Overview

• Saudi Arabia and Pakistan signed a Strategic Mutual Defence Agreement in Riyadh stating that aggression against one will be treated as aggression against both, with analysts noting the pact’s ambiguity on non‑state terror attacks and limited deterrent effect on India’s counterterror responses.
• Following India’s Operation Sindoor, which destroyed nine sites in Pakistan and PoK, JeM and HM are reported shifting activity into Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, running open recruitment in Mansehra, planning a Peshawar event under the name Al‑Murabitun, and establishing new training centers including HM313 in Lower Dir.
• A Lashkar‑e‑Taiba commander identified as Kasim appeared on video at the demolished Muridke complex acknowledging training there and urging new recruits, contradicting Pakistan’s public denials of such camps.
• An investigative Newslaundry report alleges scripted “half‑encounters” by Uttar Pradesh police across multiple districts, citing CCTV claims and similar narratives in separate cases that question the integrity of the operations.
• Law‑and‑order updates include Bareilly police capturing the fifth accused in the Disha Patani house‑firing case during an encounter, Shillong police filing a 790‑page chargesheet in the Raja Raghuwanshi murder, and a Mainpuri inquiry ordered after a video showed primary school children sweeping.