Dawn

Found 1964 news

  • Death toll from heavy downpour across country rises to 10
    Dawn - 12:06 May 28, 2025
    The death toll from heavy rains across the country has risen to 10, with 43 people injured, as strong winds and thunderstorms triggered flash floods and destroyed homes in central and northern parts of Pakistan, officials said on Wednesday. This is the second time in a week that a storm of such intensity wreaked havoc in many parts of the country, damaging crops, properties, and other infrastructure. At least 19 people were killed and over 90 others injured as powerful windstorms and heavy rains had battered many areas in Islamabad, Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Saturday. Four women and a man died in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) and three in KP, the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) said, while other officials said two died in Punjab. “One person is still missing,” Haroon Rasheed, a senior government official in AJK, told AFP, adding that 12 houses and a mosque were destroyed in one village. According to the NDMA, stormy weather is expected to continue in northern and central parts of the count...
  • Iran says may allow US inspectors from nuclear watchdog if deal reached
    Dawn - 11:49 May 28, 2025
    Iran on Wednesday said it may consider allowing US inspectors with the United Nations nuclear watchdog to inspect its facilities if a deal is reached with the United States. Iran has long been accused by Western powers of seeking to develop nuclear weapons — a claim Tehran has consistently denied, insisting its nuclear programme is solely for peaceful, civilian purposes. Tehran and Washington have in recent weeks held five rounds of talks aimed at the issue — their highest-level contact since the US withdrew from the 2015 nuclear deal under Donald Trump in 2018. “Countries that were hostile to us and behaved unprincipledly over the years — we have always tried not to accept inspectors from those countries,” Iran’s nuclear chief Mohammad Eslami told reporters, referring to staff from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Iran “will reconsider accepting American inspectors through the agency” if an agreement is reached and Tehran’s demands are taken into account, he added. Since returning to office in ...
    Tags: Iran
  • On Youm-i-Takbeer, leadership notes country’s nuclear arms ensured its sovereignty amid India hostilities
    Dawn - 11:28 May 28, 2025
    President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Wednesday hailed Pakistan’s nuclear capability, saying it continued to serve as a credible minimum deterrent, as evidenced in the recent hostilities with India. With a public holiday, the nation is celebrating Youm-i-Takbeer to mark the historic day of May 28, 1998 when Pakistan joined the ranks of nuclear powers after atomic tests in the hills of Chagai, Balochistan. Pakistan became the seventh nuclear nation in the world and the first Muslim state to have a nuclear arsenal. PM Shehbaz emphasised that Youm-i-Takbeer was more than a celebration and was a solemn reminder of Pakistan’s resolve to safeguard its sovereignty, according to his statement carried by the Associated Press of Pakistan. He linked this year’s commemoration with what he described as Pakistan’s recent success in defending itself from “an unjustified war imposed by India”. Appreciating the nation’s spirit during the confrontation, the premier said, “The joys of Youm-i-Takbeer ha...
  • Seven rescued, two go missing as boat sinks in Indus River near Kohat
    Dawn - 11:06 May 28, 2025
    Seven people were rescued while two went missing after a boat sank in the Indus River near Kohat on Wednesday, according to Rescue 1122 officials. A spokesperson for KP Rescue 1122 Bilal Ahmad Faizi said, “A boat sank at Khushalgarh on the Indus River. Seven passengers were rescued with the help of local divers, while a search operation is underway to search for two missing people.” Teams from Kohat, Nowshera, and Karak are participating in the search operation, led by Kohat District Emergency Officer Arif Khattak, Rescue 1122 added. Earlier in May, as many as four people, including two siblings, drowned in the Indus River in two different incidents in Attock, police and rescue sources had said. Last year in April, eight people drowned when a boat capsized in the Indus River near Kund Park in Nowshera district.
  • PEN International calls on govt to halt mass deportations of Afghans from Pakistan
    Dawn - 10:09 May 28, 2025
    PEN International, an association of writers, called on the government to immediately halt the mass deportation of Afghans from Pakistan, including writers, journalists and others at risk of persecution from the Taliban, according to a statement. As of May 18, a total of 55,865 Afghan nationals including 35,975 ACC holders and 19,890 illegal migrants have left for Afghanistan since April 1, the day the second phase began after the deadline for repatriation of registered Afghan nationals ended on March 31. The PEN International-led joint statement, signed by freedom of expression and human rights organisations, concerns the recent acceleration in the mass deportation of Afghans from Pakistan, including at-risk writers, journalists, artists, human rights defenders and others at risk of persecution from the Taliban for their peaceful expression. More than a dozen organisations called on the government to “immediately halt the arbitrary mass deportation of Afghan nationals in line with the country’s human rights ...
  • Budget 2025-26 to further burden people, says Senate finance standing body chairman
    Dawn - 10:04 May 28, 2025
    The chairman of the Senate standing committee on finance and revenue, former finance minister Senator Saleem Mandviwalla, said on Tuesday that the upcoming budget will further burden the people due to an increase in the petroleum levy. He was also critical of the Federal Board of Revenue’s (FBR) performance, especially in terms of the Tajir Dost Scheme (TDS). Under the TDS, taxes were to be collected from shopkeepers at a fixed rate of Rs100 to Rs60,000 per month based on the fair market value of the stores and sales. The scheme was implemented to bring traders and wholesalers into the formal tax structure to fulfill the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) requirement. The former finance minister said the FBR had failed to bring more people under tax net, while responding to a query on DawnNewsTV show ‘Doosra Rukh’ on the board’s inability to raise Rs5.6 million under the TDS. Mandviwalla criticised the “1960’s system” at the FBR and emphasised on the need to introduce officers who could use technology to imp...
    Tags: Senate
  • Pakistan slams Modi’s ‘inflammatory monologue’, urges India to honour international order
    Dawn - 08:56 May 28, 2025
    The Foreign Office on Wednesday condemned the “inflammatory monologue” delivered by Indian PM Narendra Modi in Gujarat, urging India to “return to the core principles of international order”. The developments follow a recent military confrontation between India and Pakistan over New Delhi’s allegations against Islamabad, without evidence, about a deadly attack in occupied Kashmir’s Pahalgam. On the night of May 6-7, New Delhi launched a series of air strikes in Pakistan, resulting in civilian casualties. Islamabad responded by downing five Indian jets. After intercepting drones sent by India and tit-for-tat strikes on each other’s airbases, it took American intervention on May 10 for both sides to finally drop their guns as a ceasefire was reached. In a video posted by Indian news outlet ANI, Modi, addressing India’s youth, calls into question the contents of the Indus Waters Treaty. He said, “If you study the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty, you’ll be shocked.” He continued, “It was decided that the dams built on t...
  • Competition Commission fines housing society Rs150m for misleading advertising
    Dawn - 08:49 May 28, 2025
    In a significant move to curb deceptive marketing practices, the Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) imposed a hefty fine on a housing society for false and misleading advertisements. “The commission imposed a penalty of Rs150 million on Kingdom Valley Pvt Ltd for misleading advertisements concerning its housing project,” read a statement by the CCP. The CCP’s Office of Fair Trade initiated an investigation after taking notice and found that the company “falsely advertised its project as Kingdom Valley Islamabad, despite it being located in Mouza Choora, tehsil and district Rawalpindi”. It added that the company misrepresented affiliations with the Naya Pakistan Housing Program (NPHP) and Naya Pakistan Housing and Development Authority (NAPHDA). Furthermore, it was noted that the company publicised the project as ‘NOC [no-objection certificate] Approved’ without accurate or complete disclosure regarding its approval status. The commission’s bench, comprising Saeed Ahmed Nawaz and Abdul Rashid Sheikh, con...
  • SpaceX’s Starship spins out of control after flying past points of previous failures
    Dawn - 08:38 May 28, 2025
    People wait to watch SpaceX’s next-generation Starship spacecraft launch on its ninth test, at South Padre Island, Texas, US, May 27, 2025.— ReutersSpaceX’s Starship rocket roared into space from Texas on Tuesday but spun out of control about halfway through its flight without achieving some of its most important testing goals, bringing fresh engineering hurdles to CEO Elon Musk’s increasingly turbulent Mars rocket programme. The 400-foot tall (122 metre) Starship rocket system, the core of Musk’s goal of sending humans to Mars, lifted off from SpaceX’s Starbase, Texas, launch site, flying beyond the point of two previous explosive attempts earlier this year that sent debris streaking over Caribbean islands and forced dozens of airliners to divert course. For the latest launch, the ninth full test mission of Starship since the first attempt in April 2023, the upper-stage cruise vessel was lofted to space atop a previously flown booster — a first such demonstration of the booster’s reusability. People wait to watch SpaceX’s next-generation Starship spacecraft launch on its ninth test, at South Padre Island, Texas, US, May 27, 2025.— Reuters But SpaceX los...
  • Government plans curbs, incentives to push cashless economy
    Dawn - 07:07 May 28, 2025
    • Finance minister vows to shift tax burden away from salaried class, other documented sectors • Meets commercial banks, regulators, industry bodies to gather input for budget • Stakeholders agree incentives must make digital payments more appealing than cash • Ceramic tile manufacturers say import dependence cut from 74pc to 4pc • New digital financing model being developed to support small-scale farmers ISLAMABAD: As part of pre-budget consultations with stakeholders, Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb on Tuesday promised to shift the tax burden away from the salaried class and documented sector to others through digitisation, and hinted at major steps towards the compulsory use of digital payments to maximise a cashless economy and increase documented transactions. A Ministry of Finance team, led by the minister, had a series of meetings with commercial banks, development financial institutions, regulators and industrial representatives, including ceramics manufacturers and steel producers, to discuss pol...
  • Islamabad admin orders removal of billboards amid rising windstorm threat
    Dawn - 06:44 May 28, 2025
     Motorists are on their way at Faisal Avenue amid rain after a dust storm in Islamabad on May 27, 2025. — Online photo by Sultan Bashir • Gusty winds disturb life in twin cities • One killed, 10 injured in Attock; three injured in Rawalpindi, residents forced to take steps to protect their vehicles and other property ISLAMABAD: As windstorms have become rampant in the federal capital, the district administration has decided to remove billboards in the city to avoid the risk of accidents. On Tuesday, a billboard fixed at the National Press Club (NPC) fell down due to a windstorm. Moreover, a number of trees were broken and several fiberglass shades on terraces and rooftops dislodged and fell onto the roads. Deputy Commissioner Islamabad Irfan Nawaz Memon directed that all billboards within the limits of the federal capital be removed. It is worth mentioning that in urban areas, there are only two locations — NPC and Srinagar Highway (near G-13) - where billboards have been displayed. However, there are a number of billboards in the rural areas of the city which are also under the administrative control of the deputy commissioner. Meanwhile, af...
  • Audit exposes Rs245.5m arms ‘disappearance’ from Punjab police stores
    Dawn - 06:24 May 28, 2025
    LAHORE: The audit report for 2023-24 of the Punjab Home Department reveals the ‘disappearance’ of arms and ammunition worth millions of rupees from the institutions operating under the department’s oversight. The report presented to the Punjab Assembly details the theft, disappearance and non-recovery of arms from police stores in 12 districts. The total value of the missing equipment is reported to exceed Rs245.5 million, none of which has been recovered to date. As per the report, weapons worth over Rs83.4m went ‘missing’ from the Muzaffargarh DPO office between 2021 and 2023; arms and bullets valued at over Rs47.1m are unaccounted for in the DIG Operations Lahore office; weapons worth more than Rs46.8m missing from the Police Office Lahore have not been recovered. Likewise, rifles and ammunition exceeding Rs7.4m value have disappeared from the CPO Multan’s office; the record of rifles issued to various officers in 2009 is missing from the Central Jail Lahore; weapons and equipment valued at Rs5.614m are mi...
    Tags: Rs245
  • Two sisters raped, tortured in North Karachi home
    Dawn - 05:28 May 28, 2025
    KARACHI: Two sisters were subjected to a sexual assault in their home in North Karachi, police and doctors said on Tuesday. Police Surgeon Summaiya Syed told Dawn that both the girls, aged 15 and 8, were brought to the Dr Ruth Pfau Civil Hospital Karachi (CHK) by their maternal and paternal uncles at 5:30pm. She said that the girls were examined at the health facility and “findings are strongly suggestive of sexual violence”. Evidentiary samples had been collected for serology and DNA profiling and cross matching, she said, adding that both sisters bore marks of “severe physical violence”. The condition of the eight-year-old was serious, she said. Dr Summaiya said the relatives had on May 25 brought the girls to a government hospital in New Karachi with complaint of sexual harassment and torture. Central SSP Zeeshan Shafiq Siddiqi said that their father had died four years ago and their mother had married another man and was living with him with her four children. He said that a few days ago the girls’ mother...
  • US halts new student visa interviews as it weighs social media vetting
    Dawn - 04:45 May 28, 2025
    WASHINGTON: The Trump administration has ordered a halt to new student visa interviews as it considers requiring foreign students to undergo social media vetting as part of their application to study in the United States, Politico reported on Tuesday, citing a diplomatic cable. Last week, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem revoked Harvard’s ability to enroll foreign nationals, throwing the future of thousands of students and the lucrative income stream they provide into doubt. She had threatened last month to block international students at the school unless it turned over records on visa holders’ “illegal and violent activities.” But a judge quickly suspended the move after the university sued to “stop the government’s arbitrary, capricious, unlawful, and unconstitutional action.” There will be an injunction hearing on Thursday, a court filing showed. Harvard President Alan Garber said in a statement that the attempted foreign students ban “imperils the futures of thousands of students and scholars acro...
  • Consumers to bear burden as K-Electric allowed to build recovery losses into tariff
    Dawn - 04:22 May 28, 2025
    ISLAMABAD: In a major policy departure, the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) on Tuesday approved K-Electric’s request to incorporate unrecovered bills into its consumer tariff — starting with a recovery shortfall of 6.75 per cent in 2023-24, gradually declining to 3.5pc by 2029-30. Nepra set K-Electric’s base tariff at Rs40 per unit for the fiscal year 2023-24, which is almost 40pc higher than even the national average tariff of about Rs28 per unit in 2025-26 for the 10 public sector power distribution companies (Discos). The delta between the Discos’ average and K-Electric’s tariff is transferred to the taxpayers through the federal budget in the form of tariff differential subsidy. In a detailed determination, the regulator changed K-Electric’s tariff mechanism based on 100pc recovery of bills and instead allowed recovery losses in the tariff, starting from 6.75pc in FY24 and gradually declining to 3.5pc by F30. Nepra sets utility’s base rate at Rs40 per unit, 40pc higher than national a...
  • 7 dead as rainstorms wreak havoc in parts of country
    Dawn - 03:18 May 28, 2025
    • Three die in Azad Kashmir due to ‘cloud-burst’; two each killed in KP, Punjab • Babusar Top receives heavy snow; authorities say extreme conditions likely to persist through May 31 ISLAMABAD: Seven people were killed and over two dozen others sustained injuries on Tuesday as severe rain and windstorms swept through parts of Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, as well as Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK). This is the second time in a week that a storm of such intensity wreaked havoc in many parts of the country, damaging crops, properties, and other infrastructure. At least 19 people were killed and over 90 others injured as powerful windstorms and heavy rains had battered many areas in Islamabad, Punjab and KP on Saturday. On Tuesday, two people were killed and around 20 injured after a thunderstorm swept through various parts of Punjab. The storm, accompanied by heavy rainfall, strong winds, and hail, caused widespread destruction. According to Rescue 1122, a passenger van overturned due to rain and dust storm on Ghazi...
  • 22 injured in alleged quadcopter attack in South Waziristan: hospital
    Dawn - 19:16 May 27, 2025
    Seven minors were among 22 people injured in an alleged quadcopter strike in the Wana tehsil of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s South Waziristan district, according to a hospital list. An incident report issued by the district headquarters hospital (DHQ) in Wana mentioned a “drone attack” at 8pm, which injured 22 people aged between 13 and 60 years. The condition of a 13-year-old and a man was listed as “serious”, and they were referred to “tertiary care”. Seven, including three aged 15, 18 and 19 years, had “major” injuries. The rest of the 13 had “minor” injuries, of which two were discharged. PTI-affiliated MNA Zubair Khan Wazir echoed the hospital’s tally and told Dawn.com, “The young men were playing volleyball when the quadcopter fired shells on them.” He added that people in the area were “scared and restricted to their homes after the attack”. Wazir, in a post on Facebook, strongly condemned the “drone attack in which innocent citizens were targeted”. He demanded that the federal government and the relevant inst...
  • Pakistan, Azerbaijan vow to grow ties through investment
    Dawn - 19:09 May 27, 2025
     Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir meets with his Iranian counterpart Major General Mohammad Bagheri in Tehran on May 27, 2025. — ISPR Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev renewed their pledge to diversify the strategic partnership through investment in mutually beneficial avenues, Radio Pakistan reported. The development came as the premier met with President Aliyev after landing in Azerbaijan’s Lachin District earlier today as he continued his four-nation tour to appreciate their support for Pakistan during the recent military confrontation with India. Starting his expedition on May 25, the premier has already paid a visit to Turkiye and Iran, with Tajikistan his final stop of the trip ending on May 30. In their meeting today, PM Shehbaz and Aliyev reviewed the “full spectrum of bilateral relations and expressed satisfaction over the upward trajectory of political, economic, defence, and cultural cooperation” between their countries, Radio Pakistan stated. The prime minister thanked Aliyev’s country for its steadfast support during the recent Pakistan-India confrontation and “acknowledged the public expressio...
  • Karachi braces for monsoon as dumping waste in drains banned
    Dawn - 18:41 May 27, 2025
    The Sindh government on Tuesday imposed a complete ban on waste disposal into drains for two months in Karachi to prevent their blockage during the incoming monsoon season. The monsoon season wreaks havoc in the metropolis every year as the drains become clogged causing them to overflow. According to a notification issued by Karachi Commissioner Hassan Naqvi, the ban was imposed under Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC). The notification said that throwing waste into the drains “causes serious environmental hazards, discharge of less water, choking of nullahs and a major cause of blockage of the nullahs during the monsoon season”. It further said that this “warrants immediate action” to impose the ban “to prevent [the] throwing of garbage, solid waste and dumping of debris and other materials into the nullahs”, barring the people from the above actions. The order also authorised the police to register complaints against violators under Section 188 of the Pakistan Penal Code. In March, the Karach...
    Tags: Karachi
  • Mir Ali sit-in over alleged drone strike comes to an end as agreement reached
    Dawn - 18:17 May 27, 2025
    Locals staging a sit-in against a suspected drone strike in North Waziristan’s Mir Ali tehsil last week, which claimed the lives of four children, announced on Tuesday that they have ended their protest after having reached an agreement with the local administration. For over a week, the locals in Mir Ali had been staging a sit-in, demanding justice in the wake of a suspected strike that took place in Hurmuz village on May 19 during the daytime, leaving four children of the same family dead and injuring five others, including a woman. The Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) clarified that security forces were “falsely implicated” in the incident and that it was carried out by the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). Allama Iqbal Dawar, one of the organisers, told Dawn.com that following a series of talks held between the protesters and officials, both sides reached an agreement on late Monday night. The bodies of the deceased have been buried, and the roads previously blocked by the protesters are now ...

1964 items