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Balochistan Chief Minister Mir Sarfraz Bugti on Saturday asserted that no group of armed militants could impose its ideology on the 250 million citizens of Pakistan.

The security situation in Balochistan has worsened in recent months, as militants, long involved in a low-level insurgency, have stepped up the frequency and intensity of their attacks. In February, nearly 62 per cent of the total terrorism-related deaths in the country occurred in Balochistan.

Speaking during a conference in Quetta, CM Bugti emphasised that peace was steadily returning to Balochistan and reaffirmed the state’s unwavering support for its people against forces seeking to destabilise the province.

Bugti described Balochistan as the heart of Pakistan, without which the nation was incomplete. He lamented the lack of attention given to the province’s positive realities and the limited recognition of its voices.

The chief minister condemned the spread of anti-state narratives.

“Balochistan faces challenges, but poverty and underdevelopment are no justification for rebellion,” he said.

The chief minister praised Balochistan as a model of interfaith harmony, where diverse sects and religious communities lived peacefully.

Bugti stressed that after August 14, 1947, every citizen’s foremost identity was being Pakistani above ethnic, tribal or linguistic affiliations.

He also warned of social media’s role in spreading misinformation and inciting unrest, adding, “Our society wasn’t prepared for this. People share unverified content without thinking, fueling confusion and division.”

He appealed to religious scholars, community elders, and social leaders to counter this trend.

While affirming the right to peaceful protest, Bugti declared that the era of indefinite road blockades was over.

“We welcome dialogue with those willing to lay down arms and rejoin the national fold. But those who spill innocent blood will face the full might of the state.”

He highlighted the government’s outreach efforts through jirgas and public gatherings aimed at engaging youth and strengthening their connection with the state.

He concluded by thanking the conference organisers for promoting unity and patriotism.

“The Balochistan government will continue to support such initiatives, whether in Quetta or remote areas. This country is the dream of our forefathers and part of our faith. The sun of peace will rise in Balochistan,” he concluded.

On Friday, Balochistan government spokesman Shahid Rind said that mobile data services in the province were suspended until August 31 over “security reasons”.

Also on Friday, CM Bugti reaffirmed his unwavering commitment to equal development of all 36 districts and youth empowerment during a series of meetings with public delegations and local notables at the Chief Minister’s Secretariat.

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PTI leaders Zartaj Gul and Ejaz Chaudhry filed appeals in the Lahore High Court (LHC) on Saturday against their convictions by anti-terrorism courts (ATC) in May 9 riots cases.

On May 9, 2023, PTI supporters, protesting party founder Imran Khan’s arrest, staged violent protests throughout the country, following which thousands were arrested.

On July 31 this year, an ATC in Faisalabad sentenced PTI leaders, including Gul, to 10 years of imprisonment for their involvement in the riots. The Election Commission of Pakistan later disqualified her and other PTI lawmakers following their convictions. Chaudhry was convicted in another May 9 case by an ATC in Lahore on July 22 and sentenced to 10 years in prison.

Gul filed an appeal against her conviction and sentencing in the LHC today. A division bench of the LHC will hear the case on Monday.

The appeal was filed through Gul’s lawyers, Barrister Ali Zafar and Muhammad Hussain, and pleaded the court to set aside her conviction and acquit her in the case.

It said that Gul was not nominated in the case or “found physically participant in the occurrence”. It added that no justification was provided by the prosecution for her being included through the supplementary statement, which it claimed cast doubt on the authenticity of the occurrence which had not been considered at the trial stage.

It stated that the ATC passed the “impugned judgment … in a hasty and slipshod manner”, based on three witnesses who had admitted in cross-examination that they had not nominated her but she was nevertheless convicted on their statements with a hefty punishment.

“The prosecution has failed to make out a case for such a punishment,” the petition argued, adding that the witnesses themselves had many times misstated and “cheated” the trial court with additions and deletions in their statements making their testimonies unreliable, but ultimately all exonerated the appellant.

“The other ATC court at Sargodha has disbelieved the same prosecution witnesses … but this is ignored in making (the) impugned decision,” it said.

It also stated that no evidence for conspiracy had been brought forward on the case file, challenging her punishment under section 120-B of the Pakistan Penal Code.

The petition pleaded that as “the prosecution also failed to establish the involvement of the appellant in the occurrence and instigation/abetment beyond the shadow of doubt, then there were no reasons to award punishment to the innocent appellant.”

It stated that the judgment was against “facts and law and resulted in (a) misreading of justice” and that, being passed hastily, material parts of evidence were not considered “despite the facts that the prosecution failed to adduce unimpeachable evidence and there was (every) chance of false implication”.

In particular, it cited the lack of material evidence to establish the intention to abet, instigate and conspire to facilitate the other accused parties. According to the petition, the investigation was “biased” and “flawed” but this was ignored by the court. It further criticised that more weight was given to witness statements than evidence by the court, failing to “properly appreciate” the prosecution’s evidence.

It added that 77 co-accused had been acquitted based on the same evidence, while Gul was convicted without valid reasoning.

The petition called for the judgment to be set aside as the case had not been proven “beyond the shadow of a doubt” due to a lack of unimpeachable evidence, adding that the evidence contained contradictions. It called the judgment of the court “arbitrary, capricious, indiscrete, non-speaking and without lawful authority based on no evidence”.

The petition noted that Gul was seeking leave from the court to advance further grounds at the time of argument.

Meanwhile, Chaudhry filed two petitions in the LHC through Advocate Mian Ali Ashfaq.

Chaudhry pleaded the court to suspend his sentence and conviction, along with ordering his release on bail.

He further requested the court in the second petition to set aside his conviction and acquit him in the case in the “interest of justice”.

ATC reserves verdicts on two May 9 cases involving Chaudhry, Rashid, Qureshi, others

Separately, the Lahore ATC reserved its verdicts in two arson cases related to the May 9 riots, in which PTI senior leaders Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Dr Yasmin Rashid, Chaudhry and Omar Cheema are accused, with the judge slated to announce the decisions on August 11.

According to Advocates Rana Mudassar and Rana Maroof, who represented the PTI leaders during the hearing, the trials in the cases of burning vehicles outside Rahat Bakery and arson near Shadman Nazar were completed and ATC Judge Manzar Ali Gul reserved his verdict.

They said the verdicts would be issued on Monday.

They said a total of 25 accused were named in the Rahat Bakery case, while seven accused were declared absconders. They added that the trial of 12 accused was completed in the Shadman Nazar police station arson case and five accused were in custody in this case, while one accused had died.

The lawyers said Qureshi, Dr Rashid, Chaudhry, Cheema, Mian Mahmoodur Rashid and other accused were present in the courtroom.

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Australia’s Tony Hemming has resigned from his position as the chief curator, the Pakistan Cricket Board announced on Saturday.

He was appointed as chief curator in July last year as no extension was given to previous chief curator Agha Zahid.

“One of Hemming’s immediate tasks will be to prepare pitches for the upcoming five ICC World Test Championship matches against Bangladesh [two in August/September] and England [three in October]. Hemming will also oversee pitch preparations for the ICC Champions Trophy 2025, which Pakistan will host from Feb 19 to March 9,” the PCB had said at the time.

“Hemming is a highly respected curator with nearly four decades of experience. He has worked at various iconic cricket grounds in Australia, including Melbourne, Perth and Tasmania, as well as in countries such as Bangladesh, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, where he was the ICC Head Curator from 2007 to 2017 in Dubai.

“During his time with the ICC, Hemming also oversaw pitch preparation at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium, which was one of Pakistan’s home [series] venues between 2009 and 2019,” the PCB statement had further said.

An international crew of four astronauts returned home on Earth on Saturday after nearly five months aboard the International Space Station, returning safely in a SpaceX capsule.

The spacecraft carrying US astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, Japan’s Takuya Onishi and Russian cosmonaut Kirill Peskov splashed down off California’s coast at 8:44am local time (8:34pm PKT).

Their return marks the end of the 10th crew rotation mission to the space station under Nasa’s Commercial Crew Program, which was created to succeed the Space Shuttle era by partnering with private industry.

The Dragon capsule of billionaire Elon Musk’s SpaceX company detached from the International Space Station (ISS) at 2215 GMT (3:15am PKT) on Friday.

The capsule’s dizzying, 17-hour drop back down to Earth was slowed when it re-entered the atmosphere, then further reined in by the deployment of huge parachutes.

After the capsule splashed down, it was recovered by a SpaceX ship and hoisted aboard. Only then were the astronauts able to breathe Earth’s air again, for the first time in months.

The astronaut team, known as Crew-10, conducted numerous scientific experiments during their time on the space station, including studying plant growth and how cells react to gravity.

Their launch into space in March allowed two US astronauts to return home after being unexpectedly stuck on board the space station for nine months.

When they launched in June 2024, Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams were only supposed to spend eight days in space on a test of the Boeing Starliner’s first crewed flight.

However, the spaceship developed propulsion problems and was deemed unfit to fly back, leaving them stranded in space.

Nasa announced this week that Wilmore has decided to retire after 25 years of service at the US space agency.

Last week, US astronauts Zena Cardman and Mike Fincke, Japan’s Kimiya Yui and Russian cosmonaut Oleg Platonov boarded the ISS for a six-month mission.