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Dawn - 16:13 Aug 07, 2026
Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkiye on Friday signed a joint defence pact in Makkah that empowers member states to treat an attack against one of them as an attack against all of them. The Makkah Joint Defence Agreement, which seeks to strengthen the collective security of the three states, was signed by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Saudi Crown Prince and PM Mohammad bin Salman, and Turkiye’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the “Makkah Al-Mukarramah Summit for Joint Defence” held at Al-Safa Palace. Since the signing, experts, political figures and commentators have offered their views on the agreement, with many describing it as a significant regional development and a historic moment for the three countries. ‘Historic day’: Attaullah Tarar Information Minister Attaullah Tarar, while talking to a private TV channel, described the signing of the joint defence agreement between the three states as a “historic day” for Pakistan, saying the pact reflected growing recognition of the country’s defence capabiliti... -
Dawn - 15:25 Aug 07, 2026
ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) — a premier lawyers’ body — on Friday voiced support for the controversial proposal recently put forward by Interior Minister Syed Mohsin Naqvi regarding the creation of new provinces in the country. Recently, while addressing the Pakistan Economic Summit 2026, the interior minister had urged all political parties to resolve various national issues, including the question of creating new provinces. He termed this the only solution to improving the country’s overall condition, which he said had “collapsed”. Speaking at the Full Court Reference held at the Supreme Court (SC) in honour of Justice Musarrat Hilali on the occasion of her laying down her judicial robes, SCBA President Haroonur Rashid said the association endorsed and supported the suggestion to create new provinces. Headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Yahya Afridi, the reference was attended by SC judges both in person and via video link. The reference was also attended by Additional Attorney... -
Dawn - 15:18 Aug 07, 2026
ISLAMABAD: The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) on Friday notified an additional burden of Rs9.8 billion on electricity consumers for the August billing period due to a fuel cost adjustment (FCA) of 75 paisa per unit. The net average fuel cost in August would be around 41 paisa per unit higher than in July, when the FCA stood at Rs0.34 per unit. In its notification, Nepra said it had decided that the positive FCA for June 2026, amounting to Rs0.7503 per kWh, would apply to all consumer categories that opted for prepaid tariffs, except lifeline consumers, electric vehicle charging stations and prepaid electricity consumers. The adjustment applies to K-Electric (KE) as well as power distribution companies (Discos) that originated from Wapda. The regulator said the adjustment would also apply to consumers under the incremental consumption package. Discos and KE are required to reflect the fuel charges adjustment for June 2026 in the billing month of August 2026. The FCA is reviewed every mont... -
Dawn - 14:58 Aug 07, 2026
ISLAMABAD: The Privatisation Commission (PC) on Friday said it had received a strong response from domestic and international investors for the privatisation of Faisalabad Electric Supply Company (Fesco). The commission said it had received 12 expressions of interest (EOIs) from prospective investors seeking to acquire a 51pc to 100pc stake in Fesco along with management control. The EOIs were submitted by three Turkish investors, one Chinese investor and eight local investors. The three from Turkiye include Aktor Elektrik Enerji Yatırımları San. ve Tic. A.Ş., Genvera Enerji A.Ş. (Celik Group) and Cengiz Enerji Sanayii ve Ticaret A.Ş. The EOI from China came from Jiang Xi Electric Power Construction. The remaining eight Pakistani groups include Engro Energy Limited, Sapphire Fibers Limited, Hub Power Holdings, Lucky Cement, Shirazi Investments (Pvt) Limited (Atlas Group), Maple Leaf Cement and Kohinoor Textile, Nishat Mills Limited and Pak Elektron Ltd, and Artistic Milliners (Private) Limited and K-Electric... -
Dawn - 14:10 Aug 07, 2026
The Makkah Joint Defence Agreement signed by Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkiye may on the face of it appear to be a creation of an Islamic equivalent of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato). It plainly is not, but reflects a gradual, yet unmistakable, reordering of the Gulf’s security architecture at a time when confidence in traditional security arrangements is under unprecedented strain. For decades, the Gulf’s security rested upon an uncomplicated bargain under which the United States guaranteed regional stability, safeguarded maritime trade and energy infrastructure, and in return retained an unrivalled strategic presence across the region. Though that arrangement has not disappeared, repeated crises over the past few years have exposed its growing limitations. The inability of that arrangement — which emerged after Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait — to deter attacks on energy facilities, repeated disruptions to commercial navigation, uncertainty generated by Washington’s changing regional priorities, ... -
Dawn - 12:49 Aug 07, 2026
PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari claimed on Friday that certain elements within the ruling PML-N were undermining Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and sowing discord between him and his political allies. The PPP and the PML-N have been engaged in a war of words since the latter emerged in the lead in Mirpur polls on July 27. The PML-N has also won the majority of the seats in the second phase, with the PPP accusing it of rigging and other violent tactics in both phases. The PPP chief was addressing an election rally in Azad Jammu and Kashmir’s Poonch district, where the third phase of elections in the region is slated to be held. “High-profile people are saying that the government has collapsed. I’m not saying that, nor am I casting doubt on the prime minister’s intentions. He’s a good man with good intentions. But what can he do when the people around him have bad intentions?” Bilawal asked. In reference to remarks he made earlier this week, the party chief highlighted that the PPP did not start the “countdo... -
Dawn - 12:47 Aug 07, 2026
GROWING American interest in Pakistan’s critical minerals is no longer speculative. According to US diplomats, American companies are actively examining several mineral projects here as part of Washington’s push to diversify mineral supply chains away from China. That interest has already produced a $500m agreement between the two countries and approval of $1.3bn in US financing for Reko Diq. For Pakistan, the opportunity extends beyond capital inflows. Its mineral wealth can attract new technologies, diversify exports and generate employment. That outcome depends on treating these resources as long-term national assets rather than items to be signed away in closed rooms. The experience of Reko Diq offers an important lesson. Years of legal disputes and policy reversals imposed enormous costs on Pakistan. While the project has since been revived, the controversy demonstrated the consequences of weak governance, lack of transparency and poor contract management. Any future agreements involving critical mineral... -
Dawn - 12:17 Aug 07, 2026
RECENTLY put into trial operation, Jalalpur canal has stoked a new controversy between Punjab and Sindh. A summary of the Sindh government, raising objections against the project, was already pending with the Council of Common Interests (CCI) since 2024. Sindh had been raising objections on this project from its inception, but these have been consistently disregarded. A 117km-long main canal with a design discharge of 1,350 cusecs off-taking from the right bank of the Rasul barrage on the Jhelum river, it aims to irrigate a culturable command area of about 68,000 hectares in the Potohar plateau of Punjab, mainly in Pind Dadan Khan and Khushab during the Kharif season. The Asian Development Bank had provided financial assistance for design and construction of the project to the Punjab government. Punjab claims that it will use its own share of water for the new canal through internal adjustment. Sindh, however, has questioned the source of additional water of approximately 0.5 million acre feet every year. Pun... -
Dawn - 11:44 Aug 07, 2026
The US State Department will vet the social media accounts of foreign journalists applying for visas to work in the United States, according to a media report on Thursday. The report in the conservative news outlet The Daily Signal cited an internal memo that said an initiative by President Donald Trump’s administration that requires applicants for many visa types to make their social media accounts public for screening was being expanded to include foreign media representatives. Applicants for another type of visa for workers from Canada and Mexico also will now be included in the screening, it said. The White House and the State Department’s official accounts on X shared a link to the article, but the State Department declined to confirm the specifics of the report, citing a policy of not commenting on “purported internal documents”. A State Department spokesperson said that what the department calls “online presence vetting” is used to ensure that applicants are eligible for a visa under US law. “Th... -
Dawn - 11:11 Aug 07, 2026
Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkiye on Friday signed a joint defence pact in Makkah that empowers member states to treat an attack against one of them as an attack against all of them. Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkiye on Friday signed the Makkah Joint Defence Agreement aimed at strengthening “collective deterrence against any act of aggression”, the Foreign Office (FO) said. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Saudi Crown Prince and PM Mohammed bin Salman, and Türkiye’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan signed the pact after the “Makkah Al-Mukarramah Summit for Joint Defence” was held at the Al-Safa Palace. The agreement reflects the three countries’ “shared commitment to further strengthening their collective security and to promoting peace, security, and stability in the region and beyond, in pursuit of a secure and prosperous future”, the FO said. “The agreement is intended to strengthen collective deterrence against any act of aggression, and stipulates that any armed attack against any one of the three states s... -
Dawn - 10:16 Aug 07, 2026
The Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Election Commission on Friday revised the schedule for the third phase of elections in the region, saying polling would only be held in Poonch Division’s Bagh and Haveli districts on August 10 amid concerns over the law and order situation. Elections are being held across AJK in three phases amid tensions between protesters and the authorities. Polls in Mirpur and Muzaffarabad divisions were held on July 27 and August 2, respectively. The third phase in Poonch division was set for August 10. Poonch Division comprises 11 constituencies — three in Bagh, one in Haveli, five in Poonch and two in Sudhnoti district. However, the Election Commission said in a press release on Friday that the electoral process will go ahead as planned on August 10 in only the division’s Bagh and Haveli districts. In its press release, the AJK Election Commission said polling will be held in the three constituencies of Bagh and one of Haveli on August 10 as per the previous schedule. However, the elect... -
Dawn - 09:37 Aug 07, 2026
A Thai teenager killed at least five people and himself at a school outside Bangkok on Friday after fatally shooting his grandparents, police said, in the Southeast Asian nation’s worst mass killing since 2022. Police said the shooter, who was 14 years old, fired at least 26 bullets, and was found with 34 additional ammunition rounds. The gun had belonged to his grandfather, police said. Students streamed out of the Debsirin Nonthaburi School, on the capital’s northwestern outskirts, as the wounded were loaded on to ambulances and teachers hugged each other and cried. In photos circulated by emergency workers, one person is seen lying down on a stretcher outside an ambulance, while another is attended to by a medic. Police said 23 people were wounded in the incident, the latest in a succession of high-profile shootings in recent years in Thailand, which has by far the largest number of guns in civilian possession in Southeast Asia, and among the most per capita in Asia, according to a 2017 estimate by the Sma... -
Dawn - 09:19 Aug 07, 2026
KARACHI: The exhumation of 25-year-old businessman and Institute of Business Administration graduate Mir Raza Ali’s body was postponed on Friday after his family objected to the abrupt reconstitution of the medico-legal board. Ali’s body was found in bushes in Karachi’s Gulistan-i-Jauhar last month, a day after he went missing on July 28. While his family is convinced that he was kidnapped, tortured and murdered, investigators probing the incident continue to build their case around the possibility that he died by suicide. His family was present at the cemetery adjacent to Tariq Road’s Rehmania Masjid for the exhumation on Friday. But, the exhumation was deferred, with the counsel for Ali’s family, Jibran Nasir, telling the media that they had informed the investigating officer that the family had rejected the reconstituted board and would not accept an exhumation by it “under any circumstances”. Standing alongside Ali’s father, Mir Hussain Ali Khan, Nasir accused the authorities of trying to bury the facts a... -
Dawn - 09:14 Aug 07, 2026
US President Donald Trump signed two executive orders on Thursday in a new but narrower attempt to curtail birthright citizenship, once again challenging a provision of the US Constitution even though the Supreme Court rejected his previous effort. Limiting birthright citizenship has been one of the top priorities in the Republican president’s crackdown on immigration, with the White House taking particular aim at what it calls “birth tourism,” in which pregnant foreigners travel to the US to give birth. After his June 30 setback in the Supreme Court, Trump called on Congress to act, but on Thursday he opted for executive orders, which set policy but do not carry the same weight as laws passed by Congress. The Supreme Court had struck down as unconstitutional Trump’s earlier executive order, which targeted a wide swath of immigrants in the country illegally or temporarily. The administration argues the new directive falls outside the purview of the Supreme Court ruling, as it seeks to reinterpret the narrow, ... -
Dawn - 06:00 Aug 07, 2026
KARACHI: The medical board tasked with exhuming the body of Institute of Business Administration (IBA) graduate Mir Raza Ali has been reconstituted, it emerged on Friday. Ali’s body, bearing a gunshot wound, was found in bushes in Karachi’s Gulistan-i-Jauhar last month. While his family is convinced that he was kidnapped, tortured and murdered, investigators probing the incident continue to build their case around the possibility that he died by suicide. A day earlier, a Karachi court allowed the exhumation on an application filed by Ali’s father, wherein the court directed the police surgeon and the Sindh health secretary to constitute a medico-legal board for the exhumation of Ali’s body “at the earliest possible date and time”. The court ruling came on an application filed by Ali’s father, Mir Hussain Ali Khan, after a controversy emerged between the Karachi police surgeon and investigators over alleged loopholes in the medico-legal report regarding the post-mortem examination. The Sindh health department ... -
Dawn - 05:16 Aug 07, 2026
UNITED NATIONS: The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) on Thursday strongly condemned the suicide bombing in Swat last week, calling it a “heinous and cowardly” terrorist attack after Pakistan warned the body that multiple terrorist groups continue to operate from safe havens inside Afghanistan. In a press statement issued by the Office of the UN secretary general’s spokesperson, the council said it condemned “in the strongest terms” the “heinous and cowardly” suicide attack outside the police station in Swat’s Kabal on Aug 2. “This reprehensible act of terrorism resulted in the grievous loss of at least 16 Pakistani nationals, mostly civilians, and injuries to dozens of others. Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) has claimed responsibility for this terrorist attack,” it added. The UNSC also expressed solidarity with Pakistan, saying, “The members of the Security Council express their deepest sympathy and condolences to the families of the victims and to the government and the people of Pakistan, and wish a ... -
Dawn - 05:01 Aug 07, 2026
The military’s media affairs wing said on Friday that 10 terrorists were killed in two separate engagements in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa a day earlier. Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said the terrorists belonged to Indian-sponsored Fitna al Khwarij — a term the state uses for terrorists belonging to the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan. It said that in the first encounter, a group of terrorists attempted to attack security forces’ checkposts in Azam Warsak area in South Waziristan. “The attempt was effectively thwarted by own troops. During ensuing fire exchange, eight khwarij were sent to hell through effective and precise engagements by own troops,” it said. “In another encounter that took place in Dir district, own troops successfully neutralised two more khwarij,” it added. ISPR said that weapons and ammunition were also seized from killed terrorists, who remained “actively involved in numerous terrorist activities in the area”. It said sanitisation operations were being conducted to eliminate any other... -
Dawn - 04:35 Aug 07, 2026
LAHORE: A second-year student was reportedly found dead in the hostel of a leading private university of Defence Housing Authority (DHA) here the other day. Defence B police SHO told Dawn the deceased, Ahmed Adnan, hailing from Kasur district, was enrolled under the National Outreach Programme (NOP) of the varsity and living in the hostel. On Thursday, the varsity management was informed that he was found dead in his hostel room. The administration called police, which informed Adnan’s parents about his death. Apparently, no marks of violence were found on any part of the deceased’s body, the police official said. He added that the family of the deceased was not willing to initiate legal proceedings into the death of youth. The police had the postmortem examination conducted, which initially suspected cardiac arrest as the possible cause of his death. Published in Dawn, August 7th, 2026 -
Dawn - 03:43 Aug 07, 2026
I work as a journalist and am a single mother to a child who was diagnosed a little over three years ago with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Allow me to share what that means based on a clinician’s report: When she was three-and-a-half years old in 2023, Elia scored 35.5 on the Childhood Autism Rating Scale, placing her in the moderate to severe category. So she had developed more like an 18-month-old, would not speak any meaningful words and instead pulled or dragged me to what she wanted. She would avoid eye contact and not respond to her name either. When she was overwhelmed or angry, she would use repetitive behaviours to self-regulate, like rolling her hair, spinning car wheels, flapping her hands or walking on her toes. Her doctors said she needed Applied Behaviour Analysis and Developmental Therapy. Speech and language therapy would use non-verbal tools like the Picture Exchange Communication System so she could point to pictures to express needs. Occupational Therapy would help her learn fine motor control... -
Dawn - 03:32 Aug 07, 2026
EVERY discussion about data protection in Pakistan reaches the same conclusion: we still don’t have a comprehensive data privacy law. Technically, that’s true. The Personal Data Protection Bill has sat in draft form since 2018, and after years of delay it’s easy to assume Pakistan’s approach to data governance is on hold. That assumption can now be challenged. While attention stayed fixed on the stalled privacy bill, another development moved far faster. In late June, the Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication (MoITT) released the draft National Data Governance Policy 2026 for public consultation. That consultation closed on July 10. This week, MoITT and the Pakistan Digital Authority (PDA) held a high-level meeting, chaired by Federal Minister Shaza Fatima Khawaja, to finalise the policy ahead of cabinet approval and gazette notification. It isn’t law yet, but we cannot treat it as a mere policy draft either. Many Pakistani tech companies already maintain strong governance practices because...
12385 items