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  • AJK violence
    Dawn - 03:34 Jul 16, 2026
    SINCE early June, Azad Kashmir has been on tenterhooks, with routine life severely disturbed, as the regional administration seeks to quell the protests of the now proscribed Joint Awami Action Committee, a coalition of political and civil society groups. Violent confrontations have claimed some 30 lives of both security personnel and protesters since last month. Rawalakot, the focal point of the protest movement, has been under curfew for about six weeks. The JAAC’s demands have focused on governance issues and economic concerns, with most being accepted by the authorities. But its call for the abolition of seats in the AJK legislature for refugees from India-held Kashmir has created a deadlock. Violent clashes on Tuesday resulted in at least nine deaths. Yesterday, the JAAC launched its ‘long march’ on Muzaffarabad. The primary concern of all stakeholders should be the restoration of calm in AJK. Too many valuable lives — of both LEAs and civilians — have been lost, and while violent elements must be prosec...
  • Notices issued on plea against higher motorway toll
    Dawn - 03:21 Jul 16, 2026
    ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court on Wednesday issued notices to the Ministry of Communications and other respondents on a petition challenging the notification imposing a 50 per cent higher motorway toll on vehicles with insufficient M-Tag balance. Chief Justice Sardar Muhammad Sarfaraz Dogar issued the notices while hearing a petition filed by the Judicial Activism Panel against the June 3, 2025, notification. Counsel for the petitioner, Mahfouz Bukhari, argued that the decision to impose a higher toll on low-balance vehicles was arbitrary, excessive and without lawful justification. The chief justice observed that the impugned decision appeared to be a policy measure of the government and questioned how the court could interfere in such matters. In response, the petitioner’s counsel said that even policy decisions were subject to judicial review if they were unreasonable, discriminatory or violated the law. He contended that the enhanced toll imposed on motorists with low M-Tag balances was disproportion...
  • Balochistan High Court admits Dr Mahrang’s plea against life sentence
    Dawn - 03:17 Jul 16, 2026
    QUETTA: A division bench of the Balochistan High Court (BHC) on Wednesday admitted for regular hearing a petition filed by Dr Mahrang Baloch, the chief organiser of the Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC), challenging the life imprisonment sentence awarded to her by an anti-terrorism court (ATC), and issued notices to the respondents. A BHC bench comprising Justices Gul Hassan Tareen and Najmuddin Mengal heard the matter and ordered notices to be issued to the relevant authorities, seeking their response. During the proceedings, Addi­tional Advocate General Akbar Shah appeared on behalf of the provincial government, while advocates Jadain Dashti and Nadia Baloch represented the petitioner. Dr Mahrang has challenged the judgement of the Quetta anti-terrorism court, which sentenced her to life imprisonment in a case related to the killing of a security personnel member. SC issues notices to respondents in BYC leader’s bail plea By admitting the appeal, the high court has agreed to hear the case on its merits. The l...
    Tags: Mahrang Balochistan High Court
  • Starmer says ‘political journey ends’ as UK gets ready for Burnham
    Dawn - 03:07 Jul 16, 2026
    LONDON: Declaring “this is the end of my political journey”, outgoing UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer bowed out at his final Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday, pledging his wholehearted support to his successor as he prepares to hand over to premier-in-waiting Andy Burnham. Mr Starmer announced his resignation last month, bowing to months of pressure to step down after a series of scandals, missteps and policy U-turns. They blighted his two-year tenure after he led his centre-left Labour Party to victory in the 2024 elections following 14 years in opposition. Burnham is expected to be crowned Labour’s leader on Friday after securing overwhelming support from the party’s 403 MPs and the backing of major trade unions. Labour leader exits after scandals, U-turns and mounting pressure The party’s comfortable majority in the 650-seat House of Commons means he will automatically become Britain’s seventh prime minister in a decade. Facing his last weekly grilling from MPs in parliament, Mr Starmer said he wante...
    Tags: Burnham Starmer
  • PMA issues red alert over 651,000 zero-dose children
    Dawn - 02:59 Jul 16, 2026
    • Declares immunisation gap a national public health emergency • Blames governance failures, corruption, weak immunisation system • Calls for an immediate audit of provincial health funds KARACHI: The Pakistan Medical Association has issued an urgent national red alert after clinical and epidemiological data revealed that Pakistan holds a catastrophically high volume of “zero-dose” children in the World Health Organisation’s Eastern Mediterranean Region. Zero-dose children are those who have not received the first dose of the diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis-containing vaccine (DTP1). With 651,000 infants completely bypassed by routine immunisation systems, the representative body of the medical fraternity warns that the country is sitting on an epidemiological powder keg, facing an imminent, large-scale resurgence of preventable childhood mortality. The association formally declared the milestone a National Public Health Emergency, warning that the immunity gap has breached the threshold required to maintain her...
  • PTI to launch nationwide movement from Aug 5
    Dawn - 02:47 Jul 16, 2026
    ISLAMABAD: The PTI parliamentary party decided to launch a nationwide movement from August 5 for the release of party chief Imran Khan and acceptance of other demands. The day will mark the completion of the former prime minister’s third year in prison. The decision was made at a meeting — chaired by party’s interim chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan — held at Khyber Pakhtunkhwa House in the federal capital. During the meeting, the PTI lawmakers discussed matters related to the party’s parliamentary affairs. PTI General Secretary Salman Akram Raja, while talking to Dawn, said that the meeting decided to pick August 5 to launch its movement, which will include public meetings, demonstrations, and a long march. “It was also decided that Mehmood Khan Achakzai and Allama Raja Nasir Abbas’s opinions will be sought for finalising the protest plans and other activities,” he added. At a press conference, Barrister Gohar Ali Khan said that the meeting discussed the health of the ex-PM and his spouse Bushra Bibi. He sai...
  • JAAC defers march for a week after back-channel talks
    Dawn - 02:34 Jul 16, 2026
    • No untoward incident reported in Poonch, Sudhnoti • Thousands gather at Rawalakot’s Eidgah Ground ahead of march • JAAC says it wrote to army chief after concerns failed to reach him through official channels • AJK home secretary says coordinated campaigns carried out on social media to incite people MUZAFFARABAD: The proscribed Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC) on Wednesday deferred for one week its planned long march on Muzaffarabad after back-channel contacts involving influential intermediaries raised hopes of a negotiated settlement to the ongoing standoff. Contrary to widespread fears of fresh violence, no untoward incident was reported from the troubled districts of Poonch and Sudhnoti during the day, while life remained normal across the rest of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK). Official and political sources in Rawalakot told Dawn that several thousand people, including women and children, had gathered at Eidgah Ground in anticipation of the march, while a smaller crowd assembled at the Mutyalmera bu...
    Tags: JAAC
  • Generative AI’s power sparks fears of dumbing humans down
    Dawn - 02:28 Jul 16, 2026
    • Studies suggest memory, decision-making, critical thinking are most at risk • Experts say artificial intelligence removes ‘learning opportunities’ • Studies suggest AI boosts short-term gains, but weakens long-term learning • Long-term impact on human brain remains unclear PARIS: Generative AI chatbots capable of writing emails and computer code, translating, organising a trip or coming up with gift ideas are now readily available, prompting some to ask whether human brainpower could suffer for lack of use. A simple natural-language prompt is usually enough to draw a useable response from a service like ChatGPT or Claude, with the effects making themselves felt in schools and universities, workplaces from offices to courtrooms and our personal lives. Recent scientific studies suggest there could be harmful consequences to farming out cognitive tasks to AI. They highlight memory, decision-making and critical thinking as particularly at risk. One American-British study of 1,222 people, still under peer review...
    Tags: Generative
  • Frontline communities face longer wait for funds
    Dawn - 02:18 Jul 16, 2026
    • FRLD board defers funding decisions till December, receives 176 requests from 119 states • Pakistan submits three proposals on agriculture, health, flash flood losses • Civil society concerned over ‘lack of transparency’, red tape ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and other climate-vulnerable countries will have to wait longer for disbursements from the Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage (FRLD) after its board decided to allow more time to assess an overwhelming number of funding proposals amid limited financial resources. The ninth meeting of the FRLD Board, held in Manila from July 8 to 10, ended without making any significant headway — a development that drew criticism from civil society groups, which said the Fund was failing vulnerable communities increasingly expo­sed to climate-related disasters. The Fund was established at COP27 in Egypt in 2022. A decision to operationalise it was taken at COP28 in Dubai, followed by its full operationalisation at COP29 in Azerb­aijan. With nearly $500m in its account, the F...
  • NFC share declined after aiding Centre, says Sindh chief minister
    Dawn - 01:57 Jul 16, 2026
    KARACHI: Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah on Wednesday said the amount allocated to provinces under the National Finance Commission (NFC) Award had declined this year because the provinces contributed a portion of their share to support the federal government. “Despite reduced financial resources, every effort had been made to ensure that provincial development projects and grants remained unaffected,” he said while addressing a ceremony organised by the Korangi Association of Trade and Industry (KATI) to present a gold medal to Indus Hospital CEO Dr Abdul Bari. The CM said that the concerns raised by KATI regarding the Yellow Line Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project would be resolved through consultations with all stakeholders. He said valuable lessons had been learned from the Red Line project and the government would strive to complete the Yellow Line project on time without creating unnecessary inconvenience to the public. The CM said that the grant had been increased every year in the past for Indus Hospi...
  • Crypto czar asks Jamia Darul Uloom to distinguish between speculative crypto, asset-backed tokens
    Dawn - 18:50 Jul 15, 2026
    Pakistan Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (PVARA) Chairman Bilal bin Saqib has asked Jamia Darul Uloom to draw a distinction between speculative cryptocurrencies and asset-backed digital tokens, its chief said on Wednesday. The crypto czar told Reuters he had asked for the clarification after the seminary ruled last month that crypto-based purchases were not permissible under Islamic law. The religious decree, or fatwa, has cast doubt on the government’s rapid embrace of cryptocurrency in Pakistan, which has long ranked among the world’s largest crypto markets by retail activity. Mufti Taqi Usmani and six others had declared purchasing goods with cryptocurrency “impermissible” in a fatwa (religious decree) issued on June 10. It described cryptocurrency as “merely the recording of fictitious numbers in an account”. Saqib said the regulator is in discussions with the seminary to assess digital assets by category, not as a single class. “The central question the fatwa raises is whether a digital asset constit...
    Tags: Jamia Darul Uloom
  • Holders of invalid, expired NICOPs barred from boarding flights to Pakistan: official
    Dawn - 18:37 Jul 15, 2026
    ISLAMABAD: Pakistanis residing abroad who hold an invalid, expired or cancelled National Identity Card for Overseas Pakistanis (NICOP) will no longer be allowed to board flights to Pakistan, official sources said on Wednesday. According to official sources, the government has issued immediate directives to all zonal directors of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) to convey the decision to every airline operating inbound flights to Pakistan. A government official told Dawn that the practice of allowing travel on invalid NICOPs had been going on for a long time and that it had been decided to stop it with immediate effect. “Airlines should be instructed to verify the validity of NICOPs prior to boarding and refuse carriage to any passenger presenting an invalid, expired or cancelled NICOP,” the official said. He added that passengers travelling on a foreign passport with an expired or otherwise invalid NICOP would not be allowed to board flights to Pakistan unless they held a valid Pakistani visa. The offic...
    Tags: Pakistan Nicops
  • DPM Dar to attend signing ceremony for China-led AI governance body in Shanghai: FO
    Dawn - 18:16 Jul 15, 2026
    Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar will travel to Shanghai from July 16-17 to attend the signing ceremony of the World Artificial Intelligence Cooperation Organisation (WAICO), the Foreign Office (FO) said in a statement on Wednesday. According to the FO, Dar will travel with a delegation at the invitation of Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi. The deputy prime minister will attend the signing ceremony and sign the agreement on behalf of Pakistan as a founding member. “He will also participate in the Opening Ceremony of the 2026 World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC) and the High-Level Meeting on Global AI Governance on 17 July 2026,” the FO added. On the sidelines of the conference, Dar will hold a bilateral meeting with his Chinese counterpart, as well as meetings with other officials to discuss matters of mutual interest. “During his engagements, the Deputy Prime Minister/Foreign Minister will share Pakistan’s perspective on strengthening international cooperation in artificial int...
    Tags: Shanghai
  • At least 5 injured, including police official, in attack on Bannu police station
    Dawn - 18:08 Jul 15, 2026
    BANNU: At least five people, including a police official, were injured on Wednesday after terrorists attacked a police station in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Bannu district, triggering heavy retaliatory fire from security personnel. Bannu District Police Officer Captain (retd) Muhammad Furqan Bilal confirmed the incident, while the administration of the local hospital confirmed the casualties. According to reports, the attackers attempted to ram a vehicle loaded with explosives into Miryan Police Station, triggering a powerful blast. Police sources said that after the blast, a heavy exchange of fire continued for a considerable time between the terrorists and police personnel, while security was further tightened in the area. Additional police contingents reached the site, while members of the Police Peace Committee also arrived at the scene, the sources added. Reports said the sound of the explosion was heard from a considerable distance. The blast also damaged the police station building and nearby residential are...
    Tags: Bannu
  • FCC terms SC, IHC decisions on demolition of restaurants in Margalla Hills ‘grave miscarriage of justice’
    Dawn - 18:05 Jul 15, 2026
    ISLAMABAD: The Federal Constitutional Court (FCC) on Wednesday ruled that earlier Supreme Court (SC) and Islamabad High Court (IHC) decisions that led to the demolition of Monal Restaurant and other commercial establishments within Margalla Hills National Park (MHNP) constituted an exceptional transgression of judicial power, resulting in a “grave miscarriage of justice”. The SC had ordered the closure of Monal and the adjacent La Montana restaurant on August 21, 2024, and they were closed the next month to protect the park’s biodiversity. In a short order, a three-member FCC bench headed by Justice Syed Hasan Azhar Rizvi accepted the review petitions filed by the Capital Development Authority (CDA) and the Metropolitan Corporation Islamabad (MCI), challenging the SC’s Aug 21, 2024 directive. In that order, it was held that any lease, license, allotment, or permission granted for restaurant operations within the protected MHNP was contrary to the Islamabad Wildlife (Protection, Preservation and Management) Or...
  • Drones, AI and white paint: Europe races to protect infrastructure from heat
    Dawn - 17:53 Jul 15, 2026
    As Europe’s railways buckle under record heat, roads melt and power grids strain, countries are turning to an array of fixes for ageing infrastructure, from drones inspecting tracks and AI-powered sensors to a surprisingly simple tool: white paint. At Norway’s Oslo airport on Wednesday, with temperatures set to hit 30 degrees Celsius, 10℃ above normal for the time of year, workers doused the tarmac with water to keep it cool. It’s a marked shift in a country more used to coping with the cold that reflects how Europe is having to adapt to rising temperatures that are stoking wildfires, causing thousands of excess deaths and putting infrastructure under growing pressure. “In Norway, the asphalt must withstand both extreme cold and fairly warm temperatures,” said Jrn Arvid Remark, operating engineer at Norwegian state-owned airport operator Avinor, adding the airport was testing a new heat-resistant asphalt. The fire brigade sprays around 9,000 litres of water on key parts of the runway, which can get damaged at...
    Tags: Europe
  • At least 4 injured, including police official, in attack on Bannu police station
    Dawn - 17:37 Jul 15, 2026
    BANNU: At least four people, including a police official, were injured on Wednesday after terrorists attacked a police station in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Bannu district, triggering a heavy exchange of fire with security personnel. Bannu District Police Officer Captain (retd) Muhammad Furqan Bilal confirmed the incident, while the administration of the local hospital confirmed the casualties. According to reports, the attackers attempted to ram a vehicle loaded with explosives into Miryan Police Station, triggering a powerful blast. Police sources said that after the blast, a heavy exchange of fire continued for a considerable time between the terrorists and police personnel, while security was further tightened in the area. Additional police contingents reached the site, while members of the Police Peace Committee also arrived at the scene, the sources added. Reports said the sound of the explosion was heard from a considerable distance. The blast also damaged the police station building and nearby residential a...
    Tags: Bannu
  • Italian Supreme Court upholds murder convictions of family members of Pakistani girl killed for refusing arranged marriage
    Dawn - 17:20 Jul 15, 2026
    The Italian Supreme Court on Wednesday delivered its final verdict in the case of a young woman killed five years ago for refusing an arranged marriage, making final the murder convictions of five of her relatives, Italy’s leading news agency ANSA reported. Saman Abbas, an 18-year-old girl of Pakistani origin living in Italy, was murdered by her family in Italy’s Novellara in the spring of 2021 for refusing an arranged marriage in Pakistan. The Supreme Court of Cassation — Italy’s highest court of appeal — upheld the murder convictions and life sentences of Abbas’ parents, Shabbar Abbas and Nazia Shaheen, as well as her cousins Ijaz Ikram and Nomanul Haq, and also upheld the 22-year prison sentence of her uncle, Danish Hasnain, according to ANSA. Abbas had in 2020 rebelled against her family’s plan to marry her to a cousin in Pakistan. While still a minor, she sought help from social services and was moved to a shelter home in November. She also reported her parents to the police, but returned to them on Apri...
    Tags: Pakistani
  • ICC revamp of ODI, T20I World Cup formats may result in extra Pakistan-India clash
    Dawn - 16:41 Jul 15, 2026
    The International Cricket Council (ICC) announced on Wednesday a revamped format for the men’s 2027 one-day international World Cup that could lead to an additional fixture between arch-rivals Pakistan and India. While next year’s edition in southern Africa remains a 14-team competition, the three lowest-ranked qualifiers will now take part in a preliminary round with just one of them progressing to a 12-strong main group stage. That will now feature just two pools of six, with a new ‘super seven’ stage replacing the previous ‘super six’ round-robin. Significantly, there will be no quarter-finals with the tournament denied the further jeopardy and interest that comes with an extra round of clear-cut knockout matches. An additional team in the round-robin phase, however, increases the prospects of an extra match between India and Pakistan. The passion for cricket in the sub-continent, which in turn generates huge broadcast rights and commercial revenues for the ICC, makes a match between India and Pakistan the...
  • India-UK trade pact takes effect, cutting tariffs and boosting services trade
    Dawn - 16:17 Jul 15, 2026
    India and Britain’s trade pact took effect on Wednesday, cutting tariffs on thousands of goods and expanding market access for services, firms and professionals in both countries. The India-UK Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement gives Indian exporters duty-free access to most British tariff lines, benefiting sectors such as textiles, leather, footwear, marine products, gems and jewellery and processed foods. Britain, meanwhile, gains greater access to one of the world’s fastest-growing major economies through phased tariff cuts and quotas for sectors such as automobiles and silver, as well as openings in procurement, financial services, education, insurance and professional services. Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in a post on X that the trade pact and accompanying social security agreement would deepen economic ties and give “fresh momentum” to India’s farmers, entrepreneurs and small businesses. India exported $13.44 billion of goods to Britain and imported $11.68 billion in the 2025-26 fiscal yea...

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