Pakistan

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Tuesday vowed to resolve all the issues afflicting Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and set up a committee for the task, Radio Pakistan reported. Addressing a representative jirga in Peshawar, he said the committee would deliberate on all demands and issues raised by the KP chief minister. He added that the committee would sit together with tribal elders and the KP governor and chief minister to formulate recommendations in this regard, further saying that the federal government would give serious attention to the recommendations to benefit the province’s valiant people. Shehbaz affirmed the immense sacrifices rendered by the people of KP in the fight against terrorism and said the federal government would stand by the province until the complete eradication of the menace. The prime minister said that KP had received Rs700 billion since 2010 under the National Finance Commission (NFC) Award as its one per cent share allocated for anti-terrorism efforts. These funds were released to strength...

Posts from users on multiple social media platforms since Monday alleged that TikToker Mashal Khan and his wife Meena Khan from Peshawar were shot dead. However, both are still alive and well. A day ago, 17-year-old social media influencer Sana Yousaf was shot dead at her home by an unidentified man who entered her house and shot her in the chest. She was popular on TikTok and Instagram, with over a million combined followers Today, a user on X claimed that TikTok influencer Mashal Khan and his wife Meena Khan had been shot dead. The caption of the post said: “Peshawar TikTokers Mashal Khan and his wife Meena Khan were shot dead, while Chitral TikToker Sana Yousaf was also killed in Islamabad.” The user made derogatory remarks, blaming people from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and a specific Muslim sect for the incidents. The post was viewed over 17,200 times. The same claim was shared by other users as can be seen here, here and here on X, and here and here on Facebook. A fact-check was initiated to determine the verac...

The Islamabad Police said on Tuesday they had arrested the main suspect in the murder case of 17-year-old social media influencer Sana Yousaf, a day after she was shot dead in her house. A first information report (FIR) had been filed yesterday evening at the Sumbal police station against an unidentified man on the complaint of Sana’s mother, Farzana Yousaf, invoking Section 302 (intentional murder) of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC). The teenager was well-known for her social media activities, with nearly 800,000 followers on her TikTok account and almost 500,000 on her Instagram account. Addressing a press conference, Islamabad Inspector General (IG) Syed Ali Nasir Rizvi said the culprit was a 22-year-old man arrested from Faisalabad and termed it a case of “repeated rejections”. “A beast, cold-blooded murderer is now in the law’s grip,” IG Rizvi announced, adding that the man had tried to contact Sana repeatedly and was being “rejected by her again and again”. View this post on Instagram The police chief sai...

Terrorist attacks on two police stations were thwarted in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Bajaur and Bannu districts, injuring four police personnel, police said on Tuesday. According to a statement by KP Inspector General of Police (IG) Zulfiqar Hameed, “Two police stations came under attack in Bajaur and Bannu on Monday night, but police forces bravely thwarted both attacks.” He said that four police personnel, including a station house officer and three other constables, were slightly injured while responding to the terrorists. “The police’s quick response saved the police station from a major loss and casualties,” he said, adding that those police officers will be rewarded for their courage and bravery. The statement further said that the terrorists used rocket launchers, hand grenades, SMGs and RPGs in the attack. The police at Bajaur’s Lowi Mamond police station believed that the terrorists who fled the scene were also injured, the statement said, adding that there were no casualties at the Meryan police station i...

National Cyber Crimes Investigation Agency (NCCIA) has exposed a child sexual exploitation gang operating in Punjab’s Muzaffargarh district, leading to the arrest of two suspects and the recovery of ten children. Minister of State for Interior Talal Chaudhry made the revelation during a press conference in Islamabad, saying the NICCIA has uncovered a “huge network” during an operation conducted on May 23. He said an international gang masterminded by a German citizen was operating a child sexual exploitation group in Muzaffargarh where children were groomed. “They set up a small club where children aged 6-10 years were taught games. They provided state-of-the-art facilities and modern cameras,” he said. He added that children from disadvantaged families were “brought there, given money, and then blackmailed” to exploit them, and “their videos were uploaded on the dark web daily and sold for thousands of dollars.” “Some videos were live-streamed and seen around the world from Muzaffargarh,” the state minister ...

Near a sprawling tent city outside Makkah, Saudi hospital staff are preparing for a flood of heat-related cases as Muslim pilgrims begin Haj this week in sweltering summer temperatures. The Mina Emergency Hospital is one of 15 such facilities operating just a few weeks a year around the annual pilgrimage to Islam’s holiest sites, which in 2024 saw more than 1,300 people die in the desert heat. Saudi authorities hope to head off a fatal repeat of last year’s pilgrimage when temperatures reached 51.8 degrees Celsius. Temperatures this year are forecast to exceed 40 degrees Celsius as one of the world’s largest annual religious gatherings, bringing together devotees from around the globe, officially commences on Wednesday. So far, authorities have recorded 44 cases of heat exhaustion. Abdullah Asiri, Saudi Arabia’s deputy minister for population health, told AFP at the Mina hospital that “the focus is on heat-related conditions because the Haj coincides with extreme heat”. Brimming with staff but no patients jus...

Minister of State for Interior Talal Chaudhry announced on Tuesday the successful dismantling of a major network involved in the sexual exploitation of children, operating out of Muzaffarabad.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Tuesday announced the formation of a dedicated committee to assess Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s (KP) share in the National Finance Commission (NFC) Award.

Flash flooding in north-central Nigeria last week killed more than 200 people, the Niger state humanitarian commissioner said Tuesday, while hundreds more remain missing and are feared dead. The town of Mokwa was hit with the worst flash flood in living memory Thursday from overnight rains, with more than 250 homes destroyed and swathes of the town wiped out in a single morning. The announcement comes after several days of the official toll standing at around 150, even as residents were sometimes missing more than a dozen members in a single family. “We have more than 200 … corpses,” Ahmad Suleiman told Nigerian broadcaster Channels Television, adding: “Nobody can tell you the number of casualties in Niger state right now because up till now, we are still looking for some corpses.” “We’re still looking for more,” he added. But, he said, “sincerely speaking, we cannot ascertain.” Given the number of people still missing nearly a week later, the toll from a single morning of flooding in Mokwa could be worse tha...

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) on Tuesday approved an $800 million loan for Pakistan under its Resource Mobilization Reforms Program, according to an official statement.

The exchange rate of the Kuwaiti Dinar (KWD) against the Pakistani Rupee (PKR) remained steady at 913.

Federal Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi visited the headquarters of the National Cyber Crimes Investigation Agency (NCCIA) and inaugurated its new helpline center on Tuesday.

India’s unilateral suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty is a blatant violation of international laws and poses a serious threat to regional stability, said speakers at a roundtable conference organized by the National Institute of Public Policy (NIPP) on Monday.

Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee, General Sahir Shamshad Mirza, revealed that during the recent standoff with India, Pakistan operated independently for 96 hours without seeking external assistance.

Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif chaired the 26th meeting of the provincial cabinet on Monday, where 101 agenda items were presented, including key public relief initiatives and development projects.

The Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) on Tuesday imposed fines of Rs375 million on fertiliser companies for “anti-competitive conduct”. “The Competition Commission of Pakistan has taken decisive action against anti-competitive conduct in the fertiliser sector, imposing a penalty of Rs50 million on each of the six major urea manufacturers,” said a press release by the CCP. It added that it also penalised a leading industry association Rs75m, totalling Rs375m in fines. The CCP said that following a detailed inquiry-initiated suo motu, the Commission’s bench comprising Dr Kabir Ahmed Sidhu and Mr Salam Amin determined that six urea manufacturing companies — Fatima Fertiliser Limited, Fauji Fertiliser Company Limited, Fauji Fertiliser Bin Qasim Limited, Fatima Fertiliser Company Limited, Engro Fertiliser Company Limited and Agritech Limited — in coordination with their trade association, Fertiliser Manufacturers of Pakistan Advisory Council (FMPAC), were involved in anti-competitive conduct. “Under the gui...

The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) government has announced the reopening of camping pods at multiple picturesque tourist destinations across the province ahead of the Eidul Azha holidays.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) approved $800 million programme to strengthen fiscal sustainability and improve public financial management in Pakistan, according to a statement issued by the Philippines-based lender. The statement read that subprogramme 2 of the “Improved Resource Mobilisation and Utilisation Reform Programme” includes a policy-based loan of $300m, and ADB’s “first ever policy-based guarantee” of up to $500m, which is expected to mobilise financing of up to $1 billion from commercial banks. “Pakistan has made significant progress in improving macroeconomic conditions,” said ADB country director for Pakistan, Emma Fan. “This programme backs the government’s commitment to further policy and institutional reforms that will strengthen public finances and promote sustainable growth.” The programme supports far-reaching reforms to improve tax policy, administration, and compliance, while enhancing public expenditure and cash management. “It also promotes digitalisation, investment facilitation, a...

Islamabad police have arrested the prime suspect in the murder of TikToker Sana Yousaf within 20 hours of the incident, officials confirmed on Tuesday.

The Punjab Home Department has imposed Section 144 within a 15-kilometre radius of airports and air force bases across the province — from June 5 to 20 — in a bid to ensure flight safety, especially keeping in view the upcoming Eidul Azha. The disposal of meat close to the airports in the aftermath of Eidul Azha — to be celebrated later this week — often attracts birds to the site, posing a serious threat to flight safety, passengers and nearby surroundings. Awareness campaigns have been launched in recent years to avoid the possibility of such incidents. In a notification issued by Punjab’s home department, it was detailed that under Section 144, the following activities will remain banned within a 15-km radius of all airports and airbases: pigeon-flying, fireworks, use of drones and laser lights, and the dumping of sacrificial waste and Sadqa meat. The ban will remain in place till June 20. The banned activities were termed as a “serious threat to flight operations” and the decision has been taken to ensure...