Barrister Assad Saifullah Khan (B.A.S.K.)

I'm a Barrister and a musician. UPenn Alum. Textile spinner. Lakki Marwat. 80s child. MUFC. Czech Republic consul KP. Published Author. Synth aficionado + DJ.

[Barrister Assad Saifullah Khan (B.A.S.K.) @Assadk]

It was my privilege today to inaugurate the Honorary Consulate of #CzechRepublic in Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in the presence of honourable Ambassador Jan Fury, Speaker KPK Assembly Mr Mushtaq Ghani & former Senator Salim Saifullah Khan 🇵🇰🇨🇿 Looking fwd to future cooperation

[TRT World @trtworld]

The official match ball for the FIFA World Cup 2026 was made in Sialkot, Pakistan, a city that produces around 70% of the world’s footballs. From hand-crafted expertise to cutting-edge technology, Pakistan’s football industry has been at the heart of the global game for the last four decades

[Seyed Abbas Araghchi @araghchi]

The Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding has never been closer. Pending its finalization, the media should refrain from entering speculation about its content.

In line with our responsible and transparent approach, all details will be shared with the public in due course.

[Pubity @pubity]

Facebook is down globally

[Barrister Assad Saifullah Khan (B.A.S.K.) @Assadk]

Zios and their shills didn't appreciate her visiting Pakistan, probably

[The Cradle @TheCradleMedia]

France, Germany propose 'stripping' top EU diplomat Kallas of her powers: Report
https://t.co/3z7nyLgIkk

[Barrister Assad Saifullah Khan (B.A.S.K.) @Assadk]

The one match I attended in person this season 😎

[Premier League @premierleague]

The best match from the 2025/26 season, as voted by YOU 🫵

🔴@Arsenal 2-3 @ManUtd ⚫️

https://t.co/WhEOpy1OFt

[Arnaud Bertrand @RnaudBertrand]

This is an absolutely major story and almost no Western media covered it: India's water minister CR Patil said on Tuesday that "it is certain, not a single drop of water will go (to Pakistan) in the coming years."

Patil said that India is "actively working on it" after "directives" from Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

As a reminder, Pakistan's dependence on water from India is close to total: the country is essentially built around the Indus river system, all of whose rivers flow through India before entering Pakistan.

The Indus system irrigates 80% of Pakistan's farmland, generates a third of its electricity, supplies its major cities with drinking water, and sustains the livelihoods of some 240 million people.

So, essentially, no water from India = annihilation of Pakistan as a state.

Pretty damn consequential, all the more given we're talking about 2 nuclear powers here. And all the more because, understandably, Pakistan's formal position is that water diversion would constitute "an act of war" (https://t.co/WLoDpGzc2W).

Unfortunately, Patil's statement isn't just talk: India already set up the legal framework to make this possible. Last year, they unilaterally suspended the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty, despite the treaty containing no withdrawal clause.

It used to be the one piece of India-Pakistan relations that worked, and had survived multiple wars and over six decades of hostility. Now India is saying officially that it will "never be restored" (https://t.co/2SnUNevFbX).

The one mitigating factor here is physics: you don't just "turn off" a major Himalayan river system. Diverting rivers of this magnitude means building massive storage and canal infrastructure in Himalayan terrain: projects measured in years.

But India IS ACTUALLY BUILDING that infrastructure: for instance it just approved in May the building of the so-called "Chenab–Beas Link Tunnel," an 8.7km ₹2,352 crore (~$280M) tunnel designed to divert water from the Chenab basin into India's Beas river system. The Chenab is one of the main tributaries of the Indus - and one of the three "western rivers" (Indus, Jhelum, Chenab) allocated to Pakistan under the 1960 Indus Water Treaty.

Which means that, unfortunately, Patil's "not a single drop of water in the coming years" looks like a roadmap: the infrastructure to strangle Pakistan's water supply is being approved and tendered in plain sight.

This is also a story about selective media coverage and double standards: I'm willing to bet that 99% of people in the West have never heard of any of this.

Now make this thought experiment: imagine China announced it was building infrastructure to cut off every drop of water flowing to India and its ministers proclaimed on television that "not a single drop" would cross the border. It would be wall-to-wall coverage, sanctions packages, and a thousand op-eds about Beijing "weaponizing water."

Heck we don't need to imagine because the simple fact of China merely building a hydropower dam on the Yarlung Tsangpo (the upstream Brahmaputra) generated exactly the wall-to-wall alarm I'm describing, even though China threatened nothing and even though Indian officials said the threat is a "myth" given the fact that the river gathers most of its volume inside India from monsoon rains (https://t.co/GBgBybBPoE). Malign intent was still presumed from the act of construction, because it's China.

In India's case, the intent couldn't possibly be clearer: it's proclaimed by ministers on the record, and backed by India's actions. But because they're a courted Western partner, what they're doing - arguably the most extreme form of economic warfare imaginable, directed at a nuclear state - largely gets silence.

Src for screenshot: https://t.co/qav4muNkij

[Barrister Assad Saifullah Khan (B.A.S.K.) @Assadk]

Clutch move, go Knicks 👏

[SNY Knicks @sny_knicks]

OG ANUNOBY WITH THE GAME-WINNING PUTBACK FOR THE KNICKS!!!!!!

[DC Islamabad @dcislamabad]

New closing hours for markets, malls, restaurants, and commercial establishments have been notified by the District Administration Islamabad. The revised timings come into effect from 10 June 2026 and will remain applicable until further orders. Essential services, including hospitals, pharmacies, fuel stations, IT companies, and sports facilities, remain exempt. Thank you

[Iftikhar Firdous @IftikharFirdous]

Pakistan in its official version through its information ministry says it carried out “precise and calibrated” strikes along the Pakistan–Afghanistan border following recent militant attacks, including the 9 June assault on a Federal Constabulary post in Musa Dara, the 2 June vehicle-borne suicide attack in North Waziristan, and the 9 May attack on a police station in Bannu.

According to the statement, four terrorist facilities including a training centre, hideout, ammunition cache and command centres linked to commanders Aleem Khan Khushali and Akhtar Muhammad Jani Khel were targeted. The government says 26 armed combatants were killed and says the operation was based on “credible intelligence.”

Islamabad maintains the strikes were part of its ongoing counterterrorism campaign under Operation Azm-e-Istehkam and reiterated that eliminating what it describes as foreign-sponsored terrorism remains a national security priority.

[Financial Times @FT]

Fifa’s resale portal currently lists 176,000 tickets for the opening 'group' phase of the competition, when each team plays three others. https://t.co/UebmIHCSVl

[Iftikhar Firdous @IftikharFirdous]

Six Frontier Constabulary personnel have lost their lives, while 7 have been kidnapped and 3 are injured in a major attack on a surveillance post in Musa Darra on the confluence Peshawar and Kohat, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. The TTP’s associated media has published pictures of the kidnapped paramilitary personnel via @khorasandiary

[Reuters Asia @ReutersAsia]

Clashes in Pakistan-administered Kashmir kill 11 ahead of protest https://t.co/j47jU2Bmm2

[The Spectator Index @spectatorindex]

BREAKING: Israeli air defenses are currently engaging Iranian ballistic missiles

[Reuters @Reuters]

Pakistan to impose 1% tax on retail sales up to 200 million rupees https://t.co/WvTTUhPnPe https://t.co/WvTTUhPnPe

[Justice for Noor @justicefornoor]

Update: Supreme Court delivers major verdict in Noor Mukadam case.

The Supreme Court has rejected Zahir Jaffers review petition and upholds the death sentence decision. #JusticeforNoor

[Shadow of Ezra @ShadowofEzra]

Jared Kushner admits his friend Nat Rothschild was the one who helped him find his new off-the-grid private island in the middle of the Mediterranean while he was on his boat on vacation.

Kushner says he had a private meeting with Albania’s Prime Minister on Rothschild’s boat.

The private island will be exclusively for the rich, the powerful, and the elites.

“We were on a friend’s boat, Nat Rothschild’s, on vacation.”

[The New York Times @nytimes]

From @TheAthleticFC: If referee calls had been correct, the Premier League title race would have entered the final match round with Manchester City two points clear of Arsenal, according to our analysis of key match decisions. https://t.co/FSWGZMMBRL

[Shaheryar Hassan @shaheryarhassan]

#Islamabad #Rawalpindi: #ProtestAlert 2/6/26
Please note that #PTI had announced protest in twin cities today 2/6/26. Heavy contingent of police present at 26 No. Roads are OPEN for now. If they are coming keep in mind that M1, 26 No, & all roads towards Islamabad will be blocked. Keep following #ChampAlertsOnTheGo #CAOTG for more updates.

[The Kobeissi Letter @KobeissiLetter]

BREAKING: Iran announces it is ending all negotiations with the US and vows to "completely" block the Strait of Hormuz, per CNBC.

Iran says it is ending negotiations due to repeated ceasefire violations including Israeli strikes in Lebanon.

Iran also threatens to block the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.

[Kaja Kallas @kajakallas]

Pakistan’s diplomatic efforts between the U.S. and Iran have helped prevent a return to full-blown war.

The EU is ready to contribute to a sustainable and peaceful resolution.

We bring economic leverage, hard-won nuclear expertise, longstanding relationships with Gulf partners, and direct engagement with Iran itself.

My press remarks with @MIshaqDar50 in Islamabad ↓