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  • FBR uncovers customs fraud at Karachi airport, detects Rs384m in duty evasion
    Dawn - 14:23 Oct 03, 2025
    A major customs fraud was uncovered at Karachi airport, where employees of a foreign ground-handling company and corrupt importers allegedly smuggled out high-value electronics without paying duties and taxes, the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) said in a statement on Friday. “Acting on intelligence, authorities seized a consignment worth Rs103 million, including laptops, iPads, iPhones, MacBooks, PlayStations, and memory cards,” the statement said. According to FBR, five consignments by a company registered in Dubai were cleared using fake gate passes while being concealed from the Web-Based One Customs (WeBOC) system, resulting in an estimated duty and tax evasion of Rs384 million. “Two first information reports (FIRs) have been lodged, employees arrested, and further arrests are expected,” the statement said. It added that the operation reflected the FBR’s “commitment to safeguarding national revenue”, warning that negligent customs officials would not be spared. FBR has lately been intensifying its crackdo...
    Tags: Karachi
  • India set to receive first Afghan Taliban minister after UNSC temporarily lifts travel ban
    Dawn - 13:52 Oct 03, 2025
    The UN Security Council (UNSC) Committee has temporarily lifted a travel ban on the Afghan Taliban foreign minister, which would allow him to visit India between October 9 and 16, India’s foreign ministry said on Friday. If confirmed, it would be the first visit to India by a senior leader of the Taliban-run Afghan administration since it seized power in 2021 after 20 years of US military presence. Delhi and Kabul have traditionally enjoyed close ties when the Islamist Taliban were not in power. Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi is among Afghan Taliban members who are under UN sanctions, including a travel ban and asset freeze. Temporary exemptions are sometimes granted for diplomacy. The Afghan administration did not immediately respond to inquiries about Muttaqi’s travel plans. India’s foreign ministry spokesperson told reporters that New Delhi had already been speaking to the Afghan administration, and noted that it had provided support after an earthquake on August 31. He did not specifically confirm tha...
    Tags: Afghan Taliban UNSC India
  • ‘Maryam Nawaz will never apologise’: Punjab CM stands her ground amid deepening rift with PPP
    Dawn - 13:47 Oct 03, 2025
    Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif on Friday said that she would “never apologise” over a recent outburst which escalated into a rift between her party, the PML-N, and its coalition partner, the PPP. The war of words between the two sides — kicked off over flood compensation — expanded to water rights on the Indus River as the Punjab chief minister told the PPP leadership to keep its advice to itself. In response, the PPP, the ruling party in Sindh, had lawmakers stay away from the National Assembly and Senate sittings to protest the diatribe. On Wednesday, PPP and PML-N bigwigs met in Islamabad to find a way out of the row, with the former asking Maryam to “rethink her tone” while speaking about water rights of the provinces. Addressing a ceremony in Lahore, the Punjab CM censured the PPP for hurling “wrongful criticism” at the Punjab government amid devastating floods sweeping the country. “When floods swept through Punjab, the people of one province not only wrongly criticised the Punjab government,...
    Tags: Punjab
  • Dar asserts Trump’s Gaza peace plan ‘not ours’ but says no room for politicking
    Dawn - 13:28 Oct 03, 2025
    Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said on Friday that the 20-point Gaza peace plan released by US President Donald Trump was “not ours” but insisted that there was no room for politicking on the matter. Speaking on the floor of the National Assembly, Dar referred to his earlier press briefing in Islamabad and said: “I made it clear that the 20 points that President Trump made public are not ours. Changes were made to our draft. I have the record.” However, he went on to say: “This is the end result, and there is no room for politicking.” Eight Muslim and Arab countries — Jordan, United Arab Emirates, Indonesia, Pakistan, Türkiye, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Egypt — had held a meeting with Trump on the sidelines of the 80th United Nations General Assembly session, where the US president discussed his plan for ending the Israeli onslaught in Gaza. On Sept 29, US President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had met and, in a press conference after the meeting, announced the forme...
    Tags: Gaza Trump
  • Indian air force chief repeats ‘implausible’ claims of downing 5 PAF jets
    Dawn - 13:08 Oct 03, 2025
    Indian Air Force Chief Amar Preet Singh on Friday claimed that his country “downed five Pakistani fighter jets of the F-16 and JF-17 class” during the intense fighting between the nuclear-armed neighbours in May. “As far as air defence part is concerned, we have evidence of one long-range strike … along with that five fighters, high-tech fighters between F-16 and JF-17 class, our system tells us,” Singh told reporters at the Indian Air Force annual day press conference. However, he did not share the said evidence. The F-16 is a US-made fighter jet, while the JF-17 is of Chinese origin. Although Singh had previously too claimed without credible evidence that five Pakistani fighter jets and another military aircraft were shot down during the conflict, this is the first time New Delhi has mentioned the class of jets in public. He also refused to comment on Pakistan downing Indian jets in May. The first time the Indian air chief had claimed that Pakistan’s jets were downed during the four-day escalation, Defence ...
    Tags: Indian
  • Bookings open as India and China set to resume direct flights after 5 years
    Dawn - 12:33 Oct 03, 2025
    India and China will resume direct flights between their two countries this month after a five-year suspension, officials said, with bookings opening on Friday. Direct flights between the world’s two most populous countries were suspended during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 and were not resumed as tensions grew between Beijing and New Delhi over border disputes. Relations between the Asian rivals have since thawed, and their leaders spoke in China in August and in Kazan, Russia, last year. Following technical discussions, “it has now been agreed that direct air services connecting designated points in India and China can resume by late October”, an Indian government statement released on Thursday said. “This agreement of the civil aviation authorities will further facilitate people-to-people contact between India and China, contributing towards the gradual normalisation of bilateral exchanges,” it said. IndiGo, India’s largest commercial operator, said today it would start direct daily flights between Kolkat...
    Tags: China India
  • 7 ‘India-sponsored’ terrorists killed in Balochistan’s Sherani IBO: ISPR
    Dawn - 11:51 Oct 03, 2025
    Security forces killed seven terrorists during an intelligence-based operation (IBO) in Balochistan’s Sherani district, the military’s media affairs wing said on Friday. In a statement, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said that on October 1, security forces conducted an IBO in Sherani on the reported presence of terrorists belonging to Indian proxy, Fitna al Khawarij. Fitna al Khawarij is a term the state uses for terrorists belonging to the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). “During the conduct of [the] operation, own forces effectively engaged the terrorists’ location, and after an intense fire exchange, seven Indian-sponsored terrorists were sent to hell,” the ISPR said. It added that weapons, ammunition and explosives were also recovered from the terrorists, who remained actively involved in “numerous terrorist activities” in the area. According to the ISPR, a sanitisation operation was underway to eliminate other terrorists in the area. “The security forces of Pakistan are determined to ...
    Tags: Balochistan Sherani ISPR
  • SHC suspends KU notification cancelling IHC judge Jahangiri’s law degree
    Dawn - 08:09 Oct 03, 2025
    The Sindh High Court on Friday suspended a notification issued by the University of Karachi (KU) that cancelled the law degree of Islamabad High Court’s (IHC) Justice Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri. The court’s decision came during the hearing of a petition filed by Justice Jahangiri on Monday impugning the decisions of the KU’s Unfair Means Committee (UMC) and Syndicate, which cancelled his degree in August last year. The KU registrar, the Sindh advocate general and others appeared before the court as it took up the plea today. They sought more time for submitting their replies on the plea, saying that they had received notices pertaining to the case yesterday. At that, Justice Iqbal Kalhoro remarked, “We are ready to give more time but what if any action is taken against the petitioner in this duration? If we accept your request today and any action is taken tomorrow, who will take responsibility in that case?” He further enquired whether the respondents had issued any notice to Jahangiri before “taking action aga...
    Tags: Jahangiri
  • Pakistan, UAE agree to strengthen partnership in rail modernisation, regional connectivity
    Dawn - 08:03 Oct 03, 2025
    Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Friday agreed to strengthen partnership on rail modernisation and regional connectivity, Press Information Department (PID) said. Pakistan and the UAE share close diplomatic, economic, and cultural ties. The UAE is one of Pakistan’s largest trading partners in the Middle East and a major source of remittances, with a large Pakistani expatriate population living and working there. According to the PID, Minister of State for Finance and Railways Bilal Azhar Kayani met the UAE’s Minister of Energy and Infrastructure Suhail Mohamed Al Mazrouei in Abu Dhabi, discussing “opportunities to strengthen cooperation in upgrading Pakistan’s rail network to boost trade, enhancing connectivity and supporting sustainable economic growth.” The ministers reaffirmed the “strong brotherly ties between both countries and expressed their shared commitment to advancing mutual prosperity and promoting environmentally responsible transport solutions in the region,” the statement added. T...
    Tags: Pakistan
  • Apple removes US immigration enforcement tracker from app store
    Dawn - 07:37 Oct 03, 2025
    Apple removed on Thursday several apps used to anonymously report the movements of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents from its app store, reportedly following Trump administration pressure. The apps had become increasingly popular in recent months as President Donald Trump’s deportation drive gained steam in cities around the country. But Trump administration officials had fiercely criticised the apps as endangering officers, particularly following a deadly shooting at an ICE facility in Texas last month. Officials said the shooter had used such an app in the days leading up to his attack. Two detainees died as a result of the shooting, and another was wounded, though investigators believe the shooter was targeting ICE personnel. Protests have occurred at ICE facilities and during ICE operations around the country, as Trump’s mass deportation drive has seen thousands of migrants rounded up, often by masked agents. ICE tracking apps, including the popular ICEBlock, were inaccessible to AFP rep...
    Tags: Apple
  • Police rescue missing German tourist in Kaghan Valley
    Dawn - 05:29 Oct 03, 2025
    MANSEHRA: Police on Thursday rescued a German tourist, who went missing after being separated from her group during a hiking trip in Kaghan Valley. “The woman had lost her way after being separated from her seven-member group. After several hours of hectic efforts, our personnel rescued her and shifted her back to her hotel,” DPO Shafiullah Khan Gandapur told journalists. The tourist, identified as 66-year-old Karun Anne Malarik, was hiking on the Chapra track near Naran along with six other Germans when she lost contact with the group after nightfall in the thick forest. “We mobilised two teams immediately after receiving information from our high-ups. After an intensive search in the mountainous terrain, she was safely rescued and reunited with her group,” said Mr Gandapur. He added that the group of German tourists, comprising four women and three men, had entered Kaghan Valley via Babusar Top after spending several days in Gilgit-Baltistan. They were later heading to Islamabad following the incident and w...
    Tags: Kaghan Valley German Police
  • Talks resume after deadly AJK unrest
    Dawn - 02:37 Oct 03, 2025
    • PM Shehbaz dispatches eight-member team to Muzaffarabad • Calls for peace, orders restraint by LEAs, seeks probe into deaths • AJK paralysed by fourth day of strike, communications blackout • Funerals in Muzaffarabad galvanise crowds; locals demand justice over alleged police firing MUZAFFARABAD: A high-level government delegation held negotiations with a civil society alliance in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) on Thursday after days of fierce clashes between protesters and law enforcers that have left at least 10 people dead and scores critically injured. The eight-member committee, dispatched by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, comprises federal ministers Ahsan Iqbal, Amir Muq­am, Sardar Muhammad Yousaf, Rana Sanaullah and Dr Tariq Fazal Chaudhry, along with PPP leaders Raja Pervez Ashraf and Qamar Zaman Kaira, and former AJK president Sardar Masood Khan. They were accompanied by AJK Prime Minister Chaudhry Anwarul Haq, who had been staying at Kashmir House in Islamabad for the past several days. Negotiations...
  • Judiciary won’t tolerate ‘fissures’ in its ranks, says IHC judge
    Dawn - 02:28 Oct 03, 2025
    ISLAMABAD: The senior puisne judge of the Islamabad High Court on Thursday tried to dispel the perception that the judiciary stands divided. “The judiciary will not tolerate fissures within its ranks,” Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani said while hearing a contempt of court petition. The petition was filed by Hafiz Ehtesham against lawyer Imaan Mazari. The petitioner, who is known for frequent litigation, objected to remarks attributed to Imaan Mazari in a speech about judges. Hafiz Ehtesham alleged that she implied “five judges” were “victims of division” and “working under pressure”. Justice Kayani put a question to the petitioner: “Which five judges do you mean?” After Ehtesham named five judges — including Justice Kayani himself — the bench intervened immediately, warning him not to continue. “There is no division in this court, and neither shall we allow any division,” Justice Kayani asserted. The five judges are: Justices Kayani, Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri, Babar Sattar, Sardar Ejaz Ishaq Khan and Saman Raffat ...
  • Deadly numbers
    Dawn - 02:25 Oct 03, 2025
    THE statistics related to the frequency of militant attacks in Pakistan released by two local think tanks are cause for concern. They highlight that the state needs a much more proactive counterterrorism policy. As per the Pakistan Institute of Conflict and Security Studies, the number of militant attacks in the country last month had dropped compared to August’s figures. However, as a report from the Centre for Research and Security Studies points out, the current year may be the deadliest in a decade where terrorism-related fatalities are concerned. According to the PICSS findings, there were 69 militant attacks in September, causing 135 deaths. The overwhelming number of fatalities were those of security men and civilians. Also, in keeping with the general trend, KP and Balochistan were the hardest hit by terrorist violence, with the former recording 45 attacks in September, and the latter province witnessing 21 attacks. The most recent of these was Tuesday’s deadly bombing targeting the Frontier Corps hea...
  • Why are multinationals exiting Pakistan? Here’s what analysts have to say
    Dawn - 21:17 Oct 02, 2025
    American multinational corporation Procter & Gamble said on Thursday that it would wind down its manufacturing and commercial activities in Pakistan and rely on third-party distributors to continue to serve customers as part of a restructuring programme. The news comes as various multinational corporations (MNCs) have pulled their operations from Pakistan over the past three years, including Eli Lilly, Shell, Microsoft, Uber and Yamaha. Does this point to a greater trend suggesting that the economic climate in Pakistan is inhospitable for multinationals, or are there other reasons? Here’s what analysts have to say: ‘Companies have own reasons for exiting’ Business and economy journalist Khurram Hussain said that companies have “their own reasons” for exiting. “It is not really about Pakistan, but restructuring at their end,” he said. “Take Shell as an example. They have exited the retail fuel business in Mexico and Indonesia as well as Pakistan, and retail energy more broadly in many other markets,” he said. ...
    Tags: Here Pakistan
  • ECC approves Rs24bn for defence, interior ministries: report
    Dawn - 18:57 Oct 02, 2025
    The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) on Thursday approved over Rs24.17 billion in funding for the defence and interior ministries, according to state-run Radio Pakistan. The outlet reported that the ECC held a meeting in Islamabad today under Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb and approved Rs20bn to the interior ministry for the “maintenance of law and order”. A press release from the Press Information Department stated, “The committee accorded approval to the proposal, with funds to be released on demand and in a phased manner by the Finance Division in consultation with the Interior Division.” Meanwhile, the ECC reviewed a summary from the defence ministry regarding funds for cash compensation to people who acquired land for the construction of the Defence Complex in Islamabad. “The ECC approved a TSG (technical supplementary grant) of Rs4bn to be arranged by the Finance Division, while the balance requirement is to be met by the Capital Development Authority (CDA). Additionally, the committee greenli...
  • Probe ordered after Islamabad police storm National Press Club, assault journalists
    Dawn - 18:45 Oct 02, 2025
    Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi on Thursday ordered an inquiry into a raid carried out by Islamabad police at the National Press Club (NPC), where several journalists were allegedly attacked. Visuals aired on DawnNewsTV showed policemen armed with batons attacking journalists on the press club premises. Visuals shared on social media also showed police dragging journalists out of what appeared to be the cafeteria. View this post on Instagram Another video shared by a Dawn.com correspondent showed a journalist holding his broken Nikon camera and his shirt ripped across the back. A statement issued by Naqvi stated that he had taken notice of the “unfortunate” incident and demanded a report from the Islamabad inspector general of police. “Violence against the journalist community cannot be tolerated under any circumstances,” he was quoted as saying. “Disciplinary action must be taken against officials involved in the incident,” he said. Meanwhile, Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) President Afzal Butt ...
    Tags: National Press Club Islamabad
  • SC cannot ‘rewrite Constitution’, says Constitutional Bench in detailed order on reserved seats case
    Dawn - 18:23 Oct 02, 2025
    The Supreme Court’s Constitutional Bench (CB) on Thursday ruled that the eight-judge majority judgment announced on July 12, 2024, was not justified in granting relief to the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) by invoking Article 187 of the Constitution that empowers the court to do complete justice when no issue regarding the grant of reserved seats to the party was pending before it. Headed by Justice Aminuddin Khan, the CB through a short order on June 26 had overturned the July 12, 2024, majority judgment by declaring the PTI eligible for reserved seats for women and non-Muslims in the national and the provincial assemblies. In its detailed verdict issued on Thursday, 10 judges of the 12-judge CB held that there was no justification in giving relief to the PTI under Article 187, especially when appeals were filed and pursued by the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) under Article 185 (3) of the Constitution. The facts and circumstances of this case did not require application of Article 187, the detailed judgment sa...
    Tags: Constitutional Bench Constitution
  • P&G says it is winding down operations in Pakistan, will rely on ‘third-party distributors’
    Dawn - 18:12 Oct 02, 2025
    American multinational corporation Procter & Gamble said on Thursday that the company would wind down its manufacturing and commercial activities in Pakistan and rely on third-party distributors to continue to serve customers in the country as part of the consumer product group’s global restructuring programme. “We will continue to operate the business in the ordinary course until the process is complete, which may take several months,” said a statement by P&G. “Supporting this company decision, P&G Pakistan and the supporting regional teams will begin transition planning immediately, with a focus first on P&G people,” it added. According to the statement, employees whose roles are impacted by this decision will be “considered for opportunities in other P&G operations outside Pakistan or will be offered separation packages” in accordance with local laws, company policies, and P&G’s values and principles. In Pakistan, a number of brands are under the P&G umbrella, including Pampers, Ariel, Always, Safeguard, H...
    Tags: Pakistan
  • Government approves resumption of donkey hide exports
    Dawn - 18:09 Oct 02, 2025
    The federal government on Thursday authorised the export of donkey hides as part of an amendment to the Ministry of Commerce’s Export Policy Order, according to a notification available with Dawn.com. In 2015, the Economic Coordination Council (ECC) banned the export of donkey hides in the country in view of the sale of donkey meat under the guise of beef and mutton in different cities. According to the commerce ministry notification, the export of donkey hides shall be allowed only to those “firms [and] companies manufacturing in designated, approved [or] registered donkey slaughterhouses located in [the] Gwadar Free Zone only”. The notification also stated that the ban on exporting donkey hides would be “omitted” from the Export Policy Order. Last July, the Senate Standing Committee on Commerce was informed that protocols to export donkey skins and meat to China had been finalised, along with the export of onions, potatoes and chillies. However, in August this year, a consultative workshop on the role of wo...

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