Pakistan

Pakistan has unequivocally condemned the airstrikes of Israeli forces on Beirut, Lebanon.

Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif has directed foolproof security arrangements for Eid-ul-Azha.

Following its success last year, facilitating the most widespread interoperable RAAST QR digital payments campaign and contributing over one-third of all QR transactions in the industry, JazzCash is once again enabling secure, efficient, and cashless transactions during this Eid al-Azha season.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Friday expressed deep grief and sorrow over the death of Senator and Federal Minister Abbas Afridi.

Pakistan’s Minister of State for Crypto and Blockchain, Bilal Bin Saqib, met with top U.

Former federal minister and Senator Abbas Afridi on Friday succumbed to burn injuries sustained in a gas leak explosion a day earlier, while three others were wounded. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Rescue 1122 spokesperson Bilal Ahmad Faizi told Dawn.com that their team had rushed Afridi and three others to Kohat Combined Military Hospital, from where Afridi was taken to a burn centre in Kharian, Punjab, in a helicopter. Nouman Ali, spokesperson for the Kohat police, told Dawn.com, “Afridi was in a critical condition and succumbed to his injuries in the hospital. His body was brought to Kohat today.” He said the three others had been transported to a divisional headquarters hospital. The police spokesperson said Afridi and his friends, Dilnawaz, Javed Afridi and Nadeem, were in the Hujra when a gas leak caused an explosion. The intensity of the blast damaged the walls of the Hujra. Afridi’s funeral will be held today at 5pm at Babri Banda, Kohat. KP Governor Faisal Karim Kundi expressed deep sorrow and grief over Afridi...

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, accompanied by a high-level delegation, performed Umrah on Friday during his two-day official visit to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman and head of a high-level Pakistani parliamentary delegation, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, has called on U.

The Bohra community in Karachi observed Eidul Azha on Friday with religious devotion, joining Muslims around the world in marking the occasion with prayers and animal sacrifices.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in Indian-held Kashmir on Friday, his first visit to the contested Himalayan region since a conflict with arch-rival Pakistan last month, and opened a strategic railway line. Modi is launching a string of projects worth billions of dollars for the occupied Muslim-majority territory. India and Pakistan fought an intense four-day conflict last month over an attack in Occupied Kashmir’s Pehalgam, with New Delhi blaming Islamabad without evidence. This was the two countries’ worst standoff since 1999, before a ceasefire was agreed on May 10. His office broadcast images of Modi at a viewing point for the Chenab Bridge, a 1,315-metre-long (4,314-foot-long) steel and concrete span that connects two mountains with an arch 359 metres above the river below. “In addition to being an extraordinary feat of architecture, the Chenab Rail Bridge will improve connectivity,” the Hindu nationalist leader said in a social media post ahead of his visit. Modi strode across the bridge wav...

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In a significant operation, Pakistan’s intelligence agencies, in coordination with the National Cybercrime Investigation Agency (NCCI) Multan, have dismantled an international cybercrime syndicate operating within the country.

“It’s brought me some closure,” said Shafaq Zaidi, a school friend of Noor Mukadam, reacting to the Supreme Court’s May 20 verdict upholding both the life sentence and death penalty for Noor’s killer, Zahir Jaffer. “Nothing can bring Noor back, but this decision offers a sense of justice — not just for her, but for every woman in Pakistan who’s been told her life doesn’t matter,” Zaidi told Inter Press Service (IPS) over the phone from Islamabad. “It’s been a long and painful journey — four years of fighting through the sessions court, high court, and finally, the Supreme Court.” Echoing a similar sentiment, rights activist Zohra Yusuf said, “It’s satisfying that the SC upheld the verdict,” but added that the crime’s brutality left little room for relief. “It was so horrific that one can’t even celebrate the judgment,” she said, referring to the “extreme” sadism Noor endured — tortured with a knuckleduster, raped, and beheaded with a sharp weapon on July 20, 2021. Yusuf also pointed out that the “background” ...

• Judge says police assigned no specific role to any suspect • Inmates tell court they temporarily left jail premises due to chaos caused by earthquake, returned once situation normalised KARACHI: As many as 115 prisoners escaped from District Jail Malir have been rearrested and booked in a terrorism case along with remaining fugitives, a police officer informed an anti-terrorism court on Thursday. Officials said that the Shah Latif Town police station registered a case pertaining to the jailbreak and escape of 216 inmates under different sections of the Pakistan Penal Code and the Anti-Terrorism Act on the complaint of prison official Zulfiqar Ali Peerzada. On Thursday, the investigating officer of the case produced 115 prisoners recaptured following the jailbreak before the administrative judge of the ATCs at the judicial complex inside the central prison. He informed the court that 115 fugitives were apprehended outside the prison and sought their physical remand for 14 days to arrest remaining 101 inmates...

• Chairs high-level meeting on water resources • Provinces, AJK and GB stand with Centre on water security • PM heads to Saudi Arabia for two-day visit on MBS’ invitation ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday condemned India’s unilateral suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT), describing it as a “blatant violation and act of water aggression”, and warned that Pakistan would give a befitting response in line with decisions made at the National Security Committee (NSC) meeting held on April 24. Chairing a high-level meeting on water resources at the Prime Minister’s House prior to departing for a two-day official visit to Saudi Arabia, the premier vowed that Pakistan would prevail on the water front just as it had recently “achieved victory in war”. The high-level meeting brought together Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, Chief of Army Staff Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir, federal ministers, chief ministers of all four provinces, the prime minister of Azad Jammu and Kashmi...

Former Senator Abbas Afridi has passed away from injuries sustained in a gas leakage explosion in Kharian.

ISLAMABAD: Just past midnight on May 7, a low hum of tension filled the Combat Operations Centre at Pakistan Air Force (PAF) Headquarters in Islamabad. On radar screens, dozens of Indian Air Force (IAF) fighters began clustering to the north, maneuvering with unmistakable intent. Within minutes, Pakistan’s skies were alive with scrambling fighter jets — including the most recently inducted J-10C aircraft, flown by one of its most storied units: No. 15 Squadron, the “Cobras.” Nearly a month later, the PAF formally acknowledged what many had speculated — that it was the Kamra-based 15 Squadron that led the charge in shooting down six Indian Air Force (IAF) jets during what’s now considered one of the largest air-to-air engagement in South Asia in more than half a century. Pilots from Kamra-based No. 15 Squadron expected to be decorated at a formal ceremony later this month Eighteen of the squadron’s 20 J-10C aircraft took part in the mission, executing a high-risk intercept against a large-scale Indian formatio...

ISLAMABAD - Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday termed India’s unilateral suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) as “a blatant violation and act of water aggression “ and warned that Pakistan will give a befitting response under the decisions taken in the April 24 National Security Committee (NSC).

ISLAMABAD - Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said on Thursday that the 1972 Simla Agreement between Pakistan and India has lost its sanctity due to New Delhi’s unilateral actions, including the suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT).

ISLAMABAD: Almost forty-five per cent of Pakistan’s population lives below the poverty line, according to a World Bank report released on Thursday. The finding, based on a survey conducted in 2018-19, comes in the wake of an update of global poverty lines made by the bank, and not because of any change in underlying economic conditions across the world. The proportion of people living in extreme poverty has risen from 4.9pc to 16.5pc, according to the report. The latest findings come in the wake of World Bank’s update of global poverty lines and not because of any change in the underlying economic conditions across the world. Poverty assessments revised to reflect changes in cost of living and consumption habits “For Pakistan, the poverty rate based on the new $3 international poverty line (IPL) under 2021 purchasing power parity (PPP) is 16.5Pc, compared to 4.9pc under the previous $2.15 line (2017 PPP),” said the World Bank. About 82pc of this increase is due to the higher value of the new IPL, reflecting i...