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KARACHI: Pakistan on Thursday refuted claims published in an Amnesty International report on Thursday that a spyware product, manufactured by an Israeli company, was actively being used in the country.

According to a senior intelligence officer, who spoke to Dawn on condition of anonymity, the report was an “an attempt to malign Pakistan”.

“There is not an iota of truth in it,” he stressed.

The official was referring to a claim made in the Amnesty International investigation, titled “Intellexa Leaks”, which described the story of a human rights lawyer based in Pakistan.

The lawyer, according to the report, had approached Amnesty International in the summer of 2025 after receiving a suspicious link on WhatsApp from an unknown number.

Amnesty’s Security Lab investigated the link and identified it as a Predator spyware attack attempt based on the technical behaviour of the infection server.

Predator is highly invasive spyware manufactured by the Israeli company Intellexa.

According to Amnesty International, the investigation was based on a combina-tion of highly sensitive documents and other material leaked from the company, including internal company documents, sales and marketing materials, and training videos.

The months-long investigation was published in collaboration with Inside Story in Greece, Haaretz in Israel, and WAV Research Collective in Switzerland.

In 2023, Intellexa was fined by the Greek Data Protection Authority for failing to comply with its investigations into the company.

Google started sending spyware threat notifications to several hundred of its users across various countries, including Pakistan. The accounts were identified as Predator spyware targets.

Published in Dawn, December 5th, 2025

KARACHI: The stock market on Thursday managed to reverse its downturn on the back of mid-session value-hunting in selective sectors as the announcement of bidding date for the divestment of national flag-carrier boosted investor sentiment, helping the benchmark KSE 100 index to stage a mild recovery.

According to Topline Securities, the investor confidence strengthened after the prime minister announced that the bidding process for the privatisation of Pakistan Inte­rnational Airlines (PIA) will be broadcast live on Dec 23. This development sparked notable investor interest in PIA Holding Company Ltd, which traded with healthy volumes throughout the day.

After a heavy spell of overnight institutional selling, the PSX staged a welcome recovery, noted the brokerage. The benchmark index touched an intraday high of 691 points before closing at 166,283, up 138 points or 0.08pc, reflecting renewed buying interest and improved intraday sentiment.

Meanwhile, Lalpir Power Ltd from the power sector surfaced as one of the session’s most actively traded stocks, with over 108 million shares exch­a­n­ging hands. The surge aligns with the company’s ongoing share buyback programme that comme­n­ced on Nov 28, as disclosed in its exchange notice.

Market sentiment remained broadly positive, supported by strong performance by Services Industries, Pioneer Cement, Pakistan Telecommunication, Engro Holdings and Pakistan Petroleum, which collectively added approximately 298 points to the benchmark.

Ali Najib, Deputy Head of Trading at Arif Habib Ltd, PSX extended its consolidation phase as throughout the session the benchmark moved in both directions within a narrow 951-point band.

Service Industries surged to its upper circuit after announcing a board meeting other than financial results scheduled for tomorrow at 10am.

Meanwhile, Fatima Fer­tiliser notified PSX that its subsidiary, Fatima Petroleum, has partnered with Mari Energies and Turkish Petroleum to cover two offshore blocks.Market activity remained moderate as the trading volume rose 2.48pc to 607.79 million shares. However, the traded value plunged by 29.71pc Rs31bn from the previous session.

Published in Dawn, December 5th, 2025