• Balochistan to beef up intel network, work closely with companies.
• Shahid Rind says govt extremely serious about foreign investment.
• Barrick says it will “immediately” review its project in Balochistan.

KARACHI: Pakistan has decided to boost its intelligence network and raise a special force to guard the mineral-rich Balochistan province and its borders with Iran and Afghanistan, a provincial government official said.

The development, reported by The News citing Arab News, comes days after Canadian giant Barrick Mining Corporation said it planned to “immediately” begin a comprehensive review of all aspects of the multibillion-dollar Reko Diq copper-gold project in Balochistan.

Barrick’s decision followed coordinated attacks by the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) terrorist group in several districts across Balochistan last Saturday that killed 36 civilians and 22 security personnel. Authorities said they had killed 216 militants in follow-up operations.

“In light of the terrorists events, the provincial government in tandem with security forces is redesigning the entire security architecture,” Shahid Rind, an aide to Chief Minister of Balochistan Sarfraz Bugti for media and political affairs, told the Arab News.

“This includes raising a dedicated Frontier Corps for the mineral-bearing area, securing both borders, i.e., Iran and Afghanistan.”

Arab News reached out to Pakistan’s information minister, Attaullah Tarar, but he did not respond to questions seeking comment on the matter.

The Balochistan government will also beef up its intelligence network and work closely with mining companies in the region.

“The Balochistan government is extremely serious about foreign investment in the province and considers Reko Diq as the flag-bearer of foreign investment,” Rind said.

“The provincial government will do whatever is necessary to maintain that.”

The recent attacks have apparently alarmed international investors, especially Barrick, which is developing one of the world’s largest copper and gold mines in Balochistan.

“As we stated in our public documents, Barrick is undertaking a review of all aspects of the Reko Diq project, including with respect to the project’s security arrangements, development timetable and capital budget,” a Barrick spokesperson said in response to an Arab News email.

In a February 5 statement issued with its fourth-quarter financial results, Barrick said the Reko Diq project “continued to advance site works in Q4, although in light of a recent increase in security incidents, management is currently reviewing all aspects of the project.”

“The review will begin immediately,” the Barrick spokesperson said. “An update will be provided when the review has been completed.”

Barrick owns 50% share in Reko Diq, along with three Pakistani federal state-owned enterprises that own 25%, while the Balochistan government has the remaining 25% share in the project.

The project is expected to begin production in 2028 and is central to Pakistan’s hopes of boosting mineral exports and attracting foreign investment into its underdeveloped mining sector.

Despite heightened threats in Balochistan, development linked to the project continues in other parts of the country.

Barrick is expected to start investing in Pakistan’s port infrastructure soon as it prepares for exports.

Pakistan International Bulk Terminal Ltd (PIBT), the country’s first dirty bulk terminal located at Port Qasim in Karachi, will host dedicated facilities to ship Reko Diq’s output.

PIBT CEO Sharique Azim Siddiqui told Arab News this week that Barrick would invest $150 million to build a shed and upgrade other dedicated facilities to handle shipments of copper-gold concentrate once Reko Diq production begins in 2028.

Barrick’s Pakistani subsidiary, Reko Diq Mining Company, last week signed an export agreement with PIBT under which the miner will export 800,000 tonnes of copper and gold concentrate through the terminal in the first phase, doubling the volume in the second phase, according to Siddiqui.

Revived in 2022 after years of legal disputes, the Reko Diq project is billed by the government as a transformative investment for Balochistan, Pakistan’s largest but least developed province.

But persistent militant activity and rising attacks targeting security forces, state institutions and infrastructure have raised concerns among investors.

The latest attacks, one of the deadliest flare-ups in Balochistan in recent years, have prompted large-scale security operations across the province as authorities continue their hunt for militant facilitators.

Siddiqui said the recent surge in militancy in Balochistan remains a concern for them.

“Security challenges have always been there in Pakistan. The investors do realise that, and we take it in our stride, and we hope for the best,” Siddiqui said.

“If there is no security for the cargo movement, then that’s going to hurt that [Reko Diq] project and hurt everyone.”

Grammy-winning singer Coco Jones will perform “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” which is widely known as the Black national anthem, at the start of the 2026 Super Bowl on Sunday.

“Lift Every Voice and Sing” has a short Super Bowl history, but the song itself has been around since 1900, when it was first performed by a choir of 500 schoolchildren in Jacksonville, Florida. It was written by James Weldon Johnson, who considered the piece a hymn.

What is the Black national anthem?

James Weldon Johnson’s “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” colloquially known as the Black national anthem, was originally written late in 1899, James Weldon Johnson Foundation president Rufus Jones said. 

Johnson, a renowned author, educator, lawyer and civil rights activist, set out to write a poem to to commemorate President Abraham Lincoln’s birthday, and the piece became a song. His brother, John Rosamond Johnson, composed the music.

James Weldon Johnson referred to the work as a “National Hymn,” but his work spread and was later popularized as the Black national anthem. 

“At the turn of the 20th century, Johnson’s lyrics eloquently captured the solemn yet hopeful appeal for the liberty of Black Americans,” according to the NAACP, where Johnson was a leader. “Set against the religious invocation of God and the promise of freedom, the song was later adopted by NAACP and prominently used as a rallying cry during the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s.”

Calling the song the Black national anthem has led to some controversy. “America only has ONE NATIONAL ANTHEM. Why is the NFL trying to divide us by playing multiple!? Do football, not wokeness,” Rep. Lauren Boebert, a Republican from Colorado, tweeted before it was performed at the 2023 Super Bowl.

Jones, however, emphasized that “Lift Every Voice and Sing” was written and popularized decades before “The Star-Spangled Banner” became America’s national anthem in 1931.

“In Jim Crow America, when everything was ‘separate and equal,’ so to speak, Black folk found their own sources of inspiration,” Jones said. 

In early 2021, Rep. James Clyburn filed a bill seeking to have “Lift Every Voice and Sing” honored as the national hymn.

Who is singing the “Lift Every Voice and Sing” at the 2026 Super Bowl?

R&B singer Coco Jones will perform the song before the Seattle Seahawks face off against the New England Patriots. Jones won a Grammy in 2024 for best R&B performance. She was also nominated for best R&B album at this year’s Grammys. 

On Sunday, she’ll also be joined by renowned deaf music artist Fred Beam.

“We’re bringing the energy to Super Bowl 60,” Jones said in a December video.

Charlie Puth and Brandi Carlile will also perform before the game, with Puth singing the national anthem and Carlile singing “America the Beautiful.”

“These artists bring a distinct voice to the moment, helping set the tone for a day that will captivate fans around the world,” said Jon Barker, senior vice president of global event production for the NFL.

Who sang the Black national anthem at past Super Bowls?

The song has been featured ahead of several previous Super Bowls. 

The Grammy-winning singer Ledisi performed “Lift Every Voice and Sing” at the 2025 Super Bowl. She was joined by 125 high school student singers from New Orleans to celebrate the hymn’s 125th anniversary.

“Honored,” Ledisi wrote on social media. There was also an American Sign Language performance of “Lift Every Voice and Sing” by actor Stephanie Nogueras.

Andra Day performed the song before the 2024 Super Bowl. And in 2023, Sheryl Lee Ralph did the honors, performing it on the field for the first time before the Kansas City Chiefs faced the Philadelphia Eagles.

“It is no coincidence that I will be singing the Black National Anthem, Lift Every Voice and Sing at the Super Bowl on the same date it was first publicly performed 123 years ago (February 12, 1900). Happy Black History Month,” she shared on social media at the time. 

Alicia Keys performed the song in a pre-recorded video before the 2021 Super Bowl. The following year, Mary Mary performed “Lift Every Voice and Sing” from outside SoFi stadium at Super Bowl LVI. 

In 2020, “Lift Every Voice and Sing” was played before all 16 of the Week 1 games, according to the NFL. At the time, the league said it was working to “amplify work done by its players and the families who are trying to address social justice issues.”

“[The song] has encouraged generations of Black people that God will lead us to the promises of life, liberty and pursuit of happiness,” the NFL’s Troy Vincent said at the time. “It’s as pertinent in today’s environment as it was when it was written.”

Full lyrics of “Lift Every Voice and Sing”

Lift every voice and sing,

‘Til earth and heaven ring,

Ring with the harmonies of Liberty;

Let our rejoicing rise

High as the list’ning skies,

Let it resound loud as the rolling sea.

Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us,

Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us;

Facing the rising sun of our new day begun,

Let us march on ’til victory is won.

Stony the road we trod,

Bitter the chastening rod,

Felt in the days when hope unborn had died;

Yet with a steady beat,

Have not our weary feet

Come to the place for which our fathers sighed?

We have come over a way that with tears has been watered,

We have come, treading our path through the blood of the slaughtered,

Out from the gloomy past,

‘Til now we stand at last

Where the white gleam of our bright star is cast.

God of our weary years,

God of our silent tears,

Thou who has brought us thus far on the way;

Thou who has by Thy might

Led us into the light,

Keep us forever in the path, we pray.

Lest our feet stray from the places, our God, where we met Thee,

our hearts drunk with the wine of the world, we forget Thee;

Shadowed beneath Thy hand,

May we forever stand,

True to our God,

True to our native land.

Super Bowl LX will air on NBC on Sunday, Feb. 8, from Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California. Kickoff is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. ET.

Michael Keaton recalled his decades-long friendship with late Catherine O’Hara.

The Batman actor collaborated with Catherine in 1988 horror-fantasy movie, Beetlejuice, directed by Tim Burton.

Keaton was deeply affected when he heard about the sudden death of the Home Alone actress.

A week after her death, the 74-year-old appeared at Harvard University’s Hasty Pudding Theatricals 2026 Man of the Year event in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he spoke about Catherine and her road to fame after starring in comedy series, Second City Television (SCTV).

During the event, Michael admitted, “I was a big SCTV fan. I am the biggest SCTV fan. And I’m trying to think, when was it? I think I was doing a movie in Toronto.”

“I remember we must have met or known each other a little bit, because, like myself, she has a big family.”

He revealed that like himself, O’Hara also had seven siblings and somehow, they got to be friends.

While sharing some memorable moments he spent with the 71-year-old actress, Michael added, “I remember a night in Toronto where she had a summer [with her] brothers and sisters, and we were all shooting pool in some bar somewhere”

The Birdman actor was having a hard remembering how long he had known her, but one thing was sure that they both had a healthy friendship for decades.

Keaton, after hearing about the tragic loss, took it to his Instagram to pay a tribute to long-time friend.

He wrote, “We go back before the first Beetlejuice. She’s been my pretend wife, my pretend nemesis and my real life, true friend. This one hurts. Man am I gonna miss her. Thinking about Beau as well.”