“We see there are very serious attacks on Saudi Arabia’s territorial integrity, sovereignty. We have an alliance agreement in our pact. We are in serious solidarity on this point. They may have some military needs, especially on some technical issues. We would have no issues in meeting these,” Fidan told broadcaster NTV.

The joint defence agreement, signed last month, stipulates that an armed attack on any one of the three countries will be regarded as an attack on all of them.

The Houthis, who control the most populous parts of Yemen, have been launching attacks on Saudi Arabia since declaring a naval blockade against Riyadh in July.

The attacks have targeted Saudi cities, energy infrastructure and shipping, threatening global oil supplies and the main alternative Red Sea route for Gulf exports while traffic through the Strait of Hormuz remains disrupted.

President Donald Trump has rebuffed pleas from the Saudis for military support to fight the Houthis, who agreed a ceasefire with the United States last year after Washington bombed the group for two months.

Fidan said that it was unacceptable for Saudi Arabia to be made a part of the US-Iran war as it had no desire to join the conflict. He added, without elaborating, that proposals have been conveyed to all sides to end the fighting.

“There are many initiatives, but the sides need to accept these,” he said. “There are new proposals, I hope they accept them. Otherwise, the crisis was tolerated until a certain point, but the economic reflections have started to exceed the point of being tolerable.”

Turkiye, which has Nato’s second-largest army, has said the pact with Pakistan and Saudi Arabia was open to expansion and did not seek to replace any existing alliances.

Earlier on Saturday, Yemen’s Houthis said they attacked “sensitive” sites in the Saudi capital Riyadh with missiles and drones, hours after flames and a large plume of smoke were seen near the city’s main airport.

Turkiye has condemned the Houthi attacks and called for them to stop immediately.

Published in Dawn, September 20th, 2026

A police officer told Dawn the activists were arrested under separate charges in response to a complaint lodged by a sub-inspector.

The charges including sections 324 Murder Attempt, 506 ii Punishment for criminal intimidation: If threat be to cause death or grievous hurt, etc., 148 Rioting, armed with deadly weapon, 149 Every member of unlawful assembly guilty of offence committed in prosecution of common object, 353 Assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty and 186 Obstructing public servant in discharge of public functions of Pakistan Penal Code.

The police got information that the PTI workers were holding a meeting in connection with the Sep 27 protest at a property dealer’s office in the area of E-16. A police team was constituted for the raid and the arrest.

The police claimed that the workers tortured the police team when they raided the meeting venue, besides, tearing their uniform and taking them hostage. Officer in the police and capital administration said that they have started preparations to counter the PTI’s countrywide protest.

A meeting was held at Central Police Office Islamabad to review the security arrangements and chalk out a plan to pre-empt the protest.

The meeting discussed the relevant matters in detail in presence of all the concerned officers of the police.

As per the previous plan, the capital police were also collecting information related to the protest, including preparations by the political party and activities of its leaders, workers and activists. Vigilance and intelligence were mounted at guest houses, inns, bus terminals and potential contractors who can provide and arrange meals, water, lodging and transports for the protest.

The area police under which jurisdiction were keep an eye on such contractors. Besides, the police intelligence wings/units – Special Branch and same in the Counter Terrorism Department are also vigilant.

They also collecting information of the leaders, activists and workers of the PTI, whose details are available with them. Surveillance is also mounted around the houses and other places of the leaders, activists and workers where they residing or stay to avoid their arrest.

Published in Dawn, September 20th, 2026

“If a policy is not delivering results and is continuously failing, there is a need to change it,” he said during a visit to Kohat.

The chief minister met the families of the police personnel and civilians martyred in the terrorist attack on the Police Lines and paid tribute to the police, counter-terrorism department, Special Branch, Rescue 1122, doctors, district administration and the people of Kohat for their courage and resilience, according to an official statement issued here.

The chief minister said that the manner in which the security personnel and other responders confronted terrorists during an operation lasting nearly 20 hours was highly commendable.

Sympathises with families of police officials, civilians martyred in Kohat blast

He said the police personnel and civilians who lost lives while confronting terrorists had made the ultimate sacrifice for the protection of the nation.

Mr Afridi said Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had been fighting terrorism continuously since 2004, spanning nearly 22 years, during which the province had lost more than 80,000 lives.

He said that the government that came to power in Afghanistan was welcomed with celebrations by the “bogus and imposed” Pakistani rulers but the situation later turned bad.

“Our trade [with Afghanistan] has been disrupted; the border has been closed; economic activities in the tribal districts have come to a standstill, and terrorism in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa continues to rise,” he said.

The chief minister said the closure of the Afghan border had caused Khyber Pakhtunkhwa losses of more than Rs8 billion during the previous financial year, while the province was likely to face further economic losses during the current financial year.

He said if a policy was not delivering results and was continuously failing, there was a need to change it.

Mr Afridi said that the people and police of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa continued to bear the immense burden of the fight against terrorism.

He said that police personnel remained on the frontline, fighting, sustaining injuries and laying down their lives, while innocent citizens, with no crime or wrongdoing to their name, continued to be killed and injured.

The chief minister said despite those sacrifices, the people of the province continued to be viewed in that manner, which was deeply regrettable.

Referring to the prevailing state narrative, he said that those imposed on the people were calling them terrorists while claiming that there is no threat from India.

Mr Afridi said that the federal government and institutions were trying to suppress PTI’s political activity instead of addressing the challenge of terrorism.

He said that while the focus of the federal government and institutions was on such matters, there was little concern for the people who were making sacrifices on the frontline.

Addressing the youth, people and police of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the chief minister said that no one else would come to stand with them and that they must stand up for themselves, their people, their province and the country.

He urged them to remain steadfast and keep their morale high, noting that the people and police of the province have continued to fight terrorism with courage and determination for the past 22 years without allowing their resolve to break.

Mr Afridi announced that financial assistance would also be provided to the families of those martyred in the incident who didn’t fall within the scope of the government’s Shuhada Package.

Announcing the provision of modern medical equipment at the District Headquarters Hospital in Kohat, he said that the shortage of CT scan, MRI and other essential modern medical equipment would be addressed.

The chief minister said that DHQ hospitals across the province were being revamped and that necessary modern equipment would be provided to the hospital.

He also announced the establishment of a police station for the Special Branch in Kohat and said that the project would be completed at the earliest.

Mr Afridi said that patient care at the Kohat Police Hospital should be improved with the help of necessary facilities.

He also took note of the shortage of police personnel and said that the matter would be taken up in the cabinet for necessary decisions.

Earlier, the chief minister visited the Kohat District Headquarters Hospital, met the injured blast victims and wished them speedy recovery.

Published in Dawn, September 20th, 2026

They were answering a call by a coalition of more than hundreds of associations and political parties under the common banner: “No 50-degree summers!”

People of all ages took part in the marches, carrying placards with slogans such as “No Planet B” and “We’re cooked!”.

The largest demonstration was at Lausanne, where 8,000 people took part.

One marcher, 31-year-old union activist Guillaume Matthey, said he hoped this was the start of “a new cycle of widespread popular mobilisation” to put pressure on the country’s political and financial leaders for their lack of response to the climate crisis.

The European Court of Human Rights ruled in 2024 that Switzerland was not doing enough to fight climate change, ­the first time an international court ruled against a country on this matter.

“This is about telling our authorities that it’s really the time to act,” said one marcher in his 60s, Yves Froidevaux.

“We can’t just finance weapons and then not care about the rest of it — that’s not on,” he added.

“There’s been a real lack of water this summer,” said Vincent Fontannaz, a 47-year-old actor dressed up as a giant drop of water.

“It’s not just about swimming pools, it’s most of all about agriculture — and for our survival in fact,” he added.

One marcher, 55-year-old architect Laurent Guidetti, wore a gas mask made out of plastic bottles. He was one of the lucky ones to have a well-insulated apartment “that stays cool at night”, he said.

This summer however, he had thought about people who were not so lucky.

“It’s going to be very tough for them,” he added.

And even if they got through this summer’s heatwaves, he did not know how they would manage against the higher temperatures expected in future summers.

After Saturday’s demonstrations, other protests have been called in several Swiss cities in the coming weeks until Oct 2.

Switzerland’s summer heatwaves forced the closure of a nuclear power station and caused record low water levels in Lake Zurich.

Published in Dawn, September 20th, 2026