Dawn
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Dawn - 10:16 Oct 07, 2025
Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director General Lt Gen Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry has said that Chinese weapon systems deployed during Pakistan’s four-day military conflict with India in May performed “exceptionally well”. During the conflict, Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar reportedly said the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) used Chinese J-10C jets in its response to India’s May 7 attack. A report by The Guardian had noted that Pakistan deploying J-10Cs would “mark the first time the Chinese planes — and the PL-15 missiles they were carrying — have been used in combat anywhere in the world”. In May, China had expressed ignorance about the use of its jets, saying it was “not familiar with the matter”. In July, however, the Chinese air chief commended the PAF’s “exemplary performance” in the May conflict. In an interview with Bloomberg, which was held last week and published yesterday, Lt Gen Chaudhry said: “Of course lately, recent Chinese platforms, they’ve demonstrated exceptionally well.” “We are open to all s... -
Dawn - 09:39 Oct 07, 2025
At least seven people were injured on Tuesday after a blast on a railway track derailed four bogies of the Jaffar Express in Sindh’s Shikarpur district, according to officials. With a rise in terrorist attacks over the past few years, Balochistan has seen a series of incidents where militants blow up train tracks, targeting the province’s transport infrastructure. Speaking to Dawn.com, Shikarpur Deputy Commissioner Shakeel Abro said, “A blast had occurred on the train tracks at 8:15am. The incident occurred at a distance of 1km from the Sultan Kot railway station.” He said that the blast had caused the derailment of four bogies. Abro said that seven people had been injured, out of which four had been taken to the Combined Military Hospital, while the remaining three had been taken to the Civil Hospital in Shikarpur. He said that the Jaffar Express train was bound for Quetta via Jacobabad. Sukkur Deputy Divisional Superintendent Syed Moalim said that the blast occurred while the train was moving on the track.... -
Dawn - 08:23 Oct 07, 2025
The Peshawar police on Tuesday filed a case over the alleged abduction of PTI activist Sanam Javed near the Civil Officers’ mess in the provincial capital. The first information report (FIR), seen by Dawn.com, was filed by Javed’s friend Hira Babar at Peshawar’s Sharqi police station in the early hours of Tuesday. Babar claimed in the FIR that she and the PTI activist were heading back after having dinner together on Monday during the latter’s visit to the city when the “abduction” took place. “Around 10:40pm, we were blocked by a green Vigo while we were heading back after having a dinner outside. We tried to turn back but a white car appeared from behind to intercept us,” she told the police. “Five men got out and attempted to force Sanam into their car. At this point, we started shouting for help, but the people in the surroundings, which included officers and security personnel, did not intervene,” she said. “The car took her towards the Red Zone,” Babar claimed. The FIR was filed under Section 365 (kidna... -
Dawn - 03:06 Oct 07, 2025
QUETTA: In a daring attack, unknown assailants attacked a Qazi Court in the Kharan area of Balochistan, and kidnapped the judge after setting the building on fire. Senior police officials told Dawn a group of armed men stormed into the Qazi Court building in the Maskan Kalat area, about 30 kilometres from Kharan city, at around 11:30am, while the judge was hearing cases. They held Judge Muhammad Jan and other court staff hostage, ransacking records and damaging office furniture and other items on the premises. “Armed terrorists stormed into the court and set the courtroom and other sections of the Qazi Court on fire,” Deputy Inspector General of Police for Rakhshan region, Abdul Hayee Aamir Baloch, told Dawn. The court building was gutted, and the attackers also destroyed the court’s records. While fleeing after torching the courtroom and other offices, the assailants kidnapped the judge at gunpoint. “The terrorists kidnapped the Qazi Court judge and also made off with two vehicles, including the judge’... -
Dawn - 19:30 Oct 06, 2025
The dissenting note in the reserved seats case, authored by Justice Ayesha A. Malik and Justice Aqeel Abbasi, was released on Monday, highlighting divisions within the bench over last year’s dismissal of government appeals. In June 2024, the Supreme Court of Pakistan declared Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) eligible for seats reserved for women and minorities, dealing a major setback to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s ruling coalition. The verdict was announced by a 13-member bench, headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa. Following the verdict, the PPP, PML-N and the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) filed review petitions, which were later rejected. Justice Abbasi and Justice Malik then released a dissent. The dissenting note stated that all three review petitions were filed against the brief verdict issued on July 9, 2024, and only the ECP submitted additional petitions based on the detailed verdict dated September 23, 2024. “All arguments raised by the petitioners had alrea... -
Dawn - 18:21 Oct 06, 2025
The Sindh cabinet on Monday approved the waiver of the death certificate registration fee for the general public across the province at the municipal, union council and town committee levels. The decision was taken in a provincial cabinet presided over by Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah at the CM House. A press release issued today said that under the new arrangement, the Sindh government will bear the cost of the National Database & Registration Authority service charges, ensuring that citizens can obtain death certificates free of cost. “This step aims to facilitate citizens, promote digital registration of vital events under the Sindh Local Government Act, 2013, and strengthen the province’s CRVS (Civil Registration and Vital Statistics) system,” the press release said. It added that the decision followed the cabinet’s approval of free birth registration in September 2024 in line with the Sindh government’s commitment to the United Nations and international partners for improving CRVS coverage. In... -
Dawn - 18:08 Oct 06, 2025
Following the brief military conflict with India in May, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif conducted a flurry of visits to other countries and international fora as part of a diplomatic push. The May conflict, the worst between the old foes in decades, was sparked by an attack on Hindu tourists in occupied Kashmir, which New Delhi, without evidence, said was backed by Pakistan. Pakistan denied involvement, with the foreign ministry having questioned the credibility of India’s account of the events, saying it was “replete with fabrications”. Both sides used fighter jets, missiles, artillery and drones during the four-day conflict, before agreeing to a ceasefire. PM Shehbaz is currently in Malaysia on an official visit. After tallying up press releases from the Foreign Office about the prime minister’s foreign visits, it emerges that he conducted 10 foreign visits from May to October — a period of five months. Tour of friendly nations — May 25-30 In his first foreign trip after the war, the PM toured the friendly n... -
Dawn - 17:58 Oct 06, 2025
Swedish activist Greta Thunberg, who was arrested by Israel when they intercepted the Global Sumud Flotilla, called out world governments for continuing to enable Tel Aviv’s genocide in the Gaza Strip after she arrived in Greece on Monday. The 45-vessel flotilla, with activists and politicians on board, left Spain last month to break Israel’s blockade of Gaza, where the United Nations has warned of famine. The flotilla was intercepted by the Israeli navy, with commandos boarding the boats and arresting participants. Former Pakistani senator Mushtaq Ahmad Khan was also on board and is currently in Israeli custody. In her first public comments since her release by Israeli authorities, Greta emphasised that the real story is not the interception of the flotilla, but the genocide being carried out in the Gaza Strip. “The Global Sumud Flotilla was the biggest-ever attempt to break Israel’s illegal and inhumane siege by sea,” the Swedish activist said. “It is a story of global, international solidarity, of people s... -
Dawn - 17:47 Oct 06, 2025
The Gilgit-Baltistan Police on Monday said they had arrested eight facilitators of an attack the previous day on a religious leader from the proscribed Ahl-e-Sunnat Wal Jamaat (ASWJ) near the Central Police Office (CPO). Maulana Qazi Nisar Ahmed, who is the emir of the group’s GB and Kohistan chapter, was travelling along with police guards and a driver when the convoy came under fire. Police officials said the guards retaliated immediately, injuring some of the attackers, who managed to escape with the help of accomplices. The same day, a judge of the Gilgit-Baltistan Chief Court had also survived a brazen gun attack. Following the incidents, protests erupted across the region. Demonstrators blocked main roads, including the Karakoram Highway, Gilgit–Shandur Road, and Baltistan Road, demanding the immediate arrest of the culprits. Shops and markets in Gilgit remained closed in protest. Addressing a press conference to provide further updates, Inspector General of Police (IG) Gilgit-Baltistan Afzal Mahmood Bu... -
Dawn - 17:18 Oct 06, 2025
Minister for Kashmir Affairs and Gilgit-Baltistan Amir Muqam on Monday pressed the international community to help Pakistan in repatriating Afghan refugees to their country. Muqam was speaking at the 76th Session of the Executive Committee of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Geneva, which is running from October 6-10, according to a press release from the ministry. “It is now our shared responsibility to facilitate safe and dignified return of displaced Afghans to their country. However, durable returns require investments, in countries of refugee origin for peace, stability, schools, clinics, and livelihoods to make return viable,” he was quoted as having said. Pakistan announced the phased repatriation of millions of Afghans in 2023 over security concerns and reasoning that the decades-long conflict had ended in Afghanistan. Currently, the repatriation of nearly 1.3 million registered Afghans is underway. Muqam said repeated calls for such support, alongside predict... -
Dawn - 17:18 Oct 06, 2025
President Asif Ali Zardari on Monday called Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi to Karachi for an urgent meeting as tensions continued to rise between the Sindh and Punjab governments, with the PPP staging a walkout from the National Assembly and Senate. The PPP and PML-N are coalition partners in the Centre. A post on X from the presidency said today that Zardari and Naqvi held a telephonic conversation related to the ongoing row between the Sindh and Punjab governments. “President Asif Ali Zardari spoke to Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi over the phone to discuss the recent tensions between the Sindh and Punjab governments. The president has called the interior minister to Karachi for an urgent meeting in this regard,” the post said. The PPP and the PML-N’s Punjab leadership have been engaged in a war of words for the past many days over issues ranging from flood compensation to water rights in the context of the Cholistan canals project. The PPP, which is in power in Sindh, has been particularly incensed by Punj... -
Dawn - 16:39 Oct 06, 2025
Violence has surged over the past three months due to a spike in militant attacks and intensified counter-terrorism operations, the Islamabad-based think tank Centre for Research and Security Studies (CRSS) said on Monday. In a quarterly report, CRSS reported a 46 per cent rise in fatalities, including civilians, security personnel and terrorists, compared to the previous quarter. The thick tank recorded 901 fatalities and 599 injuries resulting from 329 incidents of violence, including terrorist attacks and counter-terrorism operations. The report noted that this year is on track to be deadlier than 2024 — already the most violent year in a decade. The surge reflects an “intensification of militant violence and the expanded scale of counter-terrorism operations”, CRSS said. “With an entire quarter still remaining, … 2025 is on course to surpass last year’s toll,” the report read. “If the current trend continues, 2025 could mark one of the deadliest years in a decade.” There were 2,414 deaths in the first thr... -
Dawn - 16:28 Oct 06, 2025
The fossil of a small reptile that inhabited Scotland during the age of dinosaurs, 167 million years ago, has scientists puzzled. It mixed snake-like traits and lizard-like traits. So was it an early ancestor of snakes or perhaps just an evolutionary oddball? Whatever the answer, it was a formidable little beast. Researchers said this creature, named Breugnathair elgolensis, possessed teeth that were sharply curved and hook-like, as in snakes. And the way its teeth were implanted into its jaws and the inward-leaning angle of them relative to the jaws were also snake-like. But its body and head proportions were more lizard-like, including its well-developed limbs. Breugnathair, which would have been around 12 inches (30 cm) long including its tail, lived in an environment similar to a mangrove swamp with tropical conditions during the Jurassic Period — much warmer than today’s Scotland. Breugnathair may have preyed on insects, small mammals, amphibians and other lizards. This represents one of the oldest relat... -
Dawn - 16:07 Oct 06, 2025
The National Emergency Operations Centre (NEOC) on Monday announced the launch of a nationwide anti-polio campaign from October 13 to 19, aiming to immunise 45 million children under the age of five against the crippling disease. On September 29, two new poliovirus cases were confirmed in Sindh’s Badin and Thatta districts, taking the nationwide tally to 29 for this year and the total number of cases in the province to nine, according to the National Institutes of Health (NIH). “During the week-long campaign, more than 45 million children under the age of five will be administered oral polio vaccine (OPV) to protect them from the crippling disease,” the Associated Press of Pakistan (APP) reported, citing the NEOC. It said an additional dose of Vitamin A will also be given to children during the campaign to help strengthen their immune systems. “More than 400,000 trained polio workers will take part in the campaign across the country to ensure every eligible child receives the vaccine,” it added. As per provin... -
Dawn - 15:11 Oct 06, 2025
Pakistan has constituted an 18-member committee to carry out bilateral economic engagements and negotiations with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), a notification issued on Sunday by the Prime Minister’s Office said. According to the notification, made available to Dawn.com today, the committee will be co-chaired by Climate Change Minister Musadik Malik and the national coordinator for Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC), Lieutenant General Sarfraz Ahmad. The notification, dated October 5, said that the co-chairs “shall constitute core/negotiation teams for negotiations with the Saudi counterparts”. These teams, per the notification, shall be responsible for implementing and executing the assigned tasks on a fast-track basis. “The prime minister has directed that the SIFC shall submit proposals for the travel of members of the committee from Pakistan to KSA and back, and the PMO will ensure that these are processed/approved within one hour of the same working day,” the notification further said. P... -
Dawn - 14:54 Oct 06, 2025
American scientists Mary Brunkow and Fred Ramsdell, and Shimon Sakaguchi from Japan won the 2025 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine on Monday for work shedding light on how the immune system spares healthy cells, creating openings for possible new autoimmune disease and cancer treatments. This year’s prize relates to peripheral immune tolerance, or “how we keep our immune system under control so we can fight all imaginable microbes and still avoid autoimmune disease”, said Marie Wahren-Herlenius, a rheumatology professor at the Karolinska Institute. Sakaguchi told reporters outside his university laboratory that “I feel it is a tremendous honour”, Kyodo news agency reported. Regulatory T cells: the immune system’s ‘security guards’ The winners for medicine are selected by the Nobel Assembly of Sweden’s Karolinska Institute medical university and receive a prize sum of 11 million Swedish crowns ($1.2m), as well as a gold medal presented by Sweden’s king. Brunkow is senior programme manager at the Institute ... -
Dawn - 14:50 Oct 06, 2025
The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Monday disposed of the contempt case against former Gilgit-Baltistan chief judge Rana Shamim. The case pertained to an alleged affidavit by Shamim, which stated that he witnessed former chief justice of Pakistan (CJP) Saqib Nisar relaying instructions to a high court judge not to release PML-N President Nawaz Sharif and his daughter, Maryam Nawaz, in the corruption references against them. IHC Chief Justice Sardar Sarfaraz Dogar heard the contempt case against Shamim and others. Lawyer Aamir Abdullah stated that the former GB judge had submitted an apology letter, after which the case was not scheduled. Speaking in court, the deputy attorney general said that the case had been fixed after a long time and only Shamim was indicted. During the last hearing in 2022, the GB judge disowned his controversial affidavit. In 2021, Shamim partially backtracked from the contents of his affidavit, stating that not a single sitting judge of the IHC was involved in the controversy and submi... -
Dawn - 14:41 Oct 06, 2025
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Monday termed his Malaysian counterpart’s announcement of the import of Halal meat worth $200 million from Pakistan a “welcome step”, which he said would further augment engagement in this sector between the countries. The PM’s remarks came in a post on X after he addressed a joint press conference alongside Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim in Putrajaya following bilateral talks between the two leaders. PM Shehbaz had also mentioned during the press conference that the Malaysian premier had indicated interest in meat exports from Pakistan. PM Shehbaz, who reached Malaysia yesterday on a state visit, further shared in his post that he had a “most productive exchange of views with my dear brother Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim in Putrajaya today”. “We held wide-ranging discussions on ways to further strengthen our historic partnership — focusing on trade and investment, climate, defence, education, and tourism.” The prime minister added that the two leaders also had an in-de... -
Dawn - 14:27 Oct 06, 2025
Top batter Sidra Amin was reprimanded for breaching Level 1 of the ICC Code of Conduct during their ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2025 match against India in Colombo. India won Sunday’s match against Pakistan by 88 runs, with Sidra Amin scoring 81 runs during the encounter. She also become the first Pakistani batter to hit a six against India in a women’s ODI match. The right-handed batter was found guilty of breaching Article 2.2 of the ICC Code of Conduct for Players and Player Support Personnel, which relates to “abuse of cricket equipment or clothing, ground equipment or fixtures and fittings during an international match.” The incident occurred during the 40th over of Pakistan’s chase, when Sidra forcefully hit her bat onto the pitch after being dismissed. In addition to the reprimand, one demerit point has been added to Sidra’s disciplinary record. This is her first offence in a 24-month period, ICC reports. “Level 1 breaches carry a minimum penalty of an official reprimand, a maximum penalty of 50 per ... -
Dawn - 13:47 Oct 06, 2025
Pakistani-origin British lawmaker Shabana Mahmood has come under fire after announcing on Sunday that she would grant the police new powers to impose restrictions and conditions on repeat protests, amid a rise in pro-Palestinian demonstrations across the UK. UK police would be given greater powers to restrict protests as Mahmood said repeated large-scale pro-Palestinian demonstrations had caused “considerable fear” for the Jewish community. The government initiative follows last week’s deadly knife and car-ramming attack on a synagogue in the northwestern city of Manchester. “The strengthening of the legislation that I am going to bring about is based on the ability of the police to place conditions and restrictions on protests,” she said in a video posted on her X account. “What I will be making explicit is that cumulative disruption … the frequency of particular protests in particular places is in and of itself a reason for police to restrict or place conditions.” In an interview with the BBC, she further m...
12478 items