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Dawn - 16:58 Nov 19, 2025
The PTI on Wednesday strongly condemned the Punjab government for unleashing “a reign of terror” on party founder Imran Khan’s sisters, party leaders, lawyers, and workers outside Adiala Jail, describing the act as utterly intolerable and completely unacceptable. The party announced that the opposition alliance would observe a countrywide ‘black day’ on Friday to demand the restoration of the Constitution, the rule of law and ‘real freedom’, as Imran repeatedly stated that the nation was left with no choice but to choose between freedom and death. Speaking at a press conference alongside Imran’s sisters — Aleema Khan, Uzma Khan and Noreen Niazi — as well as Majlis Wahdat-i-Muslimeen (MWM) Chairman Senator Allama Raja Nasir Abbas and other party leaders, PTI Secretary General Salman Akram Raja condemned the acts carried out on Tuesday night and issued a stern warning to the authorities. He stated that the PTI continued to urge those in power to abandon their “reckless arrogance” and act responsibly before it w... -
Dawn - 16:48 Nov 19, 2025
European Union (EU) Ambassador to Pakistan Raimundas Karoblis on Wednesday said that the country needed to “do more” in terms of fulfilling its commitments under the Generalised Scheme of Preferences Plus (GSP+) ahead of a review. The status was granted by the EU in 2014, which led to a 108 per cent hike in Pakistani textile exports to the EU due to concessional tariffs. In October 2023, the European Parliament unanimously voted to extend the GSP+ status for another four years until 2027 for developing countries, including Pakistan, to enjoy duty-free or minimum duty on European exports. The upcoming GSP+ monitoring mission was delayed from June because of the Iran-Israel conflict and will scrutinise Pakistan’s record on 27 international conventions tied to the trade scheme, which grants duty-free access to most Pakistani exports. In an interview on DawnNewstv show ‘Doosra Rukh’ today, the EU ambassador was asked about whether Pakistan needed to do more to fulfil the requirements of the scheme, to which he sa... -
Dawn - 16:25 Nov 19, 2025
State-owned energy company Pakistan Petroleum Ltd (PPL) is reclaiming land from the sea to create a launchpad to ramp up oil and gas exploration, US outlet Bloomberg reported on Wednesday. Citing PPL’s General Manager Exploration and Core Business Development, Arshad Palekar, Bloomberg reported that the artificial island will be created about 30 kilometres off the coast of Sindh, near Sujawal. He said this on the sidelines of an oil and gas conference in Islamabad. “Planned with a height of six feet, the platform will prevent high tides from interrupting round-the-clock exploration work,” he said. Pakistan’s drilling efforts are gaining fresh momentum after United States President Donald Trump indicated an interest in the country’s “massive oil reserves” in a social media post in July. Since then, Islamabad has awarded offshore exploration licenses to local companies PPL, Mari Energies Ltd and Prime International Oil and Gas Company. “The project, a first for Pakistan, builds on Abu Dhabi’s experience, where ... -
Dawn - 15:22 Nov 19, 2025
A fire ripped through more than 170 buildings and killed one person in a southern Japanese coastal city on Wednesday, with military and firefighting helicopters scrambling to extinguish the country’s largest urban blaze in almost half a century. Aerial footage from broadcasters showed houses reduced to rubble and thick plumes of smoke rising from the hilly Saganoseki district of Oita city, which overlooks a fishing harbour renowned for its premium Seki-brand mackerel. The flames had also spread to nearby forested slopes and an uninhabited island more than one kilometre off the coast, likely due to strong winds, local media reported. The blaze started on Tuesday evening and has burned 48,900 square metres — roughly the size of seven soccer fields — forcing 175 residents in the district, some 770 kilometres southwest of Tokyo, to flee to an emergency shelter, Japan’s Fire and Disaster Management Agency said. The cause of the fire was under investigation, the agency added. One person has been found dead, local m... -
Dawn - 14:56 Nov 19, 2025
“In a world reshaped by rising climate pressures, urban growth, and inequality, safe sanitation remains a cornerstone of public health and human dignity,” says United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in a statement on World Toilet Day on November 19. Established by the World Toilet Organisation in 2001, the day was made an official United Nations Observance in 2013. Every year, UN-Water — the UN’s coordination mechanism on water and sanitation — sets the theme for this day. In 2025, the theme is ‘Sanitation in a changing world’, which, according to the UN reminds us “that no matter what the future holds, we’ll always need the toilet”. A toilet stands outside the Llamocca family home at Villa Lourdes in Villa Maria del Triunfo on the outskirts of Lima, Peru, on October 7, 2015. — Reuters “The humble toilet is an icon of progress — preventing disease, protecting the environment, and preserving dignity and opportunity. Without safe sanitation, sustainable development falters. Contaminated water can spr... -
Dawn - 14:08 Nov 19, 2025
The Pakistan Navy (PN) seized over 2,000 kilogrammes of methamphetamine, commonly known as ice, in a drug bust worth $130 million in the Arabian Sea, according to a statement issued on Wednesday. The statement from the navy’s Directorate-General Public Relations (DG PR) said the PN Tabuk was conducting a regional maritime security patrol in support of the Saudi-led Combined Task Force 150 under the Combined Maritime Force (CMF), a naval partnership that includes the United States, when it intercepted a “suspicious dhow” operating in the Arabian Sea. “Subsequently, the ship successfully conducted a major counter-narcotics operation onboard stateless dhow, resulting in the seizure of over 2000kg of ice,” the statement said, adding that the capture was the third consecutive successful interdiction conducted in the last two months by PN ships. The navy said these successful operations demonstrated its “enduring resolve and unwavering commitment” against illicit trafficking at sea. “The scale of the operation, cou... -
Dawn - 13:34 Nov 19, 2025
Supreme Court’s Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail has observed that returning officers (ROs) correctly prepared lists of 41 independent candidates during the 2024 general elections, as it was PTI’s decision-makers who “compelled” them to contest in that manner. Justice Mandokhail, a member of the now-defunct Constitutional Bench (CB), made the observation in his additional note in the reserved seats review case. In its June 27 ruling, the CB, by a majority of seven judges, had overturned the earlier SC judgment of July 12, 2024 that had granted reserved seats to the PTI. While seven judges had accepted all review petitions filed by the ruling coalition parties, three others — including Justice Mandokhail — had partially allowed them, and two had rejected the pleas outright on the first day of the hearing. Justice Mandokhail had maintained his original July 2024 order of giving 39 seats to PTI, but reviewed the majority judgment to the extent of 41 seats. In his note uploaded on the SC website on Tuesday, the judg... -
Dawn - 13:23 Nov 19, 2025
Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz on Wednesday announced the allocation of 80 electric buses for Rawalpindi, aiming to improve public transportation and reduce congestion. The chief minister was scheduled to inaugurate the new transport system in the garrison city on October 15, but the ceremony was cancelled due to the Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan protest in Islamabad. Addressing the inauguration ceremony of the electric bus initiative in Rawalpindi today, CM Maryam said, “The electric buses are equipped with modern amenities, including air conditioning, free Wi-Fi, and charging ports.” The initiative, the chief minister highlighted, is part of a broader effort to enhance infrastructure and public services in Rawalpindi. Other projects include signal-free corridors, flyovers, and hospitals. “The government has allocated significant funds for road construction and improvement,” she said, adding that the electric buses are part of a larger plan to promote sustainable transportation and reduce pollution. “The bu... -
Dawn - 12:24 Nov 19, 2025
Karachi Mayor Murtaza Wahab on Wednesday met with industrialists in the metropolis’s SITE Area and Haroonabad and briefed them on ongoing sewage treatment and water recycling projects aimed at industrial use. The mayor, accompanied by a delegation of industrialists, conducted a detailed visit to the SITE Limited Sewerage Treatment Plant. On the occasion, Chief Executive Officer of the Karachi Water and Sewerage Corporation (KWSC), Ahmed Ali Siddiqui, briefed the mayor and the industrialists on the technical aspects and the current status of the treatment plants. “For the first time in Karachi’s history, a formal process of treating wastewater and recycling it for industrial purposes is being initiated to provide industries with a reliable, sustainable and uninterrupted water supply,” Wahab said. He added that the TP-III treatment facility in Mauripur has become operational again after a long time, and after 25 years, complete cleaning and rehabilitation work has been carried out at the TP-I treatment plant in... -
Dawn - 12:18 Nov 19, 2025
Iran must “cooperate fully” with the UN’s nuclear watchdog, according to a draft resolution submitted to the agency’s board by Britain, France, Germany and the United States, and seen by AFP on Wednesday. Tensions between Iran and the UN nuclear watchdog have repeatedly flared in recent years, with relations being further strained in the wake of a 12-day war in June that saw Israeli and US strikes on key Iranian nuclear facilities. Since the war, agency inspectors have not been granted access to key nuclear sites such as Fordo and Natanz, which were hit in the strikes in June, but they have been able to visit other sites. The draft, which is expected to be voted on by the board of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) during its meeting this week, stresses that it is “imperative” for Iran to comply with its obligations under the nuclear non-proliferation treaty. It also urges Iran to provide “access that the agency requests”. Last week, the IAEA called on Iran to allow it to verify its enriched uraniu... -
Dawn - 12:02 Nov 19, 2025
A report submitted to the US Congress has mentioned Pakistan’s “military success” over India during the four-day conflict in May this year. “Pakistan’s military success over India in its four-day clash showcased Chinese weaponry,” said a report submitted to the US Congress on Tuesday by the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission, formed to report on the national security implications of the bilateral trade and economic relationship between the US and China. Pakistan initially said it downed five Indian planes in air-to-air combat during the conflict, but later raised the tally to seven. Islamabad has denied any losses of its planes and says it hit 26 Indian targets after three air bases were targeted. US President Donald Trump, who continues to comment on the conflict, most recently said that eight planes were “essentially” shot down. In its annual report, the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission referred to the May conflict and said that China used it to “test and promote its own defenc... -
Dawn - 11:59 Nov 19, 2025
An additional district and sessions judge in Multan has sentenced to death the husband of the 20-year-old pregnant woman who was killed last year in Multan, it emerged on Wednesday. Sania Zehra — a mother of two — was found dead in her room on July 9 2024, hanging from a ceiling fan. Her father, Syed Asad Abbas, had claimed that her sudden death was not a suicide but an alleged murder. He said his daughter’s in-laws were disguising the murder as a suicide. A first information report (FIR) was registered at the New Multan police station on his complaint under Sections 148 (rioting armed with a deadly weapon), 149 (unlawful assembly) and 302 (intentional murder) of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC). In a one-page court order, dated November 18 — a copy of which is available with Dawn — Additional Sessions judge Mohsin Ali Khan ruled that Syed Muhammad Ali Raza has been “duly convicted of the Qatal-i-Amd of Sania Zehra deceased,” and sentenced the convict to “death as Ta’zir under Section 302 (b) of the Pakistan Pen... -
Dawn - 11:34 Nov 19, 2025
A day after newly-elected Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Prime Minister Raja Faisal Mumtaz Rathore’s oath-taking, 18 legislators from the PPP were sworn in as ministers for his cabinet on Wednesday. The oath to the 18 ministers was administered at Aiwan-i-Sadr in Muzaffarabad by AJK Legislative Assembly Speaker Chaudhry Latif Akbar, who was substituting as the acting president due to the illness of AJK President Barrister Sultan Mahmood. Mahmood reportedly could not travel to the regional capital due to health issues. PM Rathore, as well as former AJK premiers Sardar Tanveer Ilyas and Haji Yaqoob Khan, were also present on the occasion. A large number of PPP workers and supporters, as well as several senior civil servants, also attended the ceremony. The newly-appointed ministers are Mian Abdul Waheed, Sardar Javed Ayoub, Javed Iqbal Budhanvi, Chaudhry Qasim Majeed, Amar Yasin, Sardar Ziaul Qamar, Syed Bazil Ali Naqvi, Nabila Ayub Khan, Deevan Ali Chughtai, Malik Zafar Iqbal, Chaudhry Arshad, Chaudhry Muhammad ... -
Dawn - 11:30 Nov 19, 2025
PTI says Imran’s sisters manhandled, ‘violently detained’ by police while camped outside Adiala jail
The PTI said late on Tuesday that police manhandled and “violently detained” the sisters of ex-premier Imran Khan from outside Adiala jail in Rawalpindi, where they were camped out after being denied a weekly meeting with the party founder. The PTI had held a protest outside the jail on Tuesday, where Imran is currently incarcerated, but the jail administration did not allow party leaders and the PTI founder’s family to meet him. Subsequently, the party held a sit-in outside the jail and criticised the prison administration for violating the court order in this regard. In a post on social media platform X after midnight, the party said Aleema Khan, Noreen Niazi and Dr Uzma Khan were “sitting peacefully” outside the jail when the police action happened. It added that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Local Government Minister Meena Khan Afridi, MNA Shahid Khattak and other party workers, including several women, were “subjected to violence and picked up by police”. “What should be routine weekly court-mandated family visits,... -
Dawn - 11:16 Nov 19, 2025
Minister for Climate Change Dr Musadik Malik on Wednesday said climate-induced disasters must be treated as a “political” priority as he detailed the long- and short-term strategies to mitigate losses and plan for the next year’s monsoon season. Monsoon rains fall across the region from June to September, offering respite from the summer heat and are crucial to replenish water supplies. However, heavy downpours also trigger deadly floods, landslides and displacement, particularly in vulnerable, poorly drained, or densely populated areas. Data from Punjab’s disaster management authority shows this year’s floods affected at least 4.7 million people across 4,700 villages. Speaking at a press conference with National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) Chairman Lieutenant General Inam Haider Malik in Islamabad today, the climate change minister stated that “climate-induced disasters must be treated as a political priority,” noting that the 2022 floods alone caused losses exceeding 9 per cent of the GDP. “Since 2... -
Dawn - 08:15 Nov 19, 2025
Air India is lobbying the Indian government to convince China to let it use a sensitive military airspace zone in Xinjiang to shorten routes as the financial toll from a ban on Indian carriers flying over Pakistan mounts, a company document shows. The unusual request comes just weeks after direct India-China flights resumed after a five-year hiatus following a Himalayan border clash between the nations. Air India has been seeking to rebuild its reputation and international network after a London-bound Boeing 787 Dreamliner crashed in Gujarat in June, killing 260 people and forcing it to briefly cut flights for safety checks. But that effort is being complicated by the closure of Pakistan airspace to Indian carriers since diplomatic tensions erupted in late April. For Air India, the country’s only carrier with a major international network, fuel costs have risen by as much as 29 per cent and journey times by up to three hours on some long-haul routes, according to the previously unreported document submitted t... -
Dawn - 08:00 Nov 19, 2025
A dramatic night of qualifying for the 2026 World Cup across the globe ended with joy and heartbreak in equal measure, and with 42 of the 48 teams at next year’s showpiece in the United States, Canada and Mexico now known. Scotland, in hair-raising fashion, and Austria, after snatching a late equaliser, ensured they will be appearing at the World Cup for the first time since 1998, joining Spain, Belgium and Switzerland as the final five of the 12 automatic qualifiers from Europe. Across the Atlantic, Curacao became the smallest country to ever win a berth at the finals, joining Haiti and Panama in locking up the three automatic berths from the North and Central American region. In Asia, Iraq kept their World Cup qualification dream alive with a penalty in the 17th minute of injury time to secure a place in the six-team inter-confederation play-off tournament in March. Bolivia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, New Caledonia, Suriname and Jamaica are the other teams in the playoff with two spots up for grabs. ... -
Dawn - 07:56 Nov 19, 2025
US President Donald Trump on Tuesday said Saudi Arabia was being designated as a “major, non-Nato ally”. “Tonight, I’m pleased to announce that we’re taking our military cooperation to even greater heights by formally designating Saudi Arabia as a major non-Nato ally, which is something that is very important to them,” Trump said during a formal black-tie dinner at the White House. “And I’m just telling you now for the first time, because they wanted to keep a little secret for tonight,” Trump said of the designation, which only 19 other countries have previously received. View this post on Instagram According to Politico, the other countries in that category include Israel, Jordan, Kuwait and Qatar. The status provides a US partner with military and economic privileges but does not entail security commitments. US strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities in June had made Saudi Arabia safer, Trump added. Meanwhile, bin Salman had earlier promised to increase his country’s US investment to $1 trillion from a $600 ... -
Dawn - 07:48 Nov 19, 2025
The Punjab prosecutor general has sought a mechanism to check existing and future faculty and staff for any sex offender records in an effort to combat sexual violence at educational institutions, it emerged on Wednesday. The proposal was made in a letter written on Tuesday by Punjab Prosecutor General Syed Farhad Ali Shah to the provincial Public Prosecution Department’s secretary, who will then forward the request to the federal law ministry. The letter noted that the Sex Offenders Register, a countrywide database maintained by the National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra), was a “powerful tool in the fight against sexual violence and for the protection of the most vulnerable in our society”. However, Shah highlighted, there was a “critical gap in the safeguarding of educational institutions”. He contended that the full potential of the database for preventative measures remained “largely untapped, particularly in environments where children and young adults are most susceptible”. Therefore, the ... -
Dawn - 07:43 Nov 19, 2025
The Punjab government has formed 12 joint investigation teams (JITs) to probe several cases registered against the proscribed Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) in Lahore and Sheikhupura districts, it emerged on Wednesday. The teams were notified by the provincial home department in similar notifications, of which 11 are dated November 6 and one was issued on October 31. According to the notifications, seen by Dawn, the provincial government ordered the formation of five JITs under the Anti-Terrorism Act 1997 for as many cases registered against the TLP in Sheikhupura district. Of these, four cases have been registered in Muridke tehsil and one in Ferozewala tehsil. Another seven JITs have been formed to carry out the investigation in as many cases registered in Lahore. Of these cases, three have been registered in the Nawankot area, three in Shahdara Town and one in the Ravi Road area. For the cases registered in Sheikhupura, each JIT will comprise six members, including a superintendent of police (SP), sub-di...
7393 items