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The Lahore district administration has declared Tuesday, August 4, as a public holiday across the district to facilitate devotees attending the annual Urs celebrations of the revered Sufi saint Hazrat Data Ganj Bakhsh. According to an official notification, the holiday will remain effective only within the limits of Lahore district, allowing worshippers to participate in the religious events without disruption. The 983rd annual Urs officially commenced with a traditional chadar-laying ceremony and the inauguration of a milk sabeel at the shrine. The opening ceremony was attended by Deputy Prime Minister Senator Ishaq Dar, who paid tribute to the great Sufi saint and highlighted his enduring message of peace, tolerance, and unity. The Urs is observed over three days and attracts thousands of devotees from across Pakistan. Religious scholars, spiritual leaders, and followers gather at the shrine to offer prayers, recite the Holy Quran, and take part in various religious and spiritual activities held throughout the celebrations. Hazrat Data Ganj Bakhsh, also known as Hazrat Ali Hajveri, was an 11th-century Persian Sufi scholar born in Ghazni. He later settled in Lahore, where he dedicated his life to spreading the teachings of Islam, compassion, and brotherhood through Sufism. His shrine has since become one of the most significant spiritual landmarks in the region. Data Darbar is widely regarded as South Asia’s largest Sufi shrine and receives millions of visitors every year.

The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has established a dedicated unit to investigate criminals operating through the dark web. The move is aimed at strengthening Pakistan’s ability to deal with hidden online criminal networks. The new unit has been set up at the FIA’s National Command and Control Centre (NC3) in Islamabad. It will use advanced technology and digital investigation techniques to identify suspects who use encrypted platforms to conceal their identities. FIA Director General Dr Usman Anwar said the unit would focus on criminal networks involved in activities that fall under the agency’s jurisdiction. Investigators will also examine suspicious digital transactions, including those involving cryptocurrencies. A major focus will be networks involved in producing fake documents. Such documents can be used to facilitate human trafficking and illegal migrant smuggling. The unit will also investigate other forms of cyber-enabled crime linked to the dark web. The dark web is a hidden part of the internet. Its websites are not normally indexed by standard search engines. Access often requires specialised software and knowledge. Criminals can use these systems to hide their identities and locations. The technology has also been misused for illegal trade, cybercrime and other criminal activities. Authorities face additional challenges because many dark web networks operate across national borders. Criminals can also use cryptocurrency to make financial transactions more difficult to trace. The FIA plans to address these challenges through modern digital investigation tools and greater coordination between specialised teams. The new unit will work closely with the FIA’s cryptocurrency investigation unit. Both units will operate under the same facility and share technical expertise. Investigators will use blockchain forensic techniques to examine cryptocurrency transactions. These techniques can help authorities analyse transactions and potentially connect anonymous or pseudonymous digital addresses with real-world identities. Open-source intelligence will also be used to support investigations. Officials said digital evidence gathered from different sources could help strengthen criminal cases. Investigators will track aliases, usernames and pseudonyms used by suspected criminals across online marketplaces, forums and other hidden platforms. The information will be used to build detailed profiles of suspected offenders. Authorities can then use the evidence to identify suspects and pursue legal action. NC3 Director Dr Athar Waheed explained the basic structure of the internet. He said it is commonly divided into three broad layers: the surface web, deep web and dark web. The surface web includes websites that can be found through regular search engines. News websites, social media platforms, blogs and online shopping sites are examples. The deep web contains online material that search engines do not index. This includes private databases, email accounts, banking systems, academic resources and internal organisational networks. Much of the deep web is legitimate. Users normally need passwords, subscriptions or specific permissions to access such content. The dark web is a smaller and deliberately hidden section of the deep web. It uses technologies designed to provide greater anonymity. Tor is one of the technologies commonly associated with accessing dark web services. It routes internet traffic through multiple volunteer-operated relays, making it more difficult to identify the original source. The FIA’s new unit will seek to overcome these anonymity measures through digital forensics, intelligence gathering and technological investigation.

The summer vacation in Islamabad’s district and sessions courts began on Saturday and will continue until August 31, according to the official schedule issued by the judicial authorities. The district judiciary announced that regular court proceedings will remain suspended during the vacation period. However, essential judicial work will continue through designated duty judges to ensure that urgent legal matters are addressed without delay. The Sessions Judges of both the East and West divisions issued separate duty rosters for the summer break. Under the schedule, one additional sessions judge and one judicial magistrate will remain on duty in each division throughout the vacation period. The duty judges will hear urgent cases requiring immediate judicial intervention. These include matters related to physical remand, judicial remand, bail applications and other emergency cases that cannot be postponed until the courts reopen after the holidays. The arrangement has been made to ensure that litigants continue to have access to the courts for urgent legal relief despite the suspension of regular proceedings. Judicial officials said the vacation roster has been prepared to maintain the smooth functioning of the district judiciary while allowing judges and court staff to observe the annual summer recess. The district and sessions courts are expected to resume their normal schedule after the summer vacation concludes on August 31. Until then, only cases of an urgent nature will be taken up by the designated duty judges in both the East and West judicial divisions of Islamabad.