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Dawn - 20:21 Mar 20, 2026
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said on Friday that he had rejected recommendations for further increasing petrol and high-speed diesel (HSD) prices, adding that, however, he had instructed relevant ministries to devise a mechanism to ensure that the “relief” was restricted to only the deserving and needy. He said this during an address to the nation, delivered on the eve of Eidul Fitr. The premier began his address by extending Eid greetings to the nation. He also referred to a global fuel crisis resulting from the US-Israeli war on Iran, which began on February 28. The government announced unprecedented austerity measures last week to cope with the crisis and also hiked petroleum products’ prices earlier this month. PM Shehbaz said in view of the present situation, the festival demanded humanity, national unity and collective responsibility. “And I believe the joy of Eid in its true sense is sharing it with those in need,” he added. The premier said the world was facing an “extraordinary challenge” today, add... -
Dawn - 18:13 Mar 20, 2026
On the twenty-first day of the US-Israeli war on Iran, a sombre Nowruz and Eidul Fitr eve set the domestic mood in Iran, as fresh military developments and a shifting coalition posture pointed to an imminent widening of the war. Across Iran, the Persian New Year arrived without usual festivities associated with it. Celebrations were scaled down, with war, blackouts and economic strain shaping public sentiment. Markets remained open but subdued, and even among diaspora communities, observances lacked the usual fervour. ‘Rare moral boost’ Against this backdrop, a reported Iranian air defence success provided a rare morale boost. Iranian systems are said to have damaged a US F-35 during a combat mission, forcing it to make an emergency landing at Al-Dhafra Airbase in the United Arab Emirates. While the operational impact appears limited, the symbolic value of hitting a stealth fifth-generation aircraft would be considerable. The Iranian media is projecting it as evidence that advanced US platforms can be challen... -
Dawn - 16:59 Mar 20, 2026
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Friday discussed the ongoing hostilities in the Middle East in phone calls with leaders from several countries, with all calling for de-escalation in the region. The ongoing war, launched by the US and Israel against Iran, has expanded across the Middle East with Tehran targeting US bases and assets in other countries in the region, including Azerbaijan, and Tel Aviv targeting Hezbollah in Lebanon. The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) said on the social media platform X that the premier held a telephone conversation with Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev “to exchange greetings on the auspicious occasion of Eidul Fitr”. “The two leaders also discussed the ongoing hostilities in Iran and the Gulf region,” the statement said. “The prime minister reiterated [his] strong condemnation of the attacks against Azerbaijan and expressed full solidarity and support with the brotherly people of Azerbaijan in these challenging times.” It added that both leaders called for an immediate de-esc... -
Dawn - 16:17 Mar 20, 2026
For Lebanese Muslims, there was little to celebrate on Friday during Eidul Fitr as a displacement crisis prompted by Israeli strikes and fears for the future cast a dark shadow over the end of Ramazan. Eid this year has been dampened by fallout from the war that began with the US and Israel launching strikes on Iran. With fighting going on between Hezbollah and Israel as well, Lebanon has also been dragged into the regional conflict. A displaced child from Beirut’s southern suburbs looks on from inside a van on the day worshippers attend Eid prayers to mark the end of Ramazan, following an escalation between Hezbollah and Israel amid the US-Israeli war on Iran, in Beirut, Lebanon, March 20, 2026. — Reuters Israel’s strikes across Lebanon’s south, east and its capital Beirut have killed more than 1,000 people and the Israeli military’s evacuation orders have forced more than a million people to flee their homes. In downtown Beirut, displaced Lebanese tried to shield themselves from bouts of heavy rain on Frida... -
Dawn - 12:46 Mar 20, 2026
Hard-right UK lawmaker Nigel Farage, currently leading opinion polls, said he will ban mass Muslim prayer at historic British sites if he becomes prime minister. The anti-immigrant firebrand called an open Iftar in London’s Trafalgar Square earlier this week an “attempt to overtake, intimidate and dominate our way of life”. Monday’s open Iftar has been the subject of political debate in recent days, with Labour Prime Minister Keir Starmer criticising a Conservative MP for opposing the event. “We have to stop this kind of mass demonstration, provocative demonstration, in historic British sites, because that’s what it is,” Farage said on Thursday. Asked during a visit to Scotland whether he favoured banning all mass religious observances, Farage, leader of Reform UK, replied “yes”. Pressed on whether that included Jewish or Catholic observances, he added: “I’ve never seen Jewish services taking place in places of historic Christian worship, or anywhere else. “We have to get this right. We can’t stop individuals... -
Dawn - 12:17 Mar 20, 2026
KARACHI: The Sindh Counter-terrorism Department (CTD) on Friday arrested five members of the proscribed Baloch Republican Guard (BRG), who were allegedly planning to carry out an attack on railway tracks in Karachi. In a press release, the department said that it conducted a joint intelligence-based operation (IBO) with rangers and the federal intelligence agency, “arresting five members of the BRG, and foiling a terrorist plan on railway tracks in Karachi”. The CTD said, in its statement, that the group has carried out “six low-intensity explosions in Jacobabad, Shikarpur districts of Sindh, resulting in partial damage to the railway track and train carriage”. It said that the group had claimed responsibility for the attacks on its social media accounts. It added that the CTD, working in collaboration with the “civilian federal intelligence agency [..] identified the network and monitored them day and night”. The CTD recovered explosives, improvised explosive devices (IEDs), weapons, and ammunition from the ... -
Dawn - 12:07 Mar 20, 2026
KARACHI: The Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) on Friday forecast rain in Karachi and other parts of Sindh for tomorrow, when the country will celebrate the first day of Eidul Fitr. In its daily weather forecast, the weather body said a westerly wave was “continuously affecting” most parts of the country. It said “rain/thunderstorm with strong winds” was likely in Karachi Division and various other Sindh districts tomorrow. The same was forecast for Larkana, Qambar-Shahdadkot, Shikarpur, Jacobabad, Sukkur, Jamshoro, Hyderabad, Thatta, Sujawal, Badin, Matiari, Umerkot, Mirpurkhas, Naushahro Feroze, Shaheed Benazirabad and Dadu districts. However, in a three-day weather outlook for Karachi, the PMD said the weather in the city tomorrow was expected to be “mostly cloudy with chances of isolated thunderstorm/rain at outskirts”. Daytime temperatures will range between 29 and 31 degrees Celsius, while night temperatures could drop to as low as 17-19°C. Humidity levels in the morning were expected to remain b... -
Dawn - 11:28 Mar 20, 2026
Hundreds of Muslim worshippers held Eidul Fitr prayers at the gates of Jerusalem’s Old City on Friday, with Israel closing access to the Al-Aqsa mosque and other holy sites over its war on Iran. “Today, Al-Aqsa has been taken from us. It’s a sad and painful Ramazan,” Wajdi Mohammed Shweiki, a silver-haired Palestinian man in his 60s, told AFP. “It’s a catastrophic situation for the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for Palestinians in general and for all Muslims across the globe.” Since Israel and the United States started the war on Iran on February 28, Israeli authorities have closed access to Jerusalem’s world-renowned holy sites over security concerns — Al-Aqsa Mosque for Muslims, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre for Christians and the Western Wall for Jews. As Iranian missile barrages head towards Israel, the authorities have banned gatherings of more than 50 people nationwide to limit potential casualties. In a sign of the risks, police said this week that shrapnel fragments had fallen on the Old City. Research... -
Dawn - 11:08 Mar 20, 2026
Forced by yet another Israeli bombardment on Lebanon to flee his home for the second time in just two years, and mourning lost relatives and friends, Hassan Kiki said he feels much older than 16. “War has aged us… We have lived through what no one else has,” the tall teen from south Lebanon told AFP in Beirut. “I miss my school, my friends… I lost two cousins and two friends in a massacre in Shehabiyeh,” he added, referring to a deadly Israeli strike in his town that killed at least seven people on March 11. Kiki is among more than a million people Lebanese authorities have registered as displaced since the country was drawn into the Middle East war on March 2. On that day, Hezbollah launched rockets towards Israel to avenge the assassination of Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Israel, which never stopped bombing Lebanon despite a 2024 truce that sought to end the last fighting with Hezbollah, responded with widespread strikes, ground operations along the border, and an evacuation warning for swa... -
Dawn - 10:56 Mar 20, 2026
Energy expert Vaqar Zakaria believes solar power makes “excellent economic sense” — and he lives by it. For over five years, his rooftop panels have slashed his bills, sometimes to zero, even allowing him to sell surplus electricity back through net metering. Last month, he took it further. After buying two electric vehicles, he has almost “declared independence” from the national grid. With more panels and doubled batteries, even his cars run on sunshine. “I am moving away from their fuel, and I don’t need their power,” said the CEO of Hagler Bailly, Pakistan, an Islamabad-based environmental consultancy firm, over the phone from Islamabad. “I call it the hand of God driving my car,” Zakaria said. He is already seeing economic gains from his investment. “The electricity I generate, including battery costs, comes to about Rs12 ($0.043) per unit, while it can be sold to the Islamabad Electric Supply Company at around Rs26 ($0.092) per unit.” However, he adds that he does not currently claim this benefit, as it... -
Dawn - 08:24 Mar 20, 2026
A federal arts panel comprised of members appointed by Donald Trump on Thursday unanimously approved a commemorative gold coin featuring his image, part of a series of coins the US Mint is planning to produce to celebrate America’s 250th birthday this year. The 24-carat gold coin is the latest effort by Trump and his allies to put the president’s name on buildings, government programmes and US currency since his second White House term began in January 2025. During a presentation by a US Mint official to the Commission of Fine Arts, discussion turned to what diameter the 24-carat coin should be, up to three inches (7.6cm). Chamberlain Harris, a White House aide whom Trump appointed to the commission this year, said the biggest possible coin would be Trump’s preference. “The larger the better,” she said, shortly before the coin was approved by the entire panel. People view the portrait of US President Donald Trump, taken by official White House photographer Daniel Torok which is the basis of a proposed US Mint... -
Dawn - 08:12 Mar 20, 2026
Times for this Ramazan’s (1447 AH) last Iftar for the federal and provincial capitals are listed below: Islamabad Iftar Fiqh-i-Hanafia — 6:20pm Fiqh-i-Jafria — 6:30pm Karachi Iftar Fiqh-i-Hanafia — 6:44pm Fiqh-i-Jafria — 6:57pm Lahore Iftar Fiqh-i-Hanafia — 6:14pm Fiqh-i-Jafria — 6:24pm Peshawar Iftar Fiqh-i-Hanafia — 6:26pm Fiqh-i-Jafria — 6:36pm Quetta Iftar Fiqh-i-Hanafia — 6:45pm Fiqh-i-Jafria — 7:03pm -
Dawn - 08:11 Mar 20, 2026
UNITED NATIONS: Pakistan has lashed out at India at the UN for weaponising water by unilaterally suspending the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) over “baseless” terrorism allegations, calling New Delhi’s actions a direct threat to its agriculture, livelihoods and regional stability. The exchange between the two neighbours took place at a high-level UN event held ahead of World Water Day on March 22, according to a statement issued by Pakistan’s UN mission on Thursday. The spat followed a video message by Minister of Climate Change Dr Musadik Malik, who said India’s decision to place the treaty “in abeyance” undermined decades of cooperation and violates international law. Indian Permanent Representative to the UN, Ambassador Harish Parvathaneni, told the world body that New Delhi would continue to hold the treaty “in abeyance until Pakistan … credibly and irrevocably ends its support for all forms of terrorism” — an allegation that Islamabad has already repeatedly rejected as baseless. The Indian envoy also cla... -
Dawn - 07:37 Mar 20, 2026
Protesters heckled and booed Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Friday during a visit to Australia’s largest mosque for Eidul Fitr prayers, voicing anger over his stance on ally Israel’s offensive in Gaza. Some in Australia’s Muslim and Jewish communities are angry over a fine line walked by the centre-left government since Israel began its military campaign in Gaza, expressing concern for Palestinians, repeatedly urging a ceasefire, and backing Israel’s right to self-defence. Video images showed protesters interrupting proceedings about 15 minutes after Albanese and Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke joined worshippers at Lakemba Mosque in western Sydney to mark the end of Ramazan. Demonstrators booed, told Albanese and Burke to “Get out!” and called them “genocide supporters”, referring to Israel’s killing of Palestinians in Gaza. “Dear brothers and sisters, keep calm a little bit,” one of the organisers told the crowd, urging people to sit down and stop filming the exchange. “It is Eid. It is a joyful day.” ... -
Dawn - 07:06 Mar 20, 2026
LAHORE: The Airport Traffic Controllers of Pakistan Airport Authority (PAA) have reportedly prevented around 30 passenger aircraft from entering the Iranian war zone. “Owing to severe weather conditions, several aircraft were on the verge of drifting into Iranian war-zone airspace on Wednesday and Thursday. Timely guidance from the air traffic controllers, particularly coordination with the Karachi Flight Information Region, helped avert a major disaster,” an official source in the Airport Traffic Controllers here said. “Most of the aircraft came under the pressure of extreme weather near the Iran border, creating a highly risky situation. However, the professionalism demonstrated by the Lahore air traffic controllers ensured that the planes were safely diverted away from the danger zone, although no response was received from Tehran Air Traffic Control despite repeated attempts,” he said. These flights were arriving and going to Saudi Arabia, Dubai, and other countries. “The Lahore air traffic control, in co... -
Dawn - 06:01 Mar 20, 2026
WASHINGTON: Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi sailed smoothly past a potential clash with Donald Trump on Iran on Thursday — although the US president whipped up a bit of a storm about Pearl Harbor. Days after lashing out at US allies including Japan for failing to heed his calls to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz, Trump praised Tokyo’s efforts related to the Middle East war in vague terms. “I believe that, based on statements (which) were given to us yesterday, the day before yesterday, having to do with Japan, they are really stepping up to the plate,” Trump told reporters as he hosted Takaichi in the Oval Office. After a long pause Trump then added “unlike Nato,” repeating his criticisms of the US-led military alliance with mainly European countries. Trump gave few details about what help Japan might provide in securing the crucial waterway, through which one-fifth of the world’s oil normally passes. But his tone towards Takaichi was far more friendly than the tongue-lashings he has given to allies, ... -
Dawn - 06:00 Mar 20, 2026
The information ministry on Friday rubbished the Afghan Taliban’s claim of Pakistan violating the temporary pause in fighting, terming the allegation “frivolous”. In a post on X, the ministry said, “The claim of so-called Ministry of Defence/spokesperson of Taliban regime that Pakistan has violated the temporary pause — initiated itself by Pakistan in view of Eidul Fitr — is frivolous. “No violation of the temporary pause has taken place along the western border by Pakistan and all such claims are absolutely false,” the statement on the “fact check” asserted. “Such propaganda may probably be initiated by detractors within Taliban regime, aimed at creating false pretext for some Afghan Taliban regime-directed terrorism or other action,” it contended. The ministry stressed that irrespective of who has initiated the propaganda and false claims, “Pakistan has already declared it clearly that any act of terrorism, cross-border attack, drone attack, etc by Afghan Taliban regime and its proxies will result [in] fort... -
Dawn - 03:38 Mar 20, 2026
KARACHI: Often dubbed a safe haven in times of global crises, local gold prices for 10 grams and one tola have dropped to Rs428,208 and Rs499,462, respectively, down by Rs20,833 and Rs24,300, following a steep decline of $243 to $4,767 per ounce on international markets amid the escalating war in the Middle East. On Feb 28, when an illegal attack was launched by the US and Israel on Iran, the rates for 10 grams and one tola stood at Rs472,018 and Rs550,562, based on a global gold price of $5,278 per ounce. On Jan 29, 2026, Pakistan witnessed its highest-ever gold rates, with 10 grams priced at Rs491,135 and one tola at Rs572,862, as the global gold price reached $5,505 per ounce. “History shows that the precious metal has often lost its luster when intense conflicts escalate into full-scale wars among countries,” said Qasim Shikarpuri, president of the All Pakistan Sarafa Gems and Jewellers Association (APSGJA), while speaking to Dawn on Thursday. Prices slip below Rs500,000 per tola He said gold prices would... -
Dawn - 03:21 Mar 20, 2026
ISLAMABAD: Chief of Army Staff and Chief of Defence Forces Field Marshal Asim Munir warned religious leaders that violence in the country, triggered by events abroad, would not be tolerated, Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said on Thursday. “Violence in Pakistan, on the basis of incidents occurring in another country, will not be tolerated,” the military’s media wing quoted Field Marshal Munir as saying during a meeting with Shia clerics. According to ISPR, the army chief interacted with the Shia clergy earlier this week in Rawalpindi, where “matters of national security and the role of ulema in societal harmony came under discussion”. The outreach came as the military seeks to manage the domestic environment amid the US-Israeli war against Iran. Army chief interacts with Shia clerics, calls for unity and countering sectarian narratives Protests that erupted in early March, following the start of the war and the assassination of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, led to several casualties and a security crackdown... -
Dawn - 03:12 Mar 20, 2026
SADIQ Khan and journalist Saima Mohsin address the Iftar event at Trafalgar Square.—X/mayoroflondon • Badenoch defends shadow justice secretary for calling public prayer ‘an act of domination’ • Labour accuses Tories of ‘divisive politics’; Starmer says party seems to have ‘a problem with Muslims’ • Controversy centres on popular ‘Open Iftar’ event LONDON: Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch defended her party’s shadow justice secretary, Nick Timothy, after he described Islamic prayers held in public spaces as “an act of domination”, triggering sharp criticism from political opponents and community leaders. The controversy erupted after Timothy shared images on social media showing prayers during a Ramazan gathering at Trafalgar Square in London. He wrote that mass public prayer was “an act of domination” and “straight from the Islamist playbook”. Amid criticism, including from Mayor Sadiq Khan, Timothy restated in The Daily Telegraph that expressions of non-Christian faith pose a “challenge”. Even Prime Min...
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