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  • President, PM pay tribute to Zulfikar Ali Bhutto on 47th death anniversary
    Dawn - 10:14 Apr 04, 2026
    President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Saturday paid tribute to former premier Zulfikar Ali Bhutto on his 47th death anniversary, emphasising his lasting impact on Pakistan’s constitution and the need to uphold law, due process, and justice. “Today we observe the 47th anniversary of the martyrdom of Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, whose life was brought to an end unfairly on April 4, 1979. Zulfikar Bhutto occupies a central place in Pakistan’s political history,” said a statement from the president. The statement added that “nearly half a century after his unlawful and unconstitutional execution, the Supreme Court, in its opinion delivered on March 6, 2024, held that Zulfikar Bhutto had been denied a free trial and due process. The Court observed that the legal proceedings destroyed any semblance of fair trial and revealed that an innocent man was ‘rushed to the gallows.’” The president, in his statement, said that the day is a “reminder that justice and due process are not abstract prin...
    Tags: Zulfikar Ali Bhutto
  • PPP demands election schedule for Gilgit-Baltistan Assembly amid months-long delay in polls
    Dawn - 09:56 Apr 04, 2026
    GILGIT: The PPP has demanded that the election schedule for the Gilgit-Baltistan Assembly be issued immediately, as the election commission has yet to announce a timeline, four months after the legislature completed its tenure. General elections for the assembly were scheduled for Jan 24, 2026, while local government (LG) polls — announced after a gap of 20 years — were set for Feb 14, 2026. However, days after the announcements, both were postponed indefinitely due to harsh weather conditions in the region. When contacted on Saturday, GB Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Raja Shehbaz Khan said the electoral watchdog was preparing to conduct the elections but had not yet decided on a date. The CEC said the commission would inform the public of the dates when it had decided. The GB caretaker government had planned to convene a multiparty conference on March 24 to consult political parties about the polls and a new schedule was expected to be issued towards the end of March. However, no development has taken pl...
    Tags: Gilgit-Baltistan Assembly
  • Iran, US race to find crew member of crashed American fighter jet
    Dawn - 09:38 Apr 04, 2026
    Iran’s forces were hunting on Saturday for a missing United States pilot from one of two warplanes downed over Iran and the Gulf, officials from both sides said, while two airmen were rescued. The incidents show the risks still facing US and Israeli aircraft over Iran as the war entered its sixth week, despite assertions by President Donald Trump and his Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth that US forces had total control of the skies. The prospect of a US service person alive and on the run in Iran raises the stakes for Washington in a conflict with low public support among Americans and no sign of an imminent end. Tehran mocks Trump’s war aims Iranian fire brought down a two-seat US F-15E jet, officials in both countries said, while two US officials said the pilot ejected from an A-10 Warthog fighter aircraft that crashed in Kuwait after being hit by Iranian fire. Two Black Hawk helicopters engaged in the search for the missing pilot were hit by Iranian fire but made it out of Iranian airspace, the two US offici...
    Tags: Iran
  • Noor Mukadam case: SC fixes hearing of Zahir Jaffer’s review plea for April 8
    Dawn - 08:53 Apr 04, 2026
    The Supreme Court has fixed the hearing of Zahir Jaffer’s review plea in the Noor Mukadam murder case for Wednesday, April 8. Noor, aged 27 years, was found murdered at Zahir’s Islamabad residence in July 2021, with the probe revealing she was tortured by him before being beheaded. Zahir’s death sentence by the trial court had already been upheld by the Islamabad High Court (IHC), but he had sought a review of the verdict in July of last year. The convict, Zahir, seeks a review of his conviction in the 2021 murder case. In a cause list published online by the SC on Saturday, the date for Zahir’s hearing was fixed for April 8. The 47-page review petition was filed by Advocate Khawaja Haris on behalf of Zahir under Article 188 of the Constitution (review of judgments or orders by SC). The state and Noor’s father, Shaukat Ali Muqadam, were made the respondents. The petition contended that the issue of Zahir’s alleged “unsoundness of mind or mental capacity” that was raised before the SC in an application had not...
    Tags: Zahir Jaffer April Noor Mukadam
  • Rs20 million fine for a deleted tweet: The cost of irreverence?
    Dawn - 08:48 Apr 04, 2026
    On March 30, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) slapped a Rs20 million fine on fast bowler Naseem Shah for a post that was promptly deleted from his X account, and for which he publicly apologised. The tweet, posted from Shah’s official X account, had quote-tweeted the PCB’s post, which featured Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz being welcomed by the interior minister and the cricket board’s chairman, Mohsin Naqvi, at the opening ceremony of the Pakistan Super League. Those who follow Shah on the social media platform saw the tweet and instantly knew trouble would follow. Within a short span of time, they saw the tweet disappear, followed by a new post clarifying that the account had been hacked. Quick recovery of a hacked account, they thought. The cricketer subsequently fired his social media manager and even tendered an apology via X. However, for a post that was probably up for all of 10 minutes and was followed by a disclaimer, the PCB issued a show-cause notice to Shah along with disciplinary proceedings...
    Tags: Rs20
  • Scientists find evidence for theorised gargantuan star explosions
    Dawn - 04:02 Apr 04, 2026
    WASHINGTON: A supernova — the explosive death of a star — is always violent, blasting material into space while typically leaving behind a compact stellar remnant like a neutron star or black hole. But some supernovas involving the largest stars in the cosmos may be so immensely powerful they leave absolutely nothing behind. Scientists since the 1960s have theorised the existence of these ultra-powerful supernovas, and have now come up with evidence for them — albeit indirect — in research involving black holes and ripples in spacetime called gravitational waves. Such supernovas are predicted to occur in the most enormous stars — those with a mass around 140 to 260 times greater than the sun, according to Hui Tong, a doctoral student in astrophysics at Monash University in Australia and lead author of the study published on Wednesday in the journal Nature. “Despite their enormous mass, they live relatively short lives, about a few million years. For comparison, the sun will live for about 10 billion years, so...
    Tags: Scientists
  • Four ships cross Hormuz as Iran says it is drafting protocol
    Dawn - 02:56 Apr 04, 2026
    LONDON: Four ships, including one co-owned by a Japanese company and one by a French company, crossed the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday as Iran said it is drafting a peacetime protocol to supervise maritime traffic through the Strait of Hormuz with Oman. The near closing of the Strait due to US-Israeli war against Iran in Middle East has led to fuel shortages and soaring energy prices across the globe. The few vessels that have crossed the chokepoint have passed using an Iranian-approved route through its waters near Larak Island, dubbed the “Tehran Toll Booth” by leading shipping journal Lloyd’s List. Two laden very large crude carrier (VLCC) — the Habrut and the Dhalkut — and one empty Sohar LNG tanker crossed the strait on Thursday morning. The Sohar LNG is the first LNG tanker to have crossed the strait since March 1, when Iranian attacks against ships near the Strait of Hormuz reduced crossings to a near stop. Earlier, a French-owned container ship passed through the Strait of Hormuz, according Marine Tra...
    Tags: Iran Four Hormuz
  • UNSC divided as Gulf pushes to reopen Hormuz
    Dawn - 02:49 Apr 04, 2026
    • Vote on Bahrain-led, US-backed resolution postponed twice • Russia, China raise objections to certain parts • Iran warns against ‘provocative move’ UNITED NATIONS: The UN Security Council remains sharply divided over a Gulf Arab initiative to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, the strategic waterway through which roughly a fifth of the world’s oil and gas supplies pass. The vote on the resolution, initially scheduled for Thursday, has been postponed twice — first to Friday and then to Saturday — as Bahrain, the current council president and mover of the resolution, intensifies lobbying efforts. The United States has thrown its full support behind the measure. The push comes from member states of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), a political and economic bloc comprising Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman, and Bahrain. Formed in 1981 to coordinate security and economic policy among the Arab monarchies bordering the Persian Gulf, the GCC has increasingly acted collectively on regional cris...
    Tags: Hormuz
  • Transporters raise fares by 30pc as ‘subsidy falls short’
    Dawn - 02:37 Apr 04, 2026
    • Prices of vegetables, fruits, construction materials, essential commodities also surge • Citizens, businesses reject fuel price increase despite provincial relief measures • LCCI warns of higher production costs, reduced export competitiveness LAHORE: Transporters have incre­ased fares by up to 30 per cent following the recent fuel price hike, stressing that the government’s subsidy was insufficient to offset rising operational costs. Moreover, the record increase in petroleum prices has also caused a massive surge in the prices of vegetables, fruits, construction materials and several other items. On the other hand, the public at large has rejected the sharp increase in fuel prices despite some relief measures announced by the provincial governments. “Why has the government massively increased petroleum prices twice without considering how people, already burdened by inflation, will survive?” a motorist said while speaking to Dawn at a petrol pump in Gulberg on Friday. “From tomorrow onwards, I will stop u...
    Tags: Transporters
  • Petrol price drops to Rs378 as PM cuts levy amid backlash
    Dawn - 02:32 Apr 04, 2026
    • Shehbaz declares all cabinet members will forgo salaries for six months • New price effective from today • In late-night televised address, premier outlines reasons behind Thursday’s steep hike • Sindh, Punjab roll out targeted relief ISLAMABAD: Just a day after an unprecedented surge in petroleum prices, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Friday announced a major relief measure, slashing the petroleum levy by Rs80 per litre and bringing the price of petrol down to Rs378 per litre. In a late-night address to the nation, the prime minister also declared that all federal cabinet members would forgo their salaries for the next six months as part of austerity measures. His seven-minute televised address came after the unprecedented increase in petroleum prices sparked outrage from across the country. Explaining the earlier sharp increase in fuel prices amid the ongoing US-Israel war on Iran, the PM expressed hope that prices would return to pre-war levels once the conflict subsides. “The price of petrol had risen...
    Tags: Rs378
  • Karachi, other Sindh cities set new weather records for April
    Dawn - 00:54 Apr 04, 2026
    • City breaks 41-year-old rain record with 38.7mm downpour in 24 hours • Mercury drops to ‘lowest ever’ night-time temperature in April • Met official warns of two more rain spells KARACHI: Several cities in the province set new records for heavy rains and lowest night and daytime temperatures for the month of April, the Met Office said on Friday. According to the Met department’s data, Karachi saw 38.7 millimetres of rain within 24 hours on Friday — the heaviest rain ever recorded in the month of April in the city. Previously, the highest rainfall for April in a 24-hour period in Karachi was 37mm, which was recorded on April 2, 1985. In the rural parts of the province, light to moderate showers were observed with Dadu seeing 23mm rain in 24-hours, breaking its earlier record of 22mm set on April 14, 2017. The cities which set records in the lowest daytime temperature were: Badin, Dadu, Hyderabad, Jacobabad, Larkana, Mirpurkhas, Padidan, Sakrand, Shaheed Benazirabad and Tandojam. Karachi, however, set a recor...
    Tags: Karachi April
  • Iran’s military claims shooting down second US jet while hunt for crew of downed F-15 aircraft continues
    Dawn - 23:05 Apr 03, 2026
    Iranian and American forces were racing each other early Saturday to recover the crew of the first US fighter jet to go down inside Iran since the start of the war. Tehran said it had shot down the F-15 warplane, while US media reported American special forces had rescued one of two crew members. It was unclear which of the two crew members was recovered, and the US official who confirmed the recovery did not offer any details on how it took place. Iran’s military also said it downed a US A-10 ground attack aircraft in the Gulf, with US media saying the pilot was rescued. A statement from Ebrahim Zolfaghari, the spokesperson for Iran’s Khatam al Anbiya central headquarters, said that the F-15 was shot down using Iran’s “new advanced defence system”, and that “an advanced hostile fighter jet was also targeted south of Qeshm Island, crashing into the waters between Qeshm and Hengam Islands”. US Central Command did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the loss of the F-15, but White House Press Se...
    Tags: Iran F-15
  • ‘Silence’ stonewalls Pakistan-led US-Iran talks initiative
    Dawn - 21:54 Apr 03, 2026
    ISLAMABAD: A Pakistan-led initiative to facilitate US-Iran talks has been held up, with Tehran yet to formally respond to proposals for dialogue despite back channel exchanges in recent days, a senior official told Dawn on Friday. The official, who was speaking on background, said some ground had been covered, with messages relayed between Washington and Tehran, but the absence of a clear Iranian signal has slowed momentum at this critical stage. “It is surprising that despite the obliteration of significant naval, air force, and other military and civilian infrastructure, Iran has not responded positively to calls for negotiations,” the official, who is familiar with the discussions, said. He said both Pakistan and China had urged Iran to engage, but “Tehran has so far not conveyed its readiness to take part in the dialogue.” He added that Pakistani leaders, despite Tehran not giving a reply, have remained in contact with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in an effort to...
  • Pakistan to return $3.5bn UAE debt before month end: official
    Dawn - 21:06 Apr 03, 2026
    ISLAMABAD: Pakis­tan has decided to return $3.5 billion in debt to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) before the end of this month, a senior Pakistani official said on Friday. The official described the move as a cost the country was willing to bear to uphold “national dignity,” even as it is set to significantly draw down foreign exch­ange reserves. The official disclosed that Abu Dhabi had sought the immediate return of the amount. “The amount will be returned as soon as possible,” the official said, adding that “national dignity could not be compromised for financial considerations”. These funds were part of external financing support extended by the UAE in 2019 to help stabilise Pakistan’s balance of payments. The official said the dec­i­sion had ended the uncertainty surrounding the deposits placed through the Abu Dhabi Fund for Development, which had been rolled over multiple times since 2019. In recent months, the extensions had become as shorter as month long, reflecting Emirati unease over the continuati...
    Tags: Pakistan
  • Petrol price reduces to Rs378 per litre as govt cuts levy by Rs80
    Dawn - 19:46 Apr 03, 2026
    Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif announced on Friday that the government was reducing the petrol levy by Rs80 per litre, after which the commodity would be available to the end consumer for Rs378 per litre. He said the new price would take effect at 12am on Saturday. The premier said this in a televised address to the nation a day after the government announced an unprecedented increase of 43 per cent and 55pc in the prices of petrol and high-speed diesel (HSD), respectively. Petroleum levy rates were adjusted to limit the increase in diesel prices — which stand at RsRs520.35 — and its impact on transportation and freight costs. The levy on petrol was increased to Rs160 per litre from Rs105, while it was reduced to zero on diesel from Rs55, sources had told Dawn. Consequently, the petrol price had increased to Rs458 per litre. The premier said after the reduction in levy, the petrol price would now reduce to Rs378 per litre and would remain unchanged for at least one month. The new price would be effective acros...
    Tags: Rs378 Rs80
  • 6.1-magnitude earthquake jolts Islamabad, KP
    Dawn - 17:16 Apr 03, 2026
    An earthquake measuring 6.1 on the Richter scale jolted parts of the country on Friday, according to the Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD). The PMD said that the quake struck at 9:13pm at a depth of 190km, with the Hindu Kush Region in Afghanistan as its epicentre. It said the shocks were felt in Islamabad, Chitral, Peshawar, Swat and Shangla. According to the German Research Centre for Geosciences, which uses the Moment Magnitude scale, an earthquake of magnitude 5.9 struck Afghanistan’s Hindu Kush region at a depth of 177 km. According to DawnNewsTV, tremors were also felt in Rawalpindi, Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Gilgit-Baltistan and parts of Punjab. Meanwhile, the Punjab Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) also said that tremors were also felt in Lahore, Mianwali, Jhang, Faisalabad, Rawalpindi, Pothohar region, Sargodha and other districts in the province. In a statement, it said that no loss of life or property was reported. The PDMA in KP also said that tremors were felt in multiple dist...
    Tags: Islamabad
  • National Assembly fails to take up agenda as opposition protests fuel price hike
    Dawn - 17:04 Apr 03, 2026
    ISLAMABAD: A 90-point agenda could not be taken up in the National Assembly (NA) on Friday amid a protest by the opposition over an unprecedented increase of 43 per cent and 55pc in the prices of petrol and high-speed diesel (HSD), respectively. The increase, which has led to the petrol price being set at Rs458.4 per litre and HSD price at Rs520.35 per litre, was announced late on Thursday night against the backdrop of a global fuel crunch resulting from the ongoing war in the Middle East. As the opposition protested the decision in the NA, Deputy Speaker Ghulam Mustafa Shah, who was presiding over the proceedings, had to adjourn the sitting without the House transacting any business. The NA was supposed to take up a 90-point agenda, including a question hour, a calling attention notice on the change in net metering policy for solar prosumers and several bills. But none of these matters was addressed, with the opposition beginning a noisy protest even before the question hour — the first item on the agenda. D...
    Tags: National Assembly
  • Provinces take the lead in doling out fuel subsidies following petrol price shock
    Dawn - 16:08 Apr 03, 2026
    ISLAMABAD: Coordinated by the Centre, the provincial governments will now be taking the lead in administering subsidised fuel quotas to motorcyclists, farmers and transporters, involving a fiscal impact of around Rs65-70 billion per month. On Thursday night, while announcing an unprecedented hike in the prices of petroleum products, the federal government had also announced targeted relief measures for motorcyclists, small farmers and transporters. To ensure national uniformity, the provincial chief ministers and their teams were in elaborate discussions on the nitty-gritty with the Centre over the past week. Based on that, Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb announced Rs70,000, Rs80,000 and Rs100,000 per month to food transport vehicles, large trucks and public service buses, respectively. In addition, support of Rs1,500 per acre was also announced for small farmers, given the central priority to minimise food inflation. The announcements were based on elaborate datasets from the provincial governments and t...
  • White House seeks $1.5tr defence budget as war on Iran drives costs
    Dawn - 14:28 Apr 03, 2026
    United States President Donald Trump asked lawmakers on Friday to approve a massive $1.5 trillion defence budget for 2027, as the country faces rising costs from its war on Iran and mounting global security commitments. The proposal would lift Pentagon spending by more than 40 per cent in a single year — the sharpest increase since World War II — as Washington seeks to sustain military operations and rebuild depleted weapons stockpiles. The request highlights the growing financial pressure of a conflict now in its fifth week, and sets up a political battle in Congress over how to fund a dramatic expansion of military spending. US media — citing closed-door congressional briefings — have reported that the Iran war could be costing as much as $2 billion per day, underscoring the scale of the burden even before longer-term reconstruction and resupply costs are factored in. To offset part of the increase, the administration is proposing around $73bn in cuts to non-defence spending — roughly 10pc — targeting a ran...
    Tags: Iran
  • Sanaullah says petrol prices increased as a consequence of Middle East war, govt has ‘nothing to do with it’
    Dawn - 14:22 Apr 03, 2026
    Prime Minister’s Adviser on Political Affairs Rana Sanaullah on Friday said that the prices of petroleum products had increased due to the ongoing war in the Middle East, adding that the government “has nothing to do with it”. His remarks come a day after an unprecedented increase of 43 per cent and 55pc in the prices of petrol and high-speed diesel (HSD), respectively, to cushion the impact of global oil price shocks amid the US-Israel war on Iran. The decision was heavily criticised by the government’s opponents. In a televised address, Sanaullah said that there was no example of such an increase in global petroleum prices in the past. “This rise is also hitting Pakistan, that’s why we increased petrol and diesel prices yesterday,” he said. He said that before announcing the hike in prices, the government undertook major austerity measures. “The government spent Rs129 billion and didn’t allow the burden to pass on to the public for the past three weeks,” he said. However, this could not go on forever, he sa...
    Tags: Middle East Sanaullah

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