Dawn
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Found 12402 news
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Dawn - 14:44 Jun 08, 2026
India has deported nearly 5,000 Bangladeshi citizens since Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu-nationalist party swept to power in West Bengal last month, according to official statistics. Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won a sweeping victory in elections in the eastern border state of more than 100 million people, promising to “detect, delete and deport” illegal migrants. India shares a long and porous border with Muslim-majority Bangladesh, where migration has historically been driven by economic hardship and longstanding family links. On taking power, the new West Bengal government ordered the establishment of detention centres for undocumented Bangladeshis and Rohingya refugees, a mainly Muslim people who fled persecution in Myanmar. State Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari, speaking in the capital Kolkata on Sunday, said nearly 5,000 Bangladeshi citizens had been deported across the border. “We have started the work of deporting Bangladeshi infiltrators who do not fall under the purview of the Citizen... -
Dawn - 14:23 Jun 08, 2026
ISLAMABAD: In a landmark judgment, the Supreme Court ruled on Monday that “vitriolage” (acid attack) is an offence more heinous than homicide. The ruling came after Abdul Manan, convicted for throwing acid on a young woman in Faisalabad, appealed against a 2022 Lahore High Court (LHC) order. The LHC had upheld an Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) verdict sentencing him to life imprisonment along with a fine of Rs1 million. Justice Muhammad Hashim Khan Kakar, heading a three-judge bench consisting of Justice Salahuddin Panhwar and Justice Ishtiaq Ibrahim, upheld the LHC order. The ruling comes only days after an acid attack on a female doctor in Quetta’s Civil Hospital. Following the attack on 29-year-old Mahnoor Nasir, doctors in Quetta went on strike, demanding a thorough investigation. “Unlike death, which consumes its victim only once, the victim of an acid assault is relegated to a living death, where they are compelled to endure the agony of their trauma and the degradation of their physical self on a daily bas... -
Dawn - 12:12 Jun 08, 2026
A 7.8-magnitude earthquake in the southern Philippines on Monday killed at least 31 people, according to provincial authorities, after toppling buildings and sparking tsunami warnings across the region. National disaster authorities said at least a dozen people were still missing, while 134 had sustained injuries. Philippine authorities urged people in affected coastal regions to move to higher ground after the offshore quake hit south of General Santos, a city of about 720,000, where at least nine were killed. A series of powerful aftershocks rocked the area from about two hours after the first quake, according to the United States Geological Survey, with the largest measuring 6.5 magnitude. In General Santos, an AFP journalist watched on Monday afternoon as rescue workers dug through the rubble of a popular grocery store chain in a desperate bid to reach the bodies of two employees buried beneath. Rene Punzalan, disaster chief for hard-hit Sarangani province, told AFP 14 people had died in Glan municipality... -
Dawn - 12:08 Jun 08, 2026
ISLAMABAD: The Senate has surrendered Rs1.436 billion to the national exchequer after a year-long austerity drive, exceeding the Finance Division’s target by 500 per cent and setting what officials called a new benchmark for fiscal discipline. The amount makes up 15.9pc of the upper house’s total budget for 2025-26, according to a statement issued by the Senate Secretariat on Monday. Senate Chairman Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani ordered the expenditure rationalisation programme within his own office before extending it across the secretariat. Gilani said the Rs1.436bn represented “actual, realised savings” and not projected cuts or deferred liabilities. Among the measures, the Senate suspended 17 of the 18 procurement projects approved by its finance committee. Recruitment and non-essential spending were rationalised, while administrative overheads and operational costs were placed under “strict scrutiny”. The official transport fleet was “substantially grounded”, fuel allocations were capped and monitored, and ref... -
Dawn - 12:03 Jun 08, 2026
Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) Chairperson Senator Rubina Khalid on Monday urged those whose words may have hurt BISP beneficiaries’ sentiments to apologise. While she did not specifically name anyone, the senator said this during a press conference in Islamabad after mentioning remarks by Prime Minister’s Adviser on Political Affairs Rana Sanaullah. Speaking on Geo News’ programme ‘Capital Talk’ last week, Sanaullah claimed that the BISP data was “not accurate to the extent of Punjab”, alleged it was marred by corruption and remarked that the programme served no purpose other than turning people into beggars. In her press conference, Khalid said it was not right to say that BISP was turning people into beggars, explaining that the programme catered to those who worked to earn a living. But, she continued, when they need financial assistance, it is the state’s responsibility to aid them without compromising their self-respect. “BISP does not turn people into beggars; it prevents people from becoming ... -
Dawn - 11:36 Jun 08, 2026
SWAT: Local transport leader Afzal Gujjar was injured while his son, nephew and guard were killed after unidentified assailants opened fire on his vehicle in the Shakardara area of Matta last night, police said on Monday. Police told local media that the attackers used heavy weapons during the assault that took place on Sunday night. In the ensuing exchange of fire, Gujjar sustained injuries and was shifted to a hospital for treatment. His son, Behram Khan, was among the three people who lost their lives in the incident. Swat District Police Officer Umar Khan told Dawn that heavy police contingents surrounded the area and started a search operation after the attack. “Three persons were arrested while the search operation is underway,” he said, assuring that police would reach the culprits soon. Officials said an investigation was underway to determine the motive behind the attack and establish the exact circumstances of the incident. A spokesperson for Swat Police also confirmed that law enforcement agencies ... -
Dawn - 10:48 Jun 08, 2026
Fruit sellers at roadsides and bazaars are bracing for Pakistan’s yearly mango madness. Their baskets are filled with the early Sindhri crop for now as they wait for the Punjab Langra and Dusehri, soon to be followed by the Chaunsa and Anwar Ratol. This year’s season arrives with as much anxiety as anticipation. Fluctuating temperatures, erratic rain and hailstorms early in the year, the period critical for flowering, fruit set and ripening, have damaged orchards across Punjab’s mango belt, covering Multan, Dera Ghazi Khan and Bahawalpur divisions in the south and Sahiwal, Faisalabad, Sargodha and Lahore in the central and northern parts of the province. The prolonged stagnation after last year’s floods weakened root systems and stressed trees already battered by climatic shocks. These setbacks, coupled with uncertainty in export markets amid tensions surrounding the US-Iran-Israel conflict, have kept growers, contractors and traders on the edge over the season’s fragility. “I can safely say that around 40 pe... -
Dawn - 10:05 Jun 08, 2026
Maritime Affairs Minister Junaid Anwar Chaudhry held a telephone call with Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar on Monday regarding the release of Pakistani seamen taken hostage by Somali pirates, a statement by Chaudhry’s ministry said. The seamen were taken hostage more than a month ago when armed pirates hijacked the MT Honour 25 off the southeastern coast of Somalia on April 21. There were 11 Pakistanis among the vessel’s crew, who remain in the pirates’ captivity. A statement by the Maritime Affairs Ministry said that Chaudhry had called Dar and also contacted Pakistan’s envoy in Somalia on the matter. “Need to expedite efforts for the fast and safe release of the Pakistani crew was stressed,” the statement read. It quoted Chaudhry as saying that soon after receiving information about the incident in April, efforts for the crew’s release were initiated. “We remain in touch with the Pakistan foreign ministry and the Somalian embassy,” he said, adding that the government was making efforts ... -
Dawn - 09:38 Jun 08, 2026
Israel and Iran traded fire on Monday, seriously testing a fragile truce and threatening hopes for a deal to end the Middle East war. The new attacks, including a strike on an Iranian petrochemical complex, came hours after US President Donald Trump called on Israel to refrain from retaliating against Tehran’s missiles. Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said Tehran retaliated for the strike on its petrochemical complex by attacking similar industrial targets in Israel’s Haifa. AFP journalists in Jerusalem heard a series of explosions as they took shelter and the Israeli army said it worked to intercept a new wave of Iranian missiles. The retaliation followed Israel saying it fired on western and central Iran, tit-for-tat action against Tehran’s strikes on Sunday of 11 missiles, all of which were intercepted, with no casualties. Israel’s military and Iranian local media said Monday that Israel struck a petrochemical company in Mahshahr in southwestern Iran. Trump had sought to rein in Israeli Pri... -
Dawn - 07:46 Jun 08, 2026
United States President Donald Trump lasted through probing questions about his Iran war strategy and repeated weather disruptions during an interview with US broadcaster NBC — but angrily stormed out when confronted over his unfounded claims of election fraud. “You’re a one-sided, crooked network. Sorry. Let’s call it quits because I’ve had enough. Thank you, darling. Have a good time,” Trump told ‘Meet the Press’ host Kristen Welker before standing up and walking out of the interview that aired on Sunday. The interview, filmed on Friday, was conducted on a farm in Wisconsin, where Trump was addressing farmers. A tractor and hay bales served as a backdrop. The interview was interrupted several times by weather and audio issues as torrential rain pounded the roof, making it difficult to continue the conversation. “Is that wind or what?” Trump asked at one point according to a transcript. “Hear that sound?” he said later. “That sound of thunder, lightning, rain” Welker asked her technical crew if they should s... -
Dawn - 07:44 Jun 08, 2026
MUZAFFARABAD: At least seven civilians were killed during Sunday’s clash between police and the newly proscribed Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC) protesters in Azad Jammu and Kashmir’s (AJK) Rawalakot, an official told Dawn on Monday. Poonch Commissioner Sardar Waheed Khan confirmed the civilian death toll to Dawn a day after the clash in which four law enforcement personnel were martyred. The commissioner and AJK Inspector General (IG) Liaqat Ali Malik also told Dawn 30 people had been taken into custody late on Sunday. The officials also said that 23 policemen were injured during the clash. The clash broke out after tensions flared over the death of a trader, who was allegedly shot during a confrontation with law enforcers on Friday night. Officials have accused the demonstrators of attacking the Combined Military Hospital (CMH) in Rawalakot on Sunday. Initially, his family had announced his funeral would be held on Saturday, but they later changed their mind and brought the body back to CMH, apparently... -
Dawn - 07:29 Jun 08, 2026
KARACHI: The investigating officer (IO) in a narcotics case has approached a court, seeking permission to record the voice samples of alleged drug baroness Anmol Pinky and her three accomplices in prison. Pinky was arrested last month in connection with two cases registered at the Garden police station pertaining to the possession of drugs and an unlicensed weapon. She had already been booked in multiple other criminal cases prior to her arrest. Following her arrest, the police also held Pinky’s three accomplices — Zeeshan-ur-Rehman, Sohail-ur-Rehman and Muhammad Sameer — who are also in prison on judicial remand in the drug case. The IO of the Garden police station has filed an application before a judicial magistrate (South), seeking directions for the jail authorities to allow the recording of voice samples of Pinky and her three accomplices in prison for voice-matching evaluation. Explaining the need to obtain the suspects’ voice samples, the IO stated in the application that during the investigation, the... -
Dawn - 06:36 Jun 08, 2026
China’s President Xi Jinping hailed an “invincible friendship” with Pyongyang as he arrived in North Korea on Monday, his first trip abroad this year after hosting back-to-back summits in Beijing. China, Washington’s chief geopolitical rival, has been North Korea’s main trading partner by far for decades and a key source of diplomatic and economic support for the country hit by multiple international sanctions. Military officers lined a red carpet as an Air China plane carrying Xi arrived for his first visit since 2019, video from Xinhua showed. A banner that read “We warmly welcome Comrade Xi Jinping” and hailing the two countries’ “unbreakable friendship” hung below Chinese and North Korean flags at the airport. Xi made the trip after hosting US President Donald Trump and Russia’s Vladimir Putin separately in Beijing, and as North Korea’s nuclear talks with Washington remain deadlocked. The White House said last month that Xi and Trump “confirmed their shared goal to denuclearise North Korea” during their s... -
Dawn - 04:31 Jun 08, 2026
HYDERABAD: Water crisis in Sindh and Balochistan continues to deepen with each passing day as the Indus River System Authority (Irsa) remains indifferent to their hue and cry constantly being raised over the last few weeks. The two smaller provinces have been expressing their strong reservations over “unfair” deduction in their share of the Indus water while Punjab continues to draw in excess of its allocated quantum. Kotri Barrage reported 57pc reduction in flows on June 7 as Sindh’s overall deficit in flows rose from 22pc to 39pc within the last fortnight while Punjab, through its controversial Chashma-Jhelum (CJ) link canal keeps withdrawing more water than Kotri. Balochistan has also come up with 71pc reduction in its share from Sukkur Barrage’s right bank canal on Saturday. Shortage in Sindh worsens to 39pc while Balochistan gets 71pc less flows The Balochistan irrigation department has taken up the issue with Irsa, pressing it to settle it with Sindh authorities in order to ensure its required share of ... -
Dawn - 03:22 Jun 08, 2026
• Victim’s eyes damaged, but is said to be in stable condition • CM honours ward boy who helped victim; Aseefa recommends him for country’s highest civilian award • FIR registered; political leaders slam incident QUETTA: The Young Doctors Association (YDA) on Sunday announced an indefinite strike, shutting down Out-Patient Departments (OPDs) and elective services in all government hospitals across the provincial capital, to protest the acid attack on one of their female colleagues. A day earlier, 29-year-old Mahnoor Nasir was seriously injured at the Civil Hospital when another employee threw acid on her. The attacker, later identified by police as Humayun Shah, was said to have been killed in an encounter after law enforcers traced him as he attempted to flee on a bus. Meanwhile, Dr Nasir was shifted to Karachi after receiving initial treatment in Quetta. Currently, she is receiving care at Aga Khan University Hospital. Sources at the hospital diclosed to Dawn that her condition was stable. She has bilate... -
Dawn - 22:09 Jun 07, 2026
Balochistan Chief Minister Sarfaraz Bugti on Sunday announced that a civil award would be conferred on a man who came to the assistance of a female doctor at Quetta’s Civil Hospital after an acid attack on her. On Saturday, a female doctor, Mahnoor Nisar, was seriously injured at the Civil Hospital when an employee of the facility allegedly threw acid on her, police said. The doctor suffered severe burn injuries to her face, chest, legs and other parts of her body. According to police, the man who threw acid on Dr Nisar was killed in an encounter after law enforcers traced him to the area from where he attempted to flee by a bus. The CCTV footage of the incident shows a man trying to help Dr Nisar, as she came running out of a room after the attack, by covering her up with what appears to be his jacket. In a post on X, CM Bugti said Abdul Razzaq Tarakai, who is also an employee at the Civil Hospital, “displayed extraordinary courage, humanity, and dedication” by coming to Dr Mahnoor’s help and would be given ... -
Dawn - 22:08 Jun 07, 2026
PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, whose party holds the majority in the Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Legislative Assembly, said on Sunday he would meet Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif over the current situation in AJK, asserting that issues would be resolved through talks. He said this while presiding over a meeting of the PPP AJK parliamentary party in Islamabad, a statement issued by the PPP said. The meeting was held as tensions gripped AJK, with the region’s government declaring the Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC) a proscribed organisation and the latter insisting on its demand to abolish 12 refugee seats in the AJK Legislative Assembly. The group also plans to hold a protest on June 9, days ahead of June 27 elections in the region. The PPP statement said the party’s political affairs in-charge Faryal Talpur was also present at the meeting on Sunday where the political situation in AJK was reviewed. “Consultations were held between Bilawal and parliamentary party members regarding the AJK situation,”... -
Dawn - 22:07 Jun 07, 2026
ISLAMABAD: A PPP delegation, led by party Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, expressed its reservations related to taxes during a pre-budget meeting with Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar on Sunday, sources told Dawn. The meeting was held at the Zardari House in Islamabad, an official statement by the PPP said, adding that apart from Bilawal, Sherry Rehman, Naveed Qamar, Murad Ali Shah and Jam Khan Shoro were also present. “Matters related to the budget were discussed during the meeting,” it said. The discussion also covered expenditure, development spending priorities, including the Public Sector Development Programme, as well as broader economic priorities such as fiscal sustainability, public welfare, development initiatives, and inclusive growth. With the budget for FY2026-27 set to be announced on June 10 (Wednesday), this was the second round of pre-budget talks between the two major ruling partners, the PML-N and the PPP, and the third and final round is expected to be held on Monday. ... -
Dawn - 22:05 Jun 07, 2026
Unofficial and preliminary election results for 24 seats of the Gilgit-Baltistan Legislative Assembly show that the PPP is leading the race with success in 10 constituencies. According to the unofficial results, second in the race is PML-N with six seats, while independent candidates, including two PTI-backed ones, emerged victorious in seven constituencies. Majlis Wahdat-i-Muslimeen was able to win just one seat, the results showed. Polling for the 24 seats had concluded peacefully on Sunday evening amid tight security arrangements. Unofficial Provisional Results Gilgit-Baltistan Assembly Elections 24 seats · Results as reported PPP 10 PML-N 6 Independent 5 PTI-backed Ind. 2 MWM 1 Seat District Winner GBA-1 Gilgit PPP GBA-2 Gilgit PML-N GBA-3 Gilgit PTI-backed Ind. GBA-4 Nagar PPP GBA-5 Nagar PPP GBA-6 Hunza PTI-backed Ind. GBA-7 Skardu PPP GBA-8 Skardu MWM GBA-9 Skardu PPP GBA-10 Roundu PPP GBA-11 Kharmang PPP GBA-12 Shigar PPP GBA-13 Astore PML-N GBA-14 Astore PML-N GBA-15 Diamer Independent GBA-16 Diamer ... -
Dawn - 18:01 Jun 07, 2026
Security forces killed 27 terrorists in operations conducted in the Miranshah area of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s North Waziristan district over the past 72 hours, the military’s media affairs wing said on Sunday. “In continuation of a series of intelligence-based operations, security Forces engaged multiple khawarij locations in the general area Miranshah, North Waziristan District,” the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said in a statement. It added that after “fierce exchanges of fire”, 27 terrorists belonging to “India-sponsored Fitna al Khawarij were sent to hell”. Fitna al Khawarij is a term that the state uses for the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). ISPR said weapons and ammunition were found in the possession of the slain terrorists, who remained “actively involved in numerous terrorist activities and target killing of innocent civilians”. “By neutralising this group of killed khawarij, the heinous act of target killing of prominent figure Shaheed Malik Saifullah Dawar in Miranshah has been ave...
12402 items