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Dawn - 07:45 Oct 09, 2025
A cop was martyred in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Dera Ismail Khan as a police checkpoint came under attack from multiple sides by terrorists late on Wednesday, officials confirmed on Thursday. Recently, multiple areas of KP — including Bannu, Peshawar, Karak, Lakki Marwat and Bajaur — have seen a series of terrorist attacks, particularly targeting police personnel. DI Khan Regional Police Officer (RPO) Ashfaq Anwar confirmed to Dawn.com that a police checkpoint in DI Khan’s Khutti area was attacked by terrorists from multiple sides. When asked to confirm if the checkpoint in charge — identified as Ahmed Nawaz — was seriously injured during the attack and later succumbed to his injuries, Anwar said, “Yes.” Funeral prayers for the deceased were offered today at the Ijaz Shaheed Police Lines, the Associated Press of Pakistan (APP) reported. In attendance at the funeral were: RPO Ashfaq Anwar, District Police Officer Sahibzada Sajjad Ahmad, SPs of CTD, investigation, city, and headquarters, officers of security forces,... -
Dawn - 07:20 Oct 09, 2025
A major of the Pakistan Army was martyred and seven terrorists were killed during an intelligence-based operation (IBO) by security forces in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Dera Ismail Khan district, the military’s media wing said on Thursday. The development comes a day after the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said that 11 security personnel, including a lieutenant colonel and a major, were martyred in an exchange of fire between the forces and the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) terrorists in KP’s Orakzai district. According to the ISPR’s statement issued today, security forces carried out the IBO on Wednesday on the reported presence of “khwarij belonging to Indian proxy, Fitna al Khwarij” in the Daraban area of DI Khan. Fitna al Khwarij is a term the state uses for terrorists belonging to the banned TTP. During the operation, the ISPR said, seven “Indian-sponsored khwarij were sent to hell” due to effective engagement by security forces’ troops. However, during the intense exchange of fire, 30-year-... -
Dawn - 07:13 Oct 09, 2025
Foreign observation mission Commonwealth Observer Group (COG) has clarified that the time taken to write and release its reports “varies considerably” with each group and that the report on Pakistan’s 2024 general elections was finalised by the end of that year. The COG report, released to the public on September 30, had been the subject of some controversy after media reports suggested the Commonwealth had buried the report after finding the polls to be riddled with problems. According to the letter of transmittal appended to the report, it was submitted by the COG to the Commonwealth secretary general on Nov 20, 2024. “The length of time taken to write COG reports, and similarly, the finalisation and release of the publication, varies considerably with each COG. Other factors affecting the release dates include legal challenges and disputes. In this case, a comprehensive report of over 160 pages was finalised by the end of 2024,” the Commonwealth said in a statement on Tuesday. It added that its secretariat... -
Dawn - 05:02 Oct 09, 2025
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said on Thursday that it had made “significant progress” toward reaching a staff-level agreement (SLA) in its talks with Pakistani authorities. An IMF mission led by Iva Petrova met with Pakistan’s economic team in Karachi and Islamabad from September 24 to October 8 to review the implementation of the $7 billion Extended Fund Facility (EFF) and $1.1bn Resilience and Sustainability Facility (RSF). The programme’s performance as of the end of June this year — the period under review — has been mixed. Last month, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had urged the lender to take into account the recent flood damage in its review for the country. In a statement released early on Thursday, the Fund quoted Petrova as saying, “The IMF mission and the Pakistani authorities made significant progress toward reaching a staff-level agreement on the second review under the 37-month extended arrangement under the EFF and on the first review of 28-month arrangement under the RSF”. “Programme i... -
Dawn - 03:57 Oct 09, 2025
LAHORE: Violence broke out in the city late on Wednesday night, after police launched a crackdown on the headquarters of Tehreek-i- Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) in a bid to arrest its chief, Saad Rizvi. At least three police constables were reportedly injured in clashes with enraged TLP supporters, who attacked law enforcers with stones and iron rods. Police responded with tear-gas shelling, turning Multan Road into a battleground. Videos shared on social media, which could not be immediately verified by Dawn, showed TLP activists running as police fired tear gas. Other clips showed TLP activists holding up spent bullet casings and tear gas shells. The crackdown on TLP’s central office came after the group announced plans for a massive anti-Israel demonstration outside the US embassy in the federal capital on Friday. In anticipation of the protest, the Islamabad administration has also begun placing shipping containers at Faizabad Interchange — the historic site of several TLP sit-ins. A statement issued by TLP ... -
Dawn - 19:30 Oct 08, 2025
President Asif Ali Zardari discussed the country’s political situation with Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar and Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi on Wednesday night amid the continuing spat between federal coalition partners PPP and PML-N. 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 Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz’s remarks, whose party is also leading the federal government. Concerted efforts have been made by leading figures, such as Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and President Zardari, who have stepped in to defuse tensions, with the latter also calling on Naqvi to play his role for a possible rapprochement. A statement issued from the President’s Secretariat late at night said Zardari discussed national and global issues with Foreign Minister Dar, National Assembly Speaker A... -
Dawn - 19:07 Oct 08, 2025
PTI’s Ali Amin Gandapur said on Wednesday that he resigned from his role as Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chief minister while the party’s general secretary, Salman Akram Raja, confirmed that party founder Imran Khan directed Sohail Afridi to assume the role of provincial chief executive. In a post on X following today’s surprise developments, Gandapur said: “In respectful compliance of the orders of my leader … Imran Khan, it is my honour to tender my resignation.” He also attached a copy of his resignation sent to KP Governor Faisal Karim Kundi. “When I took over as chief minister, the province was faced with a dual challenge of financial ruin and menace of terrorism. Over the last one and a half year, with the support of my cabinet, our party members and workers, my team of bureaucracy and above all, guidance of Imran Khan, we steered the province to financial stability and countered the menace of militancy with resolute courage and unwavering decision-making. We initiated mega projects of nation-building in a provin... -
Dawn - 18:51 Oct 08, 2025
Eleven military personnel, including a lieutenant colonel and a major, were martyred during an intelligence-based operation (IBO) in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Orakzai district, the military’s media affairs wing said on Wednesday. A statement by the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said that last night, security forces conducted an IBO in Orakzai district on the reported presence of terrorists belonging to Indian proxy Fitna Al Khawarij. Fitna Al Khawarij is the state-designated term for the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). “During the conduct of operation, 19 Indian-sponsored khwarij were sent to hell due to effective engagement by own troops,” the ISPR said. It added that during the exchange of fire, 39-year-old Lieutenant Colonel Junaid Tariq, who was leading his troops from the front, and his second-in-command, 33-year-old Major Tayyab Rahat, embraced martyrdom along with nine of their men. The soldiers were identified as 38-year-old Naib Subedar Azam Gul, 35-year-old Naik Adil Hussain, 34-year-ol... -
Dawn - 18:31 Oct 08, 2025
Cristiano Ronaldo has become the first footballer to reach billionaire status, according to the latest Bloomberg Billionaires Index, which has valued the Portugal great’s net worth at an estimated $1.4 billion. The 40-year-old striker’s financial ascent comes after he signed a new contract with Saudi side Al-Nassr in June reportedly worth more than $400 million. Bloomberg said that Ronaldo earned more than $550m in salary between 2002 and 2023, supplemented by a decade-long Nike deal worth nearly $18m annually, and lucrative endorsements with Armani, Castrol and others that added more than $175m to his fortune. Ronaldo’s move to Al-Nassr from Manchester United in 2023 had already made him the highest-paid player in football history, with an annual salary of 177m pounds ($237.52m), plus bonuses and a reported 15 per cent share in his Saudi Arabia club. Argentina and Inter Miami forward Lionel Messi has earned more than $600m in pre-tax salary during his career. Ronaldo’s billionaire status places him among a r... -
Dawn - 18:17 Oct 08, 2025
Zoofishan Ayyaz already knows who’ll be on the women’s national cricket team in the coming years. She, for one, hopes to make it. The dream could very well be a reality given that she captained the Strikers to a four-wicket win against the Conquerors in the National Women’s Under-19 T20 Tournament final, and a performance that saw her take the player-of-the-match award. But she knows, with the firmest of convictions, that the cohort of teenage girls she plays with and against will be the future of women’s cricket in Pakistan “I’m telling you, in the coming times, cricket is about to change so much. We have incredible talent coming up,” Zoofi, as she is known to her teammates, told Dawn.com. “You’re going to see players that make you say ‘wow, Pakistan has this kind of talent’?” Over at the R. Premadasa Stadium in Colombo, Pakistan recorded their third straight loss in the ICC Women’s World Cup match as they struggled against defending champions Australia. But the 18-year-old from Wah Cantt exuded confidence a... -
Dawn - 18:07 Oct 08, 2025
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur on Wednesday announced that he would step down from his office and the PTI confirmed that party founder Imran Khan had given the direction to do so along with nominating Sohail Afridi for the provincial top slot. PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar said Gandapur would send his resignation to the governor on Thursday. Gandapur assumed the office of chief minister after he was administered his oath by then-KP governor Haji Ghulam Ali on March 3, 2024. His tenure as chief minister was not without controversy, either involving the federal government or criticism from within his own party. In fact, it has been a tight-rope walk for the chief minister, from his first day in office, to balancing politics with realpolitik. He had to do business with the federal government, as KP is heavily dependent on its resources and the real power brokers. Government officials said that in the initial few months, Gandapur struggled to balance between focusing on governance and the rapi... -
Dawn - 17:44 Oct 08, 2025
A superb century from Beth Mooney dragged defending champions Australia back from the brink of disaster before they completed a crushing 107-run win over Pakistan in the ICC Women’s World Cup clash in Colombo on Wednesday. The Aussies were staring down the barrel at 76-7 and then 115-8 after being asked to bat first with the Pakistan bowlers causing mayhem, left-arm spinner Nashra Sandhu finishing with 3-37 from her 10 overs. But a record ninth-wicket stand between Mooney, who was dismissed off the final ball of the innings for 109, and Alana King, who made 51 not out, turned the tide. The pair dragged their side from the doldrums to a competitive 221-9 and that proved plenty as Pakistan’s brittle batting folded meekly for 114 all out in 36.3 overs. A superb century from Beth Mooney dragged defending champions Australia back from the brink of disaster before they completed a crushing 107-run win over Pakistan in a Women’s World Cup clash in Colombo on Wednesday. The Aussies were staring down the barrel at 76-... -
Dawn - 17:42 Oct 08, 2025
PTI’s Ali Amin Gandapur said on Wednesday that he will resign from his role as Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chief minister shortly after the party’s general secretary, Salman Akram Raja, confirmed that party founder Imran Khan directed Sohail Afridi to assume the role of provincial chief executive. At just 35, Afridi has emerged as one of the most prominent young faces in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s political paradigm. Representing PK-70 Bara for the first time as an MPA, Afridi’s political struggle reflects a steady rise from student activism to a cabinet position. Born in 1989 in Khyber district’s Bara tehsil, Afridi’s roots lie deep in the tribal heartland, an area that has seen immense transformation in recent years. A graduate in economics, his early years were marked by his involvement in student politics — a platform that paved the way for his future in provincial governance. Afridi served as the provincial president of the Insaf Students Federation (ISF), the student wing of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), where h... -
Dawn - 17:34 Oct 08, 2025
Palestinian-origin Omar Yaghi, Susumu Kitagawa and Richard Robson won the 2025 Nobel chemistry prize for developing a new form of molecular architecture, yielding materials that can help tackle challenges such as climate change and lack of fresh water. The three laureates worked to create molecular constructions, known as metal-organic frameworks or MOFs, with large spaces through which gases and other chemicals can flow and that can be utilised to harvest water from desert air, capture carbon dioxide or store toxic gases. Describing the “unheard of properties” of these materials, the award committee said some had a remarkably large surface area — a porous material roughly the size of a small sugar cube could contain as much surface area as a large football pitch. “A small amount of such material can be almost like Hermione’s handbag in Harry Potter. It can store huge amounts of gas in a tiny volume,” Olof Ramstrom, member of the Nobel Committee for Chemistry, said. Uses could include dealing with ‘forever ch... -
Dawn - 15:08 Oct 08, 2025
An eight-judge Constitutional Bench (CB) of the Supreme Court (SC) on Wednesday began its deliberations on the petitioners’ request to form a full court to hear a set of pleas challenging the 26th Amendment. The Amendment, which was approved by both houses of parliament in October last year, altered judicial authority and tenure, and has been a lightning rod for debate with both opposition parties and legal experts questioning its impact on the judiciary’s autonomy. It took away the SC’s suo motu powers, set the chief justice of Pakistan’s (CJP) term at three years and empowered a Special Parliamentary Committee for the appointment of the CJP from among the three most senior SC judges. It also paved the way for the formation of the CB, which is now hearing petitions against the very legislation that enabled its establishment. The legislation had been challenged by various bar associations, bar councils, lawyers, the PTI, and some politicians. The SC is also seized with separate petitions seeking the formation... -
Dawn - 14:50 Oct 08, 2025
A man was arrested on Wednesday on charges of allegedly sexually assaulting his teenage daughter in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Bisham area of Shangla district, officials said. “The victim reached the police station on Wednesday,” Bisham Station House Officer (SHO) Afzal Khan told Dawn.com. “A first information report (FIR) was lodged, and the suspect has been arrested.” According to the FIR, the victim’s mother was divorced by her husband, who later married another woman from Swat. However, nine years ago, the stepmother also left and returned to her parents’ home. “I live with two of my stepbrothers, one of whom is paralysed, and my father in a rented house,” she said, per the FIR. The victim reported that she was at home and her brother had gone to Rawalpindi for work when her father called her to his room, where he showed her a knife and sexually assaulted her. She alleged that her father also threatened her with murder if she told anyone about the ordeal. The victim added that she went to the police station whe... -
Dawn - 14:35 Oct 08, 2025
In the wake of concerns expressed by the business community over increasing extortionism, Sindh Inspector General of Police (IG) Ghulam Nabi Memon on Wednesday vowed to provide full protection to economic and commercial activities in collaboration with traders across the province. “Elements hindering economic activity would be eliminated with the cooperation of the businessmen,” the provincial police chief was quoted as saying in a police statement while reviewing a crime data report on Karachi, which was submitted by Additional IG Operations. As per the police statement, 118 incidents of extortion were reported in Karachi so far this year, of which only 44 were genuine extortion cases, while the remaining 74 pertained to personal disputes and business quarrels. The statement added that of the 44 cases, 39 were “solved” — a success ratio of 87 per cent. A police crime statistics report seen by Dawn.com linked 12 of the 44 cases to three specific groups: the Wasiullah Lakho group, the Samad Kathiawari group an... -
Dawn - 14:31 Oct 08, 2025
The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) decided on Wednesday to hold Punjab’s long-delayed local government (LG) elections in December’s last week and that the process of delimitation would initiate from tomorrow to be completed within two months. Under Article 140-A of the Constitution and Section 219(4) of the Elections Act, the ECP is bound to hold elections within 120 days of the expiry of the term of the local government institutions. In April 2019, the then PTI-led Punjab government dissolved the local government institutions, which were later restored by the Supreme Court and subsequently completed their term on December 31, 2021. That means the elections were supposed to be held by the end of April 2022, but it could not be made possible as the provincial government kept on amending the LG law from time to time. The order, a copy of which is available with Dawn.com, was issued by a four-member ECP bench comprising Chairman Sikandar Sultan Raja, Nisar Ahmed Durrani, Shah Muhammad Jatoi and Babar Hass... -
Dawn - 12:42 Oct 08, 2025
Artificial intelligence, the technology upending nearly every corner of society, is creeping into religion, serving up virtual Jesus and automated sermons — a change drawing mixed reviews from the faithful. Religious chatbots and other faith-based digital tools are growing in number, offering counsel, comfort and spiritual guidance during an age of rapidly transforming socialisation and engagement. One app, which is called Text with Jesus, has thousands of paying subscribers. It lets people ostensibly ask questions of Mary, Joseph, Jesus and nearly all 12 apostles. The idea is to educate, said Stephane Peter, CEO of Catloaf Software, which created the app. “This is a new way to address religious issues in an interactive way,” he told AFP. Although the app makes clear it uses AI, virtual Moses and Jesus don’t recognise that as such when asked the specific question. Peter said that ChatGPT’s latest version, GPT-5, on which Text With Jesus is based, follows instructions better than previous iterations. It is als... -
Dawn - 12:22 Oct 08, 2025
The military’s top brass warned India on Wednesday that any “imaginary new normal” its leadership might be entertaining about bilateral dynamics would be met with a “new normal of swift retributive response”. The statement from the army brass, released after the 272nd Corps Commanders’ Conference (CCC) held at General Headquarters (GHQ), comes in the wake of last week’s provocative remarks by top Indian civil-military leadership. Indian Army Chief General Upendra Dwivedi had warned Pakistan that it must stop state-sponsored terrorism if it wanted to retain its place on the map. He had said that Indian forces would “not show any restraint this time”, potentially hinting at another military incursion. The Pakistan military had issued a strong response to the remarks and wanred that any future conflict with India could lead to “cataclysmic devastation” and the country would “resolutely respond, without any qualms or restraint”. It had said that “those seeking to establish a new normal must know that Pakistan has...
5792 items