmad Faiz, Josh Malihabadi, Naseer Turabi. He had also published six collections of poetry (some of his most iconic poems were quite brazenly about Gul). Ordinary people could recite his verses from memory. Gul, with 'alabaster-like skin, perfect features, wavy hair,' was 'a woman whose beauty was so legendary that even 50 years after they had seen her, men could describe her skin, the way she blushed, the contours of her body...' The press couldn't get enough of the case. Reporters camped outside Gul's house following her and her husband's every move. Mainstream newspapers wrote about Zaidi and Gul's 'love sessions,' his stamina in bed, 'sex instruments' found in his so scandalous that 'newspapers were banned from the houses of 'respectable' families.' Meanwhile, Pakistan was imploding. The Zaidi-Gul story 'withstood war, the breakup of Pakistan, and a regime change,' write Pakistani journalists Saba Imtiaz and Tooba Masood-Khan in their meticulously researched, politically astute and very, very juicy book Society Girl: A Tale of Sex, Lies and Scandal, based on their popular 2022 podcast Notes on a Scandal. The scandal is so sensational, it wouldn't have needed much of a storyteller to tell it well. Imtiaz and Masood-Khan have built the narrative adeptly with thoroughness and sensitivity — and suspense. Intrigue starts from the epigraph, which consists of an impassioned, kind of feverish, verse from one of Zaidi's poems ('Countless were saved by the raging waves / But I, drowned by a longing met / Tell me. Do you see my blood on anyone? / The entire city has washed itself clean') followed by a stark statement from Gul during her trial in court in the case: My behaviour towards the deceased was never warm hence there was no question of it becoming cold. Throughout the book, this mind-boggling case is pieced together by juxtaposing the differing often outlandish accounts from newspaper archives, police and forensic reports, court documents, fresh interviews with people who remember. Small details are big hooks — and all of it is analysed. They go back to the roots of the story, the characters, Pakistan, and the changing times. They make sense of Zaidi's mental and emotional fragility as well as his history of obsessive love by looking at his unwilling move to Pakistan a few years after Partition. In Allahabad, Zaidi had been a rising poet, known as Tegh Allahabadi (his first collection of poetry was prefaced by Firaq Gorakhpuri). He was also madly in love with a girl on campus — Saroj Bala Saran, a great beauty, who would go on to become a judge at the Allahabad High Court. After he attempted suicide (for the second time), his brother took him to Lahore where Zaidi spent years mooning over Saran. How much did Partition and the involuntary move to Pakistan impact him? Zaidi, so vividly remembered in memory and the public domain, jumps off the page in colour. The darker his actions, the more complex and sympathetic a figure he becomes. 'Every year on Mustafa's death anniversary, the same images do the rounds... People forward long posts on Facebook, offering the same narrative, adding in new, unverifiable, fantastical details each time,' He's still remembered as a hero — the love struck troubled poet and altogether brilliant man, while 'Shahnaz has now been reduced to a stereotype of a femme fatale, and no one has ever attempted to show her treatment at the hands of the press and the state.' This is a modern retelling and the idea is to vindicate Gul, or at least present her side of the story. She's on the cover but is harder to profile. Much of her life is conjecture, she was remembered differently by different people, so Imtiaz and Masood-Khan show the many possibilities of who she was — and focus on what happened to her, what she had to endure, how she was seen, how she was spoken about. Co-author Saba Imtiaz (Courtesy Roli Books) After Zaidi's death, his demise, the affair, the evils of Karachi high society, even some kind of international smuggling ring was pinned on her. She was accused of tipping him over, for using and discarding him, of murder. Revenge porn was found in his house, but it only became more fodder to further shame Gul. The hundreds of copies of a vicious and sleazy pamphlet, with topless photos of Gul, calling her the 'Christine Keeler of Karachi' — a reference to the 1963 Profumo scandal in UK, which brought down the government when it was discovered that Christine Keeler, a young woman who had an affair with John Profumo, the British war secretary, was also involved with a Russian official — led the crime branch to investigate angles of 'smuggling, spying and sex.' Imtiaz's 2014 novel, Karachi, You're Killing Me!, a crime-comedy about a young reporter in Karachi looking for love, was adapted into the Sonakshi Sinha starrer Noor (2017) set in Mumbai. Society Girl is a naturally, gloriously cinematic book — true crime, love, obsession, sex, a period drama set in the lives of the rich and the beautiful. It also has an eerie resemblance to the Sushant Singh Rajput suicide case, the blaming, shaming and arrest of his girlfriend Rhea Chakraborty and the nasty press coverage all while the pandemic enveloped the country and migrants walked hundreds of kilometers back home during lockdown. Society Girl shows how the Zaidi-Gul case underscored the chasm between East and West Pakistan. It may even have contributed as one of the final nails in the coffin of the relationship between the two parts of the country — it was a way to distract people from the political crisis unfolding. Imtiaz and Masood-Khan zoom out of the case to show the panorama of Pakistani polity and society in which it unfolded. Co-author Tooba Masood-Khan (Courtesy Roli Books) When Zaidi and Gul met in 1969, they write, Pakistan was on the cusp of change, revolution was in the air, and there was a sense of hope amongst its people. Anti-regime protests had brought down the decade-long regime of Ayub Khan. He was replaced by Yahya Khan — but it looked like military dictatorship was going to end, and the country was going to emerge as a democracy. Pakistan was going into its first election based on universal adult franchise. The charismatic Zulfikar Ali Bhutto had formed a new political party. Sheikh Mujibur Rahman had emerged as a public hero in East Pakistan where also gaining momentum was the vision for a classless state and autonomy from the ruling elite of West Pakistan. Over a week after Gul's arrest, the deadly Cyclone Bhola hit the islands on the coastline of East Pakistan, killing more than 200,000 people. West Pakistan's media covered it as a minor event while devoting reams of newsprint to Zaidi-Gul — the book quotes a politician who then said, 'that the newspapers of West Pakistan were too busy in getting Shahnaz Gul's measurements – they didn't have a lot of space for East Pakistan.' Later, as the country went into the landmark election, the press continued to find ingenuous ways to keep the case coverage on its front pages — reporting that Gul ate home made food for the first time on the day and that she did not cast her vote on jail. While campaigning, Bhutto had even used the narrative linking Gul with the excesses of Pakistani leadership (especially Yahya Khan) and declared that he would not allow Gul to leave the country and, to a cheering crowd in election rally, that he would punish her for her crimes. That year, as Karachi prepared for New Year's eve, the wild most important night in the high society calendar, , Imtiaz and Masood-Khan write, 'It would perhaps be the last New Year's that Karachi spent so hedonistically. In later years, New Year's would bring bad news — war, the independence of Bangladesh and the breakup of Pakistan, the news that tens of thousands of soldiers were prisoners-of-war in India, the fact that the state had taken over several key industries in a campaign of nationalization, sounding a death knell to the wealth and prestige of many of the country's richest families. The nightlife, too, would eventually die out when Bhutto barred the sale of alcohol to Muslims. Soon, all that would be left of the elite's glory days would be their memories and legacy Sind Club memberships. But that night, as the drinks flowed, no one could imagine the nightmare on the horizon.' Saudamini Jain is an independent journalist. She lives in New Delhi.
Time of India
03-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Time of India
Did you know Gul Panag is a pilot? Says she misses flying airplanes in the monsoon
Gul Panag The one thing Gul Panag misses the most during the monsoon is flying. A certified pilot for nearly a decade, the actress has long nurtured her passion for aviation. However, seasonal limitations — especially heavy rains — often ground her, putting a pause on her time in the skies. 'I miss flying during the monsoon,' Gul shares, adding, 'My license is under Visual Flight Rules (VFR), which means I have to rely on sight to fly. Unlike commercial planes, I can't navigate using instruments. Visibility must be at least five nautical miles.' The actress, who loves taking off from Mumbai's Juhu airport, started taking flying lessons at the age of 32. 'In 2016, I finished the required flight hours, cleared the exams and got my license. I've been a licensed pilot for eight years now,' says the Bypass Road actress. Clarifying that she only flies recreationally, Gul adds, 'Flying is a passion of mine, something I pursue as a hobby. I will fly out of Juhu and when I am overseas, I go to a club. The most beautiful moments in the sky come during the months before monsoon. My favourite flights are the last departures from Juhu before sunset. The skies are beautiful, and the sunsets are pleasant.' by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Honda SP160: Now with More Power and Style Honda Learn More Undo Ask her about the route she takes, and she shares, 'We have a designated route — take off from Juhu, go into sea and take a right turn towards Essel World… there is a circuit, so we don't come into the Santacruz airspace. The flight offers an unforgettable view, flying over Juhu beach against the backdrop of a glowing sunset.' While her passion for flying dates to her college days, she always knew it wouldn't be a career path. 'I wanted to learn, but I was clear that I didn't want to pursue it professionally. I'm not someone who can do the same thing every single day,' she says.
AllAfrica
13-06-2025
- Politics
- AllAfrica
Secret US agenda behind India-Pakistan ceasefire
The recent revelation aired by Pakistani security analyst Imtiaz Gul renewed attention to the Nur Khan air base near Islamabad. Gul alleges that this strategically significant facility is under de facto American operational control through a covert arrangement, with US aircraft regularly landing and taking off amid limited transparency. He further claims that even senior Pakistani military officials are restricted from accessing certain operations at the base. These assertions have gained traction in the aftermath of India's Operation Sindoor, which targeted terrorist sites and strategic military infrastructure in Pakistan, including the Nur Khan air base. The incident has reignited concerns over Pakistan's sovereignty, the extent and nature of America's military presence and Islamabad's evolving strategic alignments in the region. Noor Khan air base holds immense strategic value due to its location near Islamabad and Rawalpindi—Pakistan's political and military command hubs. Situated close to the Pakistan Army's General Headquarters (GHQ) and the Strategic Plans Division, which manages the country's nuclear arsenal, the base serves as the core command for Pakistan's air mobility operations. It houses key transport squadrons, including C-130s and CN-235s, and supports VVIP and strategic airlift missions. Its significance is further underscored by the regular presence of US military aircraft, particularly C-17 Globemasters and special operations units. Reports indicate that certain sections of the base may be designated for exclusive US use, with limited access even for senior Pakistani officials. This consistent American footprint, combined with restricted oversight, lends credibility to Gul's assertion that the air base could be operating under US oversight for select classified missions. The Noor Khan air base reportedly became a flashpoint during India's precision strike in Operation Sindoor, an event that dramatically escalated tensions between New Delhi and Islamabad. Just hours before the strike, US Vice President J.D. Vance, in an interview with Fox News on May 9, 2025, publicly distanced Washington from the crisis, stating: 'We're not going to get involved in the middle of a war that's fundamentally none of our business, and has nothing to do with America's ability to control it.' However, following India's targeting of the strategically sensitive Noor Khan air base, the United States acted swiftly behind the scenes to contain the fallout. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and senior US officials activated emergency diplomatic channels aimed at defusing the crisis. However, the ceasefire that eventually took hold occurred only after Pakistan's Director General of Military Operations (DGMO) directly contacted his Indian counterpart, prompting a mutual agreement to halt further escalation. This sequence of events, marked by Washington's initial public detachment and subsequent quiet intervention, likely underscores the concealed strategic importance the US attaches to military assets like Noor Khan air base. Pakistan's readiness to grant the United States access to its military bases is deeply rooted in a decades-long tradition of strategic cooperation. During the Cold War, Pakistan permitted the US to conduct U-2 reconnaissance missions from Peshawar's Badaber Airbase in 1958. This partnership deepened significantly during the War on Terror, when critical facilities—such as Shamsi, Shahbaz, Dalbandin, and Nur Khan air base—were used by US forces for drone strikes, intelligence gathering and logistical operations in Afghanistan. While less overt today, this military collaboration continues in more discreet and sophisticated forms. A strong indicator of sustained US strategic engagement is the consistent flow of financial and multilateral support to Pakistan—even during times of heightened geopolitical tension. In May 2025, amid escalating conflict with India following Operation Sindoor, Pakistan secured a crucial US$1 billion disbursement from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) under its $7 billion Extended Fund Facility. The release, widely believed to have been facilitated by US influence, was met with disapproval in India due to its timing during active hostilities, reinforcing the perception in New Delhi about Washington's long-standing geostrategic interests in Pakistan. Since 1958, Pakistan has received 24 IMF loan packages totaling around $34 billion, including a $1.3 billion tranche earlier in March 2025. At the same time, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) approved an $800 million assistance package—comprising a $300 million program-based loan and a $500 million policy-based loan. This support came in addition to previous climate resilience financing, including a $500 million CDREP loan. Despite Indian concerns about potential military diversion of the funds, these disbursements proceeded, signaling strong external backing. Furthermore, continuous US support for the maintenance and upgrade of Pakistan's F-16 fighter fleet continues to reflect a long-standing defense partnership between Rawalpindi and the Pentagon. Despite its withdrawal from Afghanistan, the US continues to view Pakistan as a vital component of its broader regional strategy. Facilities like Noor Khan air base—and possibly others—are believed to serve as forward-operating locations for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) missions. These bases may also be positioned for potential pre-emptive strikes targeting Iranian nuclear sites or remnants of transnational terrorist groups such as the Islamic State–Khorasan Province (ISKP). Another key driver of US engagement is the strategic aim of preventing Pakistan from falling fully into China's orbit. The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a flagship project of Beijing's Belt and Road Initiative, includes major infrastructure investments—such as highways, ports, and energy facilities—many of which have potential dual-use military applications. It is likely that US ISR capabilities are actively monitoring these developments from strategic locations such as Noor Khan air base. China's strategic partnership with Pakistan—embodied by flagship initiatives like the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and the prospective transfer of advanced platforms such as the J-35 fifth-generation stealth fighter jets—is driven primarily by Beijing's desire to counterbalance India's growing influence in South Asia. Chinese diplomatic and military support is not anchored in Pakistan's intrinsic value but in its instrumental role as a strategic bulwark against India. Yet, Beijing must tread carefully. The Pakistani military establishment has a well-documented history of hedging and duplicity in its external alignments. During the War on Terror, Pakistan secured billions in US assistance while simultaneously harboring elements of the Taliban and Haqqani terror network. Today, the same military apparatus may be covertly cooperating with US strategic objectives—potentially to the detriment of Chinese interests. For Beijing, these developments underscore the need to recognize the transactional instincts of Pakistan's military elite, who are adept at balancing rival patrons in pursuit of regime security and institutional gains. Even China's great strategist, Sun Tzu, might have cautioned against overreliance on such a volatile ally The continued US support for Pakistan—evident in sustained financial aid, favorable IMF policies and recent symbolic gestures such as inviting Pakistan's Army chief General Asim Munir to the 250th US Army Day celebrations in Washington—reinforces the perception of the long-standing transactional defense ties between Rawalpindi and the Pentagon. This support from the US strategic establishment remains strong despite Islamabad's role in fostering regional instability. Notably, Pakistan's 2025–26 federal budget included a nearly 20% increase in defense spending, raising the allocation to approximately 2.55 trillion rupees (~$9 billion), even as overall public expenditure was reduced by 7%. Analysts argue that such a move would not have been possible without continued external backing—particularly from the US—through financial assistance and favorable multilateral mechanisms, including IMF disbursements. For China, the lesson is clear: its strategic investment in Pakistan is conditional and instrumental. The possibility of betrayal exists, especially when dealing with a military establishment that has historically prioritized survival and advantage over ideological loyalty. The Noor Khan air base, in this context, is not just a military asset—it is a symbol of Pakistan's enduring relevance to US strategy and a warning sign for Beijing. Idress Aftab is a research analyst at the New Delhi-based Centre for Foreign Policy Research.
News18
09-06-2025
- Politics
- News18
India's Strikes Hit Nur Khan Airbase Tied To Nuke Sites, Pakistan Insiders Confirm Damage
Last Updated: Nur Khan Airbase is widely regarded as a multipurpose backbone of the Pakistan Air Force Pakistan's Nur Khan Airbase, which is considered a critical node in its military infrastructure, sustained significant damage in India's precision strike during Operation Sindoor, satellite images have confirmed. Nur Khan Airbase, located just 25 km from Islamabad and adjacent to Pakistan Army Headquarters and its nuclear command facilities, is widely regarded as a multipurpose backbone of the Pakistan Air Force (PAF). It houses elite VIP transport fleets, mobile command centres, surveillance aircraft, and Turkish Bayraktar TB2 drones. Crucially, the base is suspected to be linked to Pakistan's nuclear oversight and mobility networks. Intelligence sources confirm that Indian strikes targeted key infrastructure including runways, radar stations, hangars, and underground fortified zones. Satellite imagery revealed the destruction of a 7,000 sq ft operations complex and command vehicles, as well as crater impacts near areas believed to store sensitive or nuclear-linked assets. Pak Security Analyst's Big Expose Pakistani security analyst Imtiaz Gul, in a video statement, alleged that the airbase functions effectively as an 'American fortress," off-limits even to Pakistan Army personnel. He cited repeated sightings of US aircraft, undisclosed cargo, and restricted access to Pakistan Army officers. 'There are hidden agreements between the US and Pakistan Army since 2001," Gul alleged, linking the base to Afghan war logistics and past drone operations. His statement aligns with CNN-News18 's prior report that Pakistan is deliberately avoiding debris clearance at the base, fearing it would confirm the extent of the damage to both India and the global community. Sources say orders were issued to delay cleanup efforts to obscure satellite-based assessments of the strike's impact. The Pakistan Army has attempted to downplay the damage. But intelligence agencies, backed by high-resolution satellite imagery, confirm that around 20% of Pakistan's air force operational infrastructure may have been degraded in the strike. Mobile command centres, surveillance systems like the Saab Erieye AWACS, and other critical assets were severely compromised. Further complicating the situation is the base's proximity to Pakistan's nuclear assets. Sources suggest that debris near these sensitive areas has not been cleared out of both logistical constraints and deep strategic insecurity—any exposure could inadvertently validate long-held suspicions about US and Pakistani collaboration on covert nuclear logistics. India's ability to strike such a fortified and symbolically significant site sends a strong message, not just about its long-range strike capabilities but also about the gaps in Pakistan's air defence system. Top officials note that the attack bypassed ballistic missile interception systems and directly targeted high-value strategic infrastructure. Pakistan's continued silence and reluctance to share ground-level visuals from Nur Khan only adds to the perception of a major military and political embarrassment. 'This is not just material damage, it is a psychological blow to the core of Pakistan's defence establishment," a senior intelligence officer told CNN-News18. First Published: June 09, 2025, 18:59 IST
