LAHORE: Punjab Assembly Speaker Malik Muhammad Ahmad Khan was surprised on Sunday when an opposition member informed him that the Punjab Control of Habitual Offenders and Anti-Social Behaviour Bill, 2026 had been approved by the PA Standing Committee on Law.

“It has been laid?” he asked, taken aback when PTI’s Rana Aftab Ahmad Khan clarified that the standing committee had given its nod to the legislation.

The bill proposes a regime in which the executive can freeze a person’s bank account, seize their property, remove their online presence, confiscate their phone, and place them under electronic surveillance, all on the basis of an intelligence committee’s assessment of their conduct.

MPA Rana initiated the conversation on the legislation in the House, which had met to discuss the province’s supplementary budget. He said the bill was against human rights and warned that if enacted, it would affect the coming generations.

The ruling PML-N could also become a victim of it as it could not remain in power for forever, he said.

For his part, the speaker said he was not aware that the bill had been introduced in the House, expressing annoyance with the assembly secretariat and warning of strict action.

The bill was introduced in the House on June 8.

Dawn reached out to the speaker for further clarity on how the bill was introduced in the House without his knowledge, but there was no immediate response.

During the PA session, the speaker also said, “It’s not possible to introduce a law reminiscent of the colonial era … There could be some misunderstanding on this. Let me see.”

He further remarked, “Will the DC (deputy commissioner) and DPO (district police officer) be empowered to take action against an individual (under the proposed law)?”

The speaker noted that even under the Goonda Act, the court had the authority to sentence a person if intelligence agencies reported their involvement in hooliganism.

During the session, opposition members expressed concern that the proposed law would be passed by the House as the treasury members had an overwhelming majority.

PTI MPA Ahmer Bhatti noted that according to the bill, “officers will report against an individual and then act against that person on their own without taking recourse to any judicial forum. He expressed fear that the proposed law could be used for political victimisation.

The bill

The draft of the proposed law states that it aims to systematically tackle “public nuisance”, financial and social exploitation and systemic criminal activities.

Under this newly drafted framework, the government will establish a specialised hierarchy of intelligence committees – at provincial, divisional, and district levels – to enhance public safety, protect minorities, evaluate threats to foreigners, and closely monitor the misuse of social media platforms.

The bill outlines an extensive list of activities categorised as anti-social behaviour. These include operating gambling or drinking dens, engaging in the illicit manufacturing of liquor, managing brothels, making fraudulent charity collections, using hate speech or disseminating disinformation online, and impersonating public servants. It also targets individuals who engage in aerial firing, exhibit weapons on social media, practice online blackmailing, or disrupt traffic by erecting illegal barriers.

To address these behaviours, the bill proposes to empower District Intelligence Committees to initiate inquiries, demand surety bonds for up to six months and recommend severe administrative penalties. These penalties range from blocking national identity cards and passports to freezing bank accounts, removing cyberspace presence, and confiscating electronic gadgets for prosecution purposes.

For individuals formally declared as habitual offenders – specifically those with repeated arrests for crimes such as motor vehicle theft, extortion, robbery, dacoity, or narcotics offences – the law introduces stringent tracking protocols. Upon a police application routed through public prosecutors, a magistrate will be authorised to order the attachment of an electronic monitoring device to the offender for a minimum duration of three months. The proposed law states an habitual offender will face up to three years in prison if they fail to comply with requirements pertaining to the tracking.

Those who intentionally tamper with or destroy the tracking device will face a mandatory imprisonment for at least a year, a fine of Rs1 million and a liability to compensate for the damaged technology.

Law enforcement agencies will maintain biometric data, fingerprints, and even DNA records of these offenders within a newly established, centralised Punjab Habitual Offenders Registry.

The proposed law establishes a strict zero-tolerance policy for defying these new public safety measures. Any individual who violates an order passed by an intelligence committee will face an initial imprisonment of up to four years and a fine of up to Rs1.5m, with penalties increasing to a minimum of three years for a second offence, and a fixed four-year term with a Rs2m fine for a third violation.

Public servants found abetting violators will also face criminal prosecution — up to two years of imprisonment alongside internal departmental disciplinary actions.

All offences under the proposed law are legally categorised as cognisable and non-bailable, and they will be tried directly by a section-30 magistrate.

To protect individual rights and prevent administrative abuse, the bill outlines a clear appeals process. Aggrieved individuals can file representations to higher divisional and provincial intelligence committees, progress to an executive appellate committee, and ultimately take their case to a dedicated independent tribunal led by a retired district and sessions judge.

The draft bill states that once enacted, this legislation will officially repeal colonial-era laws, including the Restriction of Habitual Offenders (Punjab) Act of 1918 and the Punjab Control of Goondas Ordinance of 1959, modernising Punjab’s legal toolkit to combat contemporary organised crime and digital threats.

DUBAI: Iran and the United States agreed to halt recent hostilities in the Gulf and renew talks regarding their dispute over the Strait of Hormuz, Axios reported on Sunday, a move that could end tit-for-tat strikes that had threatened to unravel an interim peace agreement.

The two sides plan to meet Tuesday in Qatar, Axios reported, citing a senior US official. Reuters could not immediately confirm the report. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

A return to diplomacy would follow several days of strikes and counterstrikes since an Iranian projectile hit a cargo vessel in the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday, with both the US and Iran accusing the other of breaking an interim ceasefire that was agreed to on June 17.

Iran launched missiles and drones at US military sites in Kuwait and Bahrain early on Sunday, shortly after President Donald Trump threatened to wipe out the Iranian leadership if they did not stick to the agreement to end their war.

Also read: Iran says it struck US-linked targets in response to US attacks

Meanwhile, Israel said on Sunday it had once again struck Hezbollah in Lebanon, destroying underground infrastructure used by the group in a village in southern Lebanon. That came after another strike on Saturday, which closely followed its latest ceasefire deal with Lebanon on Friday to calm fighting that Iran says must end if the wider agreement is to stick.

The US military said earlier it had struck Iran again, hours after a tanker was hit in the Strait of Hormuz, the world’s most important energy shipping route, which Tehran has largely closed for most of the conflict.

“There may come a point when we are no longer able to be reasonable, and will be forced to militarily complete the job that we very successfully started,” Trump said on social media, before the Axios report.

“If that happens, the Islamic Republic of Iran will no longer exist!” he added. The 14-point interim peace accord was meant to halt the fighting, which the US and Israel started on February 28, and reopen the strait while talks proceeded on issues such as Iran’s nuclear program.

In a further sign of the frailty of the agreement, Iran canceled technical talks with the US that had been scheduled for Sunday, citing recent attacks on the country and unfulfilled conditions of the Memorandum of Understanding, a member of the Office of Preservation and Publication of the Works of Iran’s Supreme Leader told state television.

“For example one of the reasons is checking if we have access to the unfrozen funds, if there is no access then this condition has not been fulfilled,” Mehdi Fazaeili said.

Violence, accusations follow peace deal

One round of mediated talks, led by Vice President JD Vance and Iran’s parliamentary speaker, Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, was held in Switzerland a week ago and Washington waived sanctions on Tehran, but fighting has since resumed and intensified.

About an hour after Trump’s post, Kuwait’s army said its air defenses were responding to missile and drone attacks, while Bahrain said sirens had sounded there.

Also read: Iran says Hormuz closed again after Israel strikes Lebanon

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said in a statement its navy and air forces had launched missile and drone operations targeting US military sites in Kuwait and Bahrain.

The Guards said US strikes had violated the ceasefire and “will result in the complete halt of all diplomatic processes”, state-run Press TV said. The IRGC navy command said American bases in the region “will experience hell in the coming days”.

A US official, confirming Iran had targeted US facilities, told Reuters there were no reported US casualties or major damage to US sites in the Middle East but the situation was still unfolding.

Hours later, alarms sounded for a second time in Bahrain, where authorities said an Iranian attack damaged a residential building in Muharraq province, with no casualties reported.

Bahrain urged the U.N. Security Council to hold an urgent session to hold Iran accountable.

The Kuwaiti army said it had intercepted two ballistic missiles with no damage or casualties. Separately, Qatar said one of its nationals had died after sustaining injuries from shrapnel aboard a vessel that had gone missing on Saturday.

A second person was injured in the incident, which was due to “military operations in the area”, the interior ministry said, without giving a location or apportioning blame.

One of the attackers of the Pakistan Rangers (Sindh) Camp in Karachi’s Gulistan-i-Jauhar has detailed how the attack was carried out and revealed that he was trained in Afghanistan, according to security sources.

The attack was carried out on Saturday night, following which three security personnel were martyred during an exchange of fire with the terrorists, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said on Sunday.

The ISPR said in a statement that the attack was carried out by terrorists “belonging to Indian proxy, Jamaatul Ahrar (JuA)”, adding that three terrorists were killed in retaliatory action while one was arrested.

Later, security sources said the arrested terrorist had identified himself as Usman Ali and revealed that he had come to Pakistan from Jalalabad in Afghanistan. They added that Ali identified the three other attackers as Abdul Hadi, Janaan and Umar Farooq.

Moreover, the sources said, he admitted that he belonged to Jamaatul Ahrar, whose commander in Afghanistan he identified as Ahrar Moulvi.

According to the sources, the terrorist, Usman Ali, said he and his companions were trained in Afghanistan. The attacker said he was only given a jacket in Afghanistan by a man he identified as Umar Qari who also trained the terrorists, and they prepared the explosive material themselves, the sources said.

With regards to the attack, Ali revealed that Janaan had thrown a bomb at the Rangers camp, the sources said.

Ali said that he and his companions had come to Hadi, who was a resident of Bajaur, seven days ago and were housed in an under-construction building, according to security sources.

The sources said Ali further revealed that all arrangements from them had been made before they arrived in Karachi. “Abdul Hadi knew everything. He came here previously as well,” the sources quoted him as saying.

Moreover, he said that he and his companions previously did not know the difference between the army and the Rangers. “We came to know about the Rangers after coming here,” the sources quoted him as saying.

They further quoted him as saying that Hadi had sourced the weapons used in the attack from Waziristan.

Speaking about the attack, he said he was shot while running, according to the sources.

As the attack was launched, the residents of Gulistan-i-Jauhar had reported hearing the sounds of an explosion and gunfire at around 8pm on Thursday.

The powerful blast and subsequent heavy gunfire had forced residents and bystanders to scramble for safety. Law enforcement and emergency rescue services had rushed to the scene, while multiple arterial roads leading from Mosamiyat to the Rangers camp were closed to vehicular traffic as a security operation continued late into the night.

The military’s media affairs wing said the attack was carried out by the proscribed JuA. The terror outfit was formed by Abdul Wali aka Omar Khalid Khorasani in 2014 after his split from the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), but both groups joined hands in 2024.

Khorasani was in a car bomb attack in August 2022 in Afghanistan.

In January 2025, a dispute between the two surfaced in the media. Although no formal separation occurred, when the TTP announced its appointments for 2025 in February, no significant positions were allocated to the JuA.

According to information available on the United Nations Security Council’s website, the JuA is based in Nangarhar, Afghanistan.

“Most of JuA commanders and operatives hail from Mohmand Agency … [They were] dispersed after Pakistan’s military operation Zarb-i- Azb. Remnants continue to launch terrorist attacks inside Pakistan,” the website states.

For its part, Islamabad has repeatedly urged the Taliban administration in Kabul to dismantle terrorist sanctuaries on Afghan soil that are used for attacks in Pakistan. Officials say those appeals have gone unheeded.

Earlier this month, Pakistan also carried out strikes on terrorist hideouts along its border with Afghanistan and killed 26 terrorists.

Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said at the time that the strikes were carried out in the aftermath of recent terrorist incidents in Pakistan, including an attack on a Federal Constabulary (FC) post in Musa Dara in Peshawar on June 11. Tarar also mentioned “vehicle-borne suicide attacks on a military post in North Waziristan” on June 2, which was foiled, and the May 9 suicide attack on a Bannu post that claimed the lives of 15 police personnel.

TEHRAN: Flights between Tehran and Dubai are to resume on Monday, Iranian state media reported, just weeks after Iran hit targets in the UAE with drones and missiles during the Middle East war.

Iranian state TV and other media quoted Ramin Kashefazar, the head of Tehran’s Imam Khomeini Airport, as saying that “the necessary arrangements have been made to reopen the Tehran-Dubai route at Imam Khomeini Airport”.

Tickets were available to buy on the website of Iranian airline Sepehran for Monday’s 10:40 am (0730 GMT) flight to Dubai.

Dubai airport was repeatedly targeted by drones during the Middle East war, forcing it to suspend flights at times.

Also read: Dubai airport resumes some flights after drone attack spotlights risks

Video footage of one strike early in the war showed a drone crashing to the ground close to the passenger concourse.

Iran retaliated against US-Israeli attacks with missile and drone launches across the Gulf, but said it had targeted US interests and not civilian infrastructure.

Before the war Dubai airport was the world’s busiest for international passengers, although numbers sank 66 percent year-on-year during the conflict.

The war has been halted by a ceasefire since April, despite regular exchanges of fire, while United States and Iran are currently part way through a 60-day period to negotiate a lasting peace deal.