Overview
- Large gatherings in Gadhi Khuda Bakhsh marked Benazir Bhutto’s 18th death anniversary with speeches by President Asif Ali Zardari and Bilawal Bhutto Zardari stressing national defense and Pakistan’s recent diplomatic posture.
- Zardari criticized a prior government for harming foreign ties and praised current security leadership, while Bilawal credited Chinese aircraft acquisitions in claims about downing Indian planes during a recent confrontation.
- A Pakistan Muslim League‑N delegation led by National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq attended, with public remarks about stabilizing politics and readiness for dialogue with rivals through parliamentary channels.
- The Federal Board of Revenue said it will begin monitoring social‑media accounts on January 1 to identify sellers of smuggled or non‑custom‑paid goods, using email and phone data with NADRA verification before issuing notices and conducting on‑site enforcement.
- A National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency team in Islamabad arrested a suspect accused of accessing a woman’s accounts and blackmailing her with explicit images, registering a case under PECA 2016 after forensic evidence; separately, a viral video showed plainclothes police firing during an arrest in Karachi’s Saddar area.