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Dawn - 10:59 Sep 28, 2025
Afghanistan’s Taliban government has welcomed the recent stance by Russia, China, Iran and Pakistan against the establishment of foreign military bases in and around Afghanistan. This position was affirmed in a joint statement released after foreign ministers from the four countries met on the sidelines of the 80th United Nations General Assembly in New York. They emphasised respect for Afghanistan’s sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity and said re-establishment of foreign military bases is “not conducive to regional peace and security.” According to Hamdullah Fitrat, deputy spokesperson for the Taliban government, his country not only welcomed the stance of the four countries but said that “Afghanistan will not allow its territory to be used against other countries, nor permit armed groups to operate from its soil.” While the joint statement did not refer to any specific country seeking bases in Afghanistan, it follows one by US President Donald Trump where he said Washington was trying to get... -
Dawn - 10:47 Sep 28, 2025
China’s former minister for agriculture and rural affairs was sentenced to death with reprieve for bribery at a court in Jilin province on Sunday, according to state-run news agency Xinhua. Tang took bribes, including cash and property worth over 268 million yuan ($37.6 million) in various positions held from 2007 to 2024, Xinhua said. The Changchun Intermediate People’s Court suspended his death sentence for two years, noting he had confessed to his crimes, it added. China’s Communist Party expelled Tang in November 2024, six months after he was placed under investigation by the anti-graft watchdog and removed from his post. Tang’s investigation was unusually swift and followed similar investigations into Defence Minister Li Shangfu and his predecessor Wei Fenghe. President Xi Jinping started a campaign of purges of China’s domestic security apparatus in 2020, seeking to ensure police, prosecutors, and judges are “absolutely loyal, absolutely pure and absolutely reliable”. Tang was governor of the western pr... -
Dawn - 09:13 Sep 28, 2025
A team of female health workers was attacked on Saturday while administering vaccines against the human papillomavirus (HPV) in Punjab’s Mandi Bahauddin district, the second such incident in three days. The HPV vaccine, first launched in Pakistan in 2022, has now been rolled out nationwide as part of the routine immunisation programme to protect adolescent girls against cervical cancer. However, vaccine hesitancy in Pakistan remains a major public health challenge, driven by a mix of misinformation, safety concerns, and mistrust of authorities. In the latest incident yesterday, the HPV vaccination team was performing its duty in a non-formal education school in the village of Ratuwal, within the limits of Kathian Sheikhan police station, when a 55-year-old resident of the village entered the school and attempted to attack a female health supervisor. According to Kathian Sheikhan’s Station House Officer Sabir Iqbal Sindhu, the suspect “tried to attack the supervisor with a stick and by lifting a chair, threate... -
Dawn - 08:34 Sep 28, 2025
A stampede that killed dozens at a south Indian political rally happened after a crowd of thousands waited hours in baking heat without sufficient safeguards, officials and witnesses said on Sunday. Some 27,000 people thronged a public road in Tamil Nadu state in hopes of seeing popular actor-turned-politician Vijay on Saturday, but panic broke out and 39 were killed, authorities said. Witnesses cited hours of delays, insufficient police presence, and people falling from a tree branch onto the audience as contributing to the tragedy. Tamil Nadu police have registered a criminal case against leaders of Vijay’s political party. Senior police official V Selvaraj told Reuters that the filing of the case was the first step toward potential charges, “against TVK party senior leaders Bussy Anand, Nirmal Kumar and VP Mathiyalagan, and the investigation is under way”. “TVK originally sought permission for a gathering of 10,000 people, but the actual crowd was more than double,” he said. Deadly crowd incidents happen r... -
Dawn - 07:22 Sep 28, 2025
In a game that had turned into a virtual semi-final, a transformation was nearing its completion. It had taken time but the necessary trust had been gained — a tottering Pakistan were pinning hopes on Shaheen Shah Afridi to dig them out of a hole and, for a change, with the bat. Bangladesh had reduced Salman Ali Agha’s men to 58-5 in their 2025 Asia Cup Super Four clash and Pakistan were searching for some inspiration when the transformed Shaheen hoicked Tanzim Hasan Saqib to the top tier of the Dubai International Cricket Stadium for the first six of the match. Taskin Ahmed, Bangladesh’s most successful bowler of the night, was then clubbed for another in the next over to pave way for Pakistan to post a respectable 135-8; the defence of which he would later spearhead with the ball. There is a viral video from the 2024 T20 World Cup in which Shaheen jokingly complains to the ICC crew for putting ‘bowler’ next to his name instead of ‘all-rounder’. Only days later, his unbeaten 16-ball 23 not out helped Pakista... -
Dawn - 07:15 Sep 28, 2025
The article was first published in December 2019 and has been replugged for DawnMedia’s upcoming air pollution conference in Lahore. In an unprecedented move, schools in Lahore were officially closed for a couple of days this month because of heavy smog that has noticeably settled in every crevice of the city. Not only has the city’s air quality touched hazardous levels with zero visibility to go along, there also seems to be an acrid smell of burnt garbage in the air. The all-too-familiar phenomenon has now become the ‘fifth climate’ of Lahore. Currently, with an Air Quality Index (AQI) of 285, the state of Lahore’s air has moved from ‘hazardous’ to ‘very unhealthy’, where it remains the most polluted urban centre in Pakistan in terms of air quality. But this isn’t the first year of Lahore’s suffering. For the past several years, the onset of the cooler months of October and November has been bringing with it choking smog to the city that heralds in respiratory illnesses, eye diseases, and particulate matter...
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Dawn - 05:39 Sep 28, 2025
• TTP terrorists targeted in intelligence-based operation • Four civilians killed in Bajaur blast, caused by old explosive device • State minister warns militants to be met with bullets if talks fail • Says 80pc attackers are Afghans; urges political unity to tackle challenge LAKKI MARWAT/ BAJAUR: Seventeen militants were killed in an intelligence-based operation in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Karak district on Friday night, while four civilians fell victim to an explosion in the Bajaur district on Saturday. Three security personnel were also injured in the operation conducted in the Darshakhel area of Karak. The operation was conducted “on the reported presence of khwarij belonging to Indian proxy Fitna al Khwarij,” the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said in a statement. “During the conduct of operation, own troops effectively engaged the khwarij location and, resultantly, 17 Indian-sponsored khwarij were sent to hell,” it added. Karak District Police Officer Shahbaz Elahi said that the police and security... -
Dawn - 04:34 Sep 28, 2025
KARACHI: The female camel brutally ‘punished’ for straying into a landlord’s field recently underwent a major two-hour surgery on Friday at a shelter home in the metropolis, officials said on Saturday. Sources said that the procedure was successfully performed by experts of the livestock and fisheries department — a second such procedure in recent months. The experts included Dr Shalla Hayat, Dr Muhammad Ali Ayaz, Dr Javed Khoso, Dr Zulfiqar Haider Otto and Dr Muhammad Ali Gopang. The disease investigation was carried out by Dr Abdul Manan Khokhar, who is also the government focal person. The 18-month-old camel — now affectionately named Chandni — is currently being kept under 24-hour observation at the Comprehensive Disaster Response Services (CDRS) shelter home, located in the Murad Memon goth. A separate unit has been created at the facility to meet her intensive health needs. Officials say Chandni is recovering. Female camel’s right hind leg surgically removed ‘to prevent infection’ Sources said her post-... -
Dawn - 04:09 Sep 28, 2025
RAWALPINDI: Despite an objection from defence lawyers, an Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) of Rawalpindi on Saturday recorded the testimony of three more prosecution witnesses in a case against former prime minister Imran Khan related to violent protests outside the army headquarters, GHQ, on May 9, 2023. The court proceeded with the hearing irrespective of objections from Mr Khan’s legal team, who requested a halt to the video link trial, insisting on his in-person appearance. ATC Judge Amjad Ali Shah resumed proceedings in the General Headquarters (GHQ) protest case as lawyers for Mr Khan submitted an application seeking his personal appearance. They urged the court to stop the trial being conducted via video link, where Mr Khan appears from Adiala Jail. Raja Ikram Ameen Minhas, head of the prosecution, argued that a similar application had already been dismissed and the defence counsel did not challenge that order before the Lahore High Court. He alleged the defence filed the previously decided application to di... -
Dawn - 03:17 Sep 28, 2025
NEW YORK: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif reached London after concluding a week-long trip to the United States, where he headed a delegation to the 80th session of the UN General Assembly and met US President Donald Trump, describing their discussion as “very encouraging”. The formal bilateral interaction between the two leaders was held at the Oval Office and was closed to the press. According to a statement issued from Pakistan, the leaders discussed regional security and cooperation on counter-terrorism, among other matters. Calls Trump talks ‘very encouraging’ During an interaction with the media in New Jersey, aired on Saturday, the prime minister said the US was ready to share “techniques” with Pakistan in the areas of artificial intelligence, information technology and agriculture. He added that the US was also open to investment opportunities in the country. At the airport, the PM along with the foreign minister and others was seen off by UN and US ambassadors. Published in Dawn, September 28th, 2025 -
Dawn - 02:37 Sep 28, 2025
NEW YORK: An Indian intelligence agent not only allegedly hired an Indian citizen to carry out murders in Pakistan, Nepal, and the United States but also promised to provide him with a plane-load of weapons to execute the assassinations, documents filed in US federal court show. Documents filed in a US federal court reveal new charges against the alleged assassin, Nikhil Gupta, including money laundering, credit card fraud, drug and arms trafficking, and attempted murder of a person in Nepal or Pakistan. According to fresh court documents, US government lawyers claim that the alleged murder-for-hire plot was not limited to New York but also included plans to kill another person in Nepal or Pakistan. US prosecutors allege that former Indian RAW officer Vikash Yadav promised to supply firearms and even arrange clearance for an aircraft to transport weapons from India. This was allegedly intended so that Gupta could sell the weapons to a man he believed was a trafficker, who would, in turn, help him hire a h... -
Dawn - 02:24 Sep 28, 2025
• PPP leaders insist BISP data best suited for flood relief • Maryam says Punjab is working while other provinces are busy criticising it • 2,200 survey teams with 10,000 personnel from army, other depts deployed in the province • Azma Bokhari threatens to sue Nadeem Afzal Chan over loan claim ISLAMABAD/LAHORE: As the Punjab government on Saturday launched a survey to assess the losses caused by recent floods, the PPP urged Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to accept its demand for providing immediate relief to the flood-affected people through the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP). The PML-N and the PPP — coalition partners at the Centre and in Punjab — have been at odds over how to help the flood victims, with the former’s government in Punjab insisting on using its own resources, while the latter is adamant about channelling the aid through the BISP. Addressing a press conference in Islamabad, PPP Secretary General Humayun Khan, Senator Palwasha Khan and the party’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa leader Muhammad Ali... -
Dawn - 23:20 Sep 27, 2025
MUZAFFARABAD: Authorities staged flag marches across major towns in Azad Jammu and Kashmir on Saturday, flexing their muscles amid an uneasy calm as leaders of a civil society alliance pressed forward to mobilise support for a region-wide lockdown scheduled for Sept 29. The show of force by the government came as the Jammu Kashmir Joint Awami Action Committee (JKJAAC) escalated its campaign, vowing to shut down the region to protest what it calls the decades-long denial of fundamental rights. In Muzaffarabad, Shaukat Nawaz Mir, a core member of the action committee, toured several neighbourhoods with colleagues and dozens of followers. “Let it be clear once again: we are not running a campaign against any ideology or institution, but for the bona fide rights of our people that have been denied for over seven decades under one or the other pretext,” he told a cheering crowd in Plate. Traders vow to keep shops open “The lockdown will send a loud and clear message that enough is enough. Either grant the rights o... -
Dawn - 19:15 Sep 27, 2025
At least 36 people were killed and more than 50 were injured on Saturday in a stampede at a rally held by Tamil actor Vijay, who is campaigning for election, the chief minister of Tamil Nadu said. Chief Minister MK Stalin said eight children and 16 women were among the 36 who died in the district of Karur in Tamil Nadu during a political rally by Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam, Vijay’s party. Earlier, state lawmaker Senthil Balaji told reporters that 58 people were hospitalised. Vijay has drawn massive crowds Vijay, one of Tamil cinema’s most bankable actors for three decades, has drawn massive crowds to his public meetings since launching his political party, Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam, in 2024, which has targeted both the state ruling party DMK and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party. He is campaigning ahead of state elections that are to be held in early 2026. Videos from local media show thousands of people surrounding a large campaign vehicle on top of which Vijay is seen standing and speaking.... -
Dawn - 18:59 Sep 27, 2025
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur, who is a senior PTI leader, asserted on Saturday that his provincial government did not support any operation — a reference to military action in various parts of the province against militants. Addressing a PTI rally in Peshawar, he said, “We will not allow any operation and do not support it … Federal government, listen. The KP government does not support operation or displacement.” Gandapur called on the “federal institutions” to talk to Afghanistan and resolve the issue of terrorism in the country. “We don’t want war and we will raise our voice against it,” he added. Gandapur has been shifting positions on the matter. In July, he said in a heavily-edited video message that the armed forces were in the province at the request of the KP government and should be treated as “guests” and with respect. This came in complete contrast to another video statement issued by him following a PTI parliamentary meeting a day ago, in which he said that innocent civili... -
Dawn - 17:45 Sep 27, 2025
Seven-time champions Australia will once again be the team to beat in the Women’s World Cup as eight teams prepare to battle it out for the trophy in India and Sri Lanka. England have won four titles and New Zealand one, while Pakistan, South Africa, Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka will be bidding for their maiden crown. Australia have a shot at cricket history when the Women’s World Cup, co-hosted by India and Sri Lanka, begins on September 30. The tournament presents the defending champion Australians, who won three consecutive titles from 1978-1988, with the chance to become the first team in 36 years to win back-to-back women’s one-day World Cups. They have racked up 26 wins in 30 completed matches since their 2022 World Cup triumph, but captain Alyssa Healy said there would be no complacency. “I think there’s genuinely seven other teams that have a really red-hot opportunity of winning this World Cup,” Healy said at the Captains’ Day event in Bengaluru on Friday. “I’m not going to single anybody out. It’... -
Dawn - 16:34 Sep 27, 2025
Pakistan men’s captain Salman Ali Agha said on Saturday that he welcomed his players being aggressive on the field ahead of the first-ever final of an Asia Cup between Pakistan and India. Under fire after two comprehensive losses at the hands of India in the ongoing Asia Cup, the Green Shirts proved they were good enough to make it to the tournament’s final when they edged Bangladesh by 11 runs in their last Super Four outing on Thursday and all that matters now for the side are the title honours. Speaking at the pre-match press conference in Dubai, Salman said: “Every individual has their own way. If a player wants to be aggressive, then why not? If you take aggression away from a fast bowler, then there’s nothing left.” He was responding to an Indian journalist’s question about his responsibility as captain to keep his players’ actions in check. “Every player knows how to deal with their emotions. I give the players a free hand unless they are disrespecting someone or causing disrespect to our country,” the... -
Dawn - 16:22 Sep 27, 2025
At least four teenagers were killed and two other people were injured when a mortar shell exploded in a field in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Bajaur area on Saturday, according to police officials. Bajaur District Police Officer (DPO) Waqas Rafiq told Dawn.com about the incident and said that the dead and injured were transported to Khar Bajaur District Headquarters Hospital. “Initial reports suggest that a mortar shell exploded in the field, killing the young men,” he said, adding that the deceased ranged in age between 13 and 18. Meanwhile, Nisar Baaz Khan, a member of the provincial assembly (MPA) from Bajaur, condemned the incident in a statement on social media and claimed that according to local residents, a quadcopter hit the village and killed innocent civilians. “What crime had these innocent flower-like children committed? What purpose is being served by staining the earth with their innocent blood?” he was quoted as asking. “The state institutions and provincial government have repeatedly claimed that vari... -
Dawn - 16:16 Sep 27, 2025
Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said on Saturday he was “taken aback” after the Foreign Office (FO) issued a statement distancing itself from the controversy surrounding the supposed inclusion of columnist Shama Junejo in Pakistan’s delegation for a United Nations Security Council (UNSC) meeting. On September 25, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif had addressed a UNSC session on artificial intelligence. However, photos from his speech had spread like wildfire on social media platform X as users had pointed to Junejo sitting in the background and shared several screenshots from her Twitter (now X) timeline from several years ago, expressing support for Israel. Following social media furore, Asif said on X that Junejo’s presence at the session was at the FO’s discretion. For its part, the FO clarified that she was not listed in the official letter of credence for the Pakistan delegation to the 80th United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) session. The matter came up during Geo News programme ‘Naya Pakistan’ today, where... -
Dawn - 15:13 Sep 27, 2025
The Houthi rebels, who control swathes of Yemen, have used an array of sophisticated weapons — including ballistic missiles and “kamikaze” drones — in attacks on international shipping in the Red Sea in protest against Israel’s ongoing military onslaught in the Gaza Strip. Attacks on cargo ships and fuel tankers began in November 2023, when Houthi hijacked the Galaxy Leader cargo vessel as it was passing through the southern Red Sea. They redirected it toward Hodeidah port in Yemen and seized the crew. Since then, at least 43 more ships have been attacked in the area, with four seafarers killed and two vessels sunk. The Houthi attacks have disrupted international commerce, forcing international shipping to take the long route around South Africa to avoid being struck. Around 12 per cent of shipping passes through the Red Sea and the increase in delivery costs is stoking fears it could trigger a fresh bout of global inflation. Recent developments between Tel Aviv and Sanaa include the killing of the Houthi gov...
7421 items