Jon Jones responds to Dana White's comments at UFC 318
The event, which would take place on Independence Day, is seen as a major opportunity for the UFC, but White's hesitation to trust Jones due to his past troubles has sparked tension.
In a post-UFC 318 news conference, White admitted that while Jones is undeniably talented, he's concerned about his history of legal issues.
"It's not even about him winning the belt," White said. "You know how I feel about him. I can't risk putting him in big positions and have something go wrong, especially with the White House card."
Jones, who has had multiple controversies throughout his career, has had a rocky relationship with the UFC and its management.
His refusal to fight Chael Sonnen on short notice, causing the cancellation of UFC 151, his hit-and-run accident leading to his removal from UFC 187, and a series of failed drug tests ahead of UFC 200 and 214 have all contributed to his troubled reputation.
Despite these setbacks, Jones' return to fighting was reignited after President Donald Trump announced the possibility of hosting a UFC event at the White House.
Jones quickly expressed his desire to headline the card, initially receiving support from White, who even suggested a potential showdown between Jones and interim heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall.
However, White's recent comments have cast doubt on whether Jones will be entrusted with such a monumental opportunity.
In response, Jones took to social media, expressing his disappointment but reaffirming his commitment to the sport.
'I heard the comments made at last night's press conference,' Jones wrote on X (formerly Twitter). 'While I was a little disappointed, I'm still in the UFC's drug testing pool, staying sharp, and continuing to train like a professional.'
I heard the comments made at last night's press conference. While I was a little disappointed, I'm still in the UFC's drug testing pool, staying sharp, and continuing to train like a professional. I'll be ready for whatever comes next.
In a recent interview, I shared that the… — Jonny Meat (@JonnyBones) July 20, 2025
Jones went on to stress the personal significance of the opportunity, stating that fighting at the White House would give him a greater sense of purpose beyond paychecks and titles.
'Fighting for my country gives me a greater purpose,' he said, adding that he's motivated by the chance to further his legacy.
Jones' response suggests he remains committed to making a return to the UFC, with his eyes set on an iconic moment at the White House, an event which is shaping up to be the biggest in UFC's entire history.
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Express Tribune
6 hours ago
- Express Tribune
There is no honour in this
A few days ago, a graphic video surfaced on social media, shaking the collective conscience of Balochistan. It showed a man and a woman being gunned down in cold blood in the Digari region near Quetta, the provincial capital. What followed was a wave of public outrage, intense media coverage, and swift government responses. The Digari double murder, now confirmed as an honour killing, is not just a criminal case but a stark reflection of a society caught between legal responsibility and tribal authority, between constitutional rights and deeply rooted patriarchal control. The brutality of the incident was amplified by the digital age, but became the reason that it went viral. A video, reportedly filmed by the perpetrators themselves, circulated widely, displaying the execution of two individuals, later identified as Ehsanullah and Bano Bibi. The graphic footage sparked horror across Balochistan and rest of the country, not just for its violence, but for the manner in which the killings were carried out. Initial social media reports suggested that the victims were a couple who had married against their families' wishes, framing the incident as a typical honour killing linked to a romantic elopement. However, officials later clarified that both individuals were already married with children and did not have such a relationship, challenging the initial narrative. This clarification, however, did not soften the nature of the crime, it only deepened the tragedy. State as complainant: a shift or singular response? In many honour killing cases across Pakistan, silence is weaponised. Families often refuse to register complaints, either out of fear, complicity, or adherence to tribal codes. As a result, justice is obstructed before it even begins. The Digari case followed a similar initial pattern — both families declined to file a First Information Report (FIR), leaving the state to intervene. In a rare move, the Government of Balochistan stepped in as the complainant, registering the case under anti-terrorism laws. Chief Minister Sarfraz Bugti declared on X (formerly Twitter), 'Justice will be served, and all legal channels will be pursued.' Authorities swiftly used NADRA's facial recognition tools to identify suspects from the viral video, resulting in over a dozen arrests. Among those taken into custody were tribal leader Sardar Sherbaz Khan Satakzai and Bashir Ahmed, both remanded by the Anti-Terrorism Court in Quetta. Officials insisted that tribal status would not shield the accused from prosecution. Yet, this sudden demonstration of state resolve raises important questions: Is this a watershed moment in how the state handles gender-based violence? Or is it a reactive posture spurred more by digital visibility than by policy or principle? Because for every case that goes viral, there are countless others that never make headlines. What about Shazia Bibi, killed by her husband in Naseerabad last October over allegations of an affair? Or Asiya Bibi, murdered by her uncle on July 18, this year under similar suspicions? Both cases barely registered outside their immediate communities, even though after being reported in media, like many others, they are now fading from public memory. The state's proactive role in Digari is notable, but it highlights an uncomfortable inconsistency: justice appears to depend on visibility. For women whose deaths are not filmed, tweeted, or shared, the system still remains largely indifferent. A mother's confession In a development that blurred the lines between justice and belief, a video emerged showing the mother of the female victim, Gul Jan, holding a copy of the Holy Quran and openly confessing to the murder. 'Yes, we killed them,' she says in Brahui language, 'but this was not dishonourable; it was done according to Baloch traditions.' Gul Jan, who described how her daughter had left home for 25 days and her paramour allegedly threatened her brother, did not express remorse. Instead, she justified the act as necessary to restore honour. This public confession reveals the moral architecture within which such acts occur. Gul Jan was arrested and handed over to the Serious Crime Investigation Wing. Yet, her defiant tone resonates with many in rural Balochistan. Political reactions and institutional condemnations Unusually, the Digari incident prompted rare political unity. The Balochistan Assembly unanimously passed a joint resolution condemning the murders. Prominent figures like Rubaba Buledi, Raheela Durrani, and Shahida Rauf called for tougher enforcement and the dismantling of tribal courts that operate outside the law. 'No one has the right to act as judge, jury, and executioner,' the resolution stated. While encouraging, these statements must be examined critically. Historically, such condemnations have not translated into concrete legislative change. In the past five years many have been killed in the name of honour across Balochistan. Very few cases reached the courts; even fewer resulted in convictions. Tribal conundrum Perhaps the most disturbing layer of this case is the underlying tribal code that continues to sanction and legitimise such killings under the banner of tradition. Reports suggest that a tribal jirga allegedly issued a formal decree for the victims' deaths — a claim that, while unconfirmed, reflects the enduring presence of parallel justice systems in parts of Balochistan. Sardar Kamal Khan Bangulzai of the National Party, along with other Sarawan chieftains, publicly condemned the arrest of Sardar Sherbaz Khan Satakzai, calling it baseless and a violation of the sanctity of his chadar and char dewari — the cultural principle safeguarding one's home and honour. They demanded his immediate release. Former chief minister Nawab Aslam Raisani has also supported a tribal investigation into the case. Critics argue that tribal processes are often applied selectively — protecting influential families while penalising the marginalised. Women, in particular, bear the brunt of this dual system, where protection is determined not by rights, but by status. Maulana Hidayat, the Ameer of Jamaat-e-Islami Balochistan, added another dimension to the debate, condemning the killings while simultaneously rejecting the influence of what he terms 'Western culture.' 'This boyfriend and girlfriend culture is against Islam, Baloch and Pashtoon traditions,' he says. 'I condemn this killing, but I will not allow someone to enter my house and take my daughter, nor will I allow my daughter to elope with someone.' His statement reflects the complex interplay between religion and tradition. Advisor to the Chief Minister on Women Development, MPA Dr Rubaba Buledi, responded to such justifications by pointing out that the true tribal values of justice, honour, and protection have been manipulated to justify gender-based violence —especially against those without power or privilege. An ongoing pattern According to Allah Uddin Khilji provincial Director of the Aurat Foundation, over 250 women were killed in the name of honour in Balochistan between 2019 and 2024. In 2024 alone, 43 women and 14 men have been murdered under accusations of [blackening a woman's character]. 'This is gender-based violence, not cultural tradition,' Khilji says. 'It's a crime rooted in misogyny, not honour.' Social Activist Hameeda Noor emphasises that these incidents are often systemic. 'Watta satta marriages, child brides, giving women away as blood money — these are all symptoms of a deeper crisis,' she says. Moreover, as Noor highlights, many such incidents remain unreported. Institutions only document what's officially registered, while untold numbers of women disappear silently. Courts vs jirgas Activist Bahram Lehri frames the issue of honour killings within the wider context of state failure and economic collapse. Referring to the Digari double murder, he points out that the incident took place over a month before the video surfaced online yet local authorities took no action until public outrage forced a response. 'There is no governmental writ,' he states. 'This incident is an example — as the video came out on social media after one and a half months. The area has Levies and security forces, but nobody found out about it until it went viral.' Lehri further connects the violence to systemic economic disenfranchisement: 'There is a saying that idle men's minds are homes for the devil,' he says. 'The economic question can't be separated, as the men are jobless, unemployed, and idle — their minds are homes for the devil.' According to him, the lack of trust in the judicial system leads people to take matters into their own hands: 'People don't trust the judicial system and courts. FIR wasn't even registered in the current case, and now the state itself has become the complainant in the case.' He adds that the tribal code of conduct allows no room for negotiation in such matters: 'Tribal code of conduct is zero tolerance over such matters of honour and people often tend to go for their own ways in settling these issues and the result is killings in the name of honour.' Lehri's comments highlight the grim intersection of poverty, failed governance, and entrenched tribal authority, where women's lives are often lost in the name of restoring so-called honour—and justice is left hanging in the balance. A lost opportunity for reform The governance of Balochistan remains ensnared in a paradox — a clash between the formal legal framework of the state and the entrenched tribal structures that continue to wield immense influence over society. This tension dates back decades. In the 1970s, Baloch nationalist leader Nawab Khair Bakhsh Marri, with the support of then-Chief Minister Sardar Attaullah Mengal, made a bold attempt to abolish the tribal chieftaincy system, recognising its incompatibility with justice and democratic governance. Despite provincial assembly approval, this resolution was quietly shelved by the federal government under Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, leaving the tribal hierarchy intact. Ironically, today the mainstream Pakistani media paints Nawab Khair Baksh Marri and Sardar Attaullah Mengal through a lens of hereditary and feudal lords and Bhutto as a champion of democracy. History tells otherwise! The recent brutal honour killing in Digari is a grim reminder of this unresolved contradiction — where tribal authority and traditions supersede legal protections, and where the state's writ falters in protecting basic human rights. This case is more than a local tragedy; it reflects the deep-rooted governance failures and societal fractures in Balochistan. The persistence of tribal dominance, coupled with weak state enforcement and political complicity, perpetuates cycles of violence, especially against women. It raises fundamental questions about the rule of law, the reach of justice, and the cost of political expediency in a province long caught between tradition and modernity. The gendered machinery of silence The Digari double murder is not an isolated act of brutality — it fits into a broader and deeply troubling landscape of systemic impunity, where violence, particularly gender-based violence, thrives under the shadow of entrenched power. The recent exposé by international influencer and content creator Angela Carson offers a revealing lens into how both men and women — local and foreign — can become targets of exploitation when legal and political institutions are co-opted by the powerful. Carson alleges that during her time in Pakistan, she experienced intimidation, abuse, and threats to her safety, with some of the alleged perpetrators linked to elite political circles — including individuals reportedly associated with the Chief Minister's House. Her claims suggest a disturbing pattern in which personal and institutional power is used not to protect the vulnerable, but to suppress them. What Carson's experience makes clear is that the abuse of power is not always violent in its methods, but it is always violent in its impact. Victims are often gaslighted, discredited, or shamed into silence. In Balochistan, women like Bano Bibi are murdered under the pretext of restoring honour. Elsewhere, survivors are isolated through smear campaigns or legal threats — often orchestrated by those with unchecked access to political or institutional authority. The link between Carson's allegations and the Digari killings lies not in the specifics of the cases but in the systems that allow such harms to occur. Whether through tribal decrees or political protectionism, these systems share one aim: to protect the reputation of the powerful at the cost of justice for the vulnerable. What can be done? While federal law already criminalises honour killings, implementation remains patchy. As Fauzia Shaheen, former and first chairperson of Balochistan Commission on Status of Women argues, 'There is no need for a separate honour killing law in Balochistan as the federal one covers it but there is an urgent need for implementation.' She advocates for a new provincial law to counter harmful traditional practices against women. Starting with mapping those customs and proposing protective measures. Meanwhile, Buledi emphasises a multi-pronged strategy: Speedy prosecution and deterrent punishment. Support services for at-risk women. Community policing and gender-sensitivity training. Public campaigns to redefine 'honour.' Yet, perhaps the most powerful solution lies not in policy alone, but in collective societal change. 'The role of religious leaders, communities, and the media is critical,' Buledi says. 'We must reject the very notion that a woman's life can be sacrificed to uphold some distorted sense of honour.' The price of silence The Digari double murder is not an anomaly, it is the logical outcome of a system where law is negotiable, tribal power is unchallenged, and women's lives are expendable. If not for a viral video, this tragedy might have faded into obscurity, like so many others. It has now become a test case for the government, for civil society, and for everyone who seeks a future where justice does not bow to tradition, where women's lives are not bargaining chips, and where silence no longer shields murder. Balochistan stands at a crossroads. Whether this moment leads to systemic reform or vanishes into another forgotten chapter depends not just on arrests and resolutions but on a sustained, collective reckoning with the toxic myths of honour that continue to cost lives. Mohammad Zafar Baloch is a freelance journalist based in Quetta All facts and information are the sole responsibility of the writer.
Business Recorder
a day ago
- Business Recorder
NA body orders urgent steps to end BISP staffing crisis
ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly Standing Committee on Poverty Alleviation and Social Safety ordered immediate action to resolve the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP)'s staffing crisis, directing the Poverty Alleviation Ministry to urgently engage the Finance Ministry and lift the recruitment freeze hampering welfare operations. The committee ordered immediate action to resolve BISP's staffing crisis, directing the Poverty Alleviation Ministry to urgently engage the Finance Ministry and lift the recruitment freeze hampering welfare operations. The committee also expressed serious concern over the continuously resistance from commercial banks in opening accounts for beneficiaries, with Private Financial Institutions (PFIs) demonstrating marked preference for their conventional clients over welfare recipients. The committee met with Mir Ghulam Ali Talpur in the chair at the Parliament house on Friday. The committee was told that the BISP is facing a staffing crisis of a shortage of personnel at various levels. This shortage is impacting the programme's ability to effectively serve beneficiaries and manage its operations, leading to concerns about service delivery and potential hardships for those relying on BISP's assistance The secretary Ministry of Poverty Alleviation and Social Safety confirmed to the Committee that a draft National Poverty Alleviation Policy is ready for and they are currently awaiting provincial governments' feedback, with a federal-provincial Poverty Alleviation Coordination Council to be established upon final approval. Presiding over a contentious review of Pakistan's welfare system, Mir Ghulam Ali Talpur led committee members in exposing banking sector roadblocks to BISP implementation while demanding urgent reforms to protect vulnerable beneficiaries. The meeting commenced with an acknowledgment of the ministry's compliance with the committee direction from previous proceedings, while members expressed concerns regarding incomplete responses in the submitted compliance report, particularly concerning State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) and demanded that Ministry to take up this matter with SBP. In response, the secretary BISP provided detailed dual-track solution involving simultaneous physical BISP Sahulat and digital wallet account initiatives. He said that the physical account pilot would commence in Karachi on August 14, symbolically aligning with Independence Day to emphasise country's downtrodden women financial emancipation. He said that concurrently, a digital account system will utilise biometric verification (BVS) through CNIC-linked mobile SIMs, mandated by recent SBP policy reforms. Both pilots will operate for six months, with comprehensive evaluations expected by January 2026. The committee emphasised the necessity of beneficiary orientation programmes, particularly, in underserved regions, to ensure effective adoption of these financial mechanisms. The committee raised questions regarding BISP's role in addressing the humanitarian crisis following recent building collapse in Karachi that left numerous poor women homeless. The secretary Ministry Poverty Alleviation and Social Safety and BISP clarified constitutional limitations, noting that housing and shelter interventions fall under provincial jurisdiction. The BISP advertisement budgetary transparency emerged as another critical discussion point, with committee members demanding detailed expenditure reports for BISP's media campaigns for the FY 2024-25 and current FY 2025-26, having found initial submissions insufficiently comprehensive. Operational challenges received considerable attention, including measures to address disbursement delays through enhanced two-factor authentication at payment campsites. Contractual enforcement emerged as a key concern, with the committee noting the termination of Habib Bank Limited's contract due to non-compliance and plans for similar and even more stricter penalties against such underperforming contracting private banks. The committee members also highlighted the outdated nature of the 2019 Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) data shared by Ministry of Planning Development and Special Initiatives, directing them to produce updated and comparative analysis of the metrics in the next meeting. The committee was informed by the Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund (PPAF) about their foreign-funded projects worth Rs11.7 billion that are currently operating across 253 union councils, covering diverse initiatives from livestock value chains to micro-hydel and nutritional programmes. It is pertaining to mention here that the projects are focusing on poverty reduction and sustainable development in Pakistan. These projects, supported by organizations like the European Union and the Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau(KfW), target diverse areas such as agriculture, rural development, and access to energy. The Kfw is a German state-owned development bank, originally established after World War II. The KfW supports various development goals, including those related to climate action, energy efficiency, and sustainable development. The committee was briefed on the continuation of the National Poverty Graduation Programme with new donor agency, now expanded to include five additional districts alongside the original twenty, though procedural issues have temporarily excluded it from PSDP allocations. This comprehensive session underscored the committee's commitment to rigorous oversight of social safety initiatives while highlighting both institutional progress and systemic challenges requiring continued attention. Copyright Business Recorder, 2025
Business Recorder
a day ago
- Business Recorder
Sindh govt gears up for historic Independence Day, ‘Battle of Truth'
KARACHI: The Sindh government has initiated extensive preparations to celebrate the Independence Day on 14th August and the occasion of 'Battle of Truth' in a historic, organised, and spirited manner. This decision was made under the chairmanship of Senior Minister Sharjeel Inam Memon, in a high-level meeting held in Karachi on Friday. The meeting was attended by provincial ministers, special aides, President of the Arts Council Ahmed Shah, Secretary of Information Nadeem-ur-Rehman Memon, and other senior officials. During the meeting, it was decided that government buildings, buses, trains, markets, and public places would be decorated with the national flag, colorful lights, and vibrant banners. A wide-reaching media campaign will be launched to encourage public participation. Detailed discussions were held on key aspects including event schedules, decoration plans, security and sanitation arrangements, cultural activities, and public engagement at the district level. Sharjeel Inam Memon emphasised that this year, the Independence Month will not be observed merely as a celebration, but as a message of patriotism, sacrifice, and truth. Events will be inclusive, ensuring participation of special children, minorities, senior citizens, and women. District-level main events will be organised to reflect the true spirit of public enthusiasm. Minister for Local Government, Syed Saeed Ghani, stated that instructions would be issued to all local bodies to hold events at ward, union council, and town levels. These will include public rallies, musical evenings featuring national songs, and youth sports competitions, aimed at channeling the energy of the younger generation. Minister for Culture, Zulfiqar Shah, announced that to highlight Sindh's cultural heritage, special shows, poetry sessions, Qawwali nights, and theater performances will be organised in collaboration with Arts Council, schools, colleges, and theater groups. According to him, this is not only a festive occasion but a moment to connect with cultural legacy. Minister for Energy, Syed Nasir Hussain Shah, added that Independence Day would also be marked by initiatives such as tree planting, cleanliness drives, blood donation camps, and social action programmes, making the day symbolic of public service. Copyright Business Recorder, 2025
