Pakistan

Affected sites in populated areas raise concerns of potential disaster

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Bench to hear bail applications tomorrow

Despite daily official visits, minor repairs remain incomplete

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Minister of State for Interior Talal Chaudhary on Monday stressed that the revamped Federal Constabulary (FC) was not a police force. President Asif Ali Zardari on Sunday promulgated an ordinance empowering the federal government to transform the FC, a border security force, into the Federal Constabulary to maintain law and order, supplement the law enforcement agencies, and address the diverse security needs in a coordinated manner. According to the ordinance, the Frontier Consta­bulary was originally established to maintain law and order in frontier and border areas, ensuring the security of these critical regions, and preserving public peace in remote territories. However, the changing dynamics of national security, the increasing frequency of emergencies, natural disasters, civil unrest, and other emerging threats necessitated a more adaptable and versatile force to respond to such challenges. Before this ordinance, the use of force by the government for VIP security often attracted criticism, but now, un...

Gilgit-Baltistan has imposed a moratorium on all kinds of construction and expansion of hotels on three famous lakes in Hunza, as well as in ecologically-sensitive areas in the Baltistan division, it emerged on Monday. Earlier this month, the Gilgit-Baltistan Environmental Protection Agency (GB-EPA) recommended a five-year ban on the construction and expansion of hotels on three lakes in Hunza. Last month, the GB administration imposed a fine of Rs1.5 million on a hotel for allegedly dumping sewage waste into Attabad Lake. The development came a day after a foreign tourist and vlogger named George Buckley posted a video on his Instagram page, claiming that sewage water was being pumped out by the hotel into the Attabad Lake. A notification by the office of the Hunza Division Deputy Commissioner, dated July 11, available with Dawn.com, said, “Accordingly, issuance of any new no-objection certificates (NOCs) for construction or expansion of commercial or residential structures is hereby suspended with immediate...

At least six people have died, including four children, while one person was injured over the last 24 hours in rain-related incidents as heavy downpours continue to lash parts of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, the Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) said on Monday. Last week, PDMA alerted the district administrations across KP to the possibility of floods due to a new spell of torrential rains from July 11 to 17. Heavy rainfall and flash floods have wreaked havoc in the province in June and are set to continue. Pakistan experiences Monsoon rainfall from June to September every year. The heavy rains also trigger deadly floods, landslides and displacement, particularly in vulnerable, poorly drained, or densely populated areas. In Bajaur, a woman died after the boundary wall of her house collapsed due to heavy rain and gusty winds, according to the PDMA report, while in Khyber district, two children were swept away in a flash flood after heavy rains. Per the report, Rescue 1122 officials found the body of one o...

Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi on Monday announced that he and his counterparts in and Iran and Iraq will form a trilateral working group to prevent illegal migration under the guise of pilgrimage, Radio Pakistan reported. Earlier this month, the government, during a meeting, decided that under the new measures, the traditional Salar System for zaireen (pilgrims) will be abolished and replaced with a zaireen group organisers model. From 2026 onwards, pilgrims will only be allowed to travel under registered organisers. Speaking at a trilateral conference of the interior ministers of Pakistan, Iran, and Iraq in Tehran, Naqvi told journalists the conference agreed to take all possible measures to facilitate zaireen travelling to Iran and Iraq. View this post on Instagram “We had a great and good discussion,” Naqvi said. “We will have a joint working group between the three countries so we can have better coordination. “The most important thing to acknowledge is that there are several million people who go to Ira...

PTI leader Sayed Zulfikar Bukhari, a former aide to ex-premier Imran Khan, is set to offer testimony on “political repression” in Pakistan before the United States Congress’ Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, it emerged on Monday. According to its website, the bipartisan commission was established in 2008 and is charged with promoting, defending and advocating for international human rights as enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other relevant human rights instruments. The commission’s hearing notice states that the session will take place on Tuesday (tomorrow) at 3:30pm (12:30am PKT on Wednesday) and will “examine the government of Pakistan’s persecution of opposition political figures and journalists, and its actions to control media communications and prevent free and fair elections in Pakistan”. The session is open to the public and the media. “Many date the current phase of repression in Pakistan to 2022, when, with the involvement of the Pakistan military, popular Prime Minister ...

A recent Gallup Pakistan survey has highlighted growing public dissatisfaction with the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) government, revealing that 50 percent of respondents across the province view Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif’s governance as better than that of KP Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur – including 37 percent of.

Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Yahya Afridi arrived in Quetta today on his first official visit to the provincial capital since assuming office.

Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi reaffirmed Pakistan’s strong condemnation of the recent attack on Iran, expressing full support for Tehran’s right to defend itself.

India and China must resolve friction along their border, pull back troops and avoid “restrictive trade measures” to normalise their relationship, India’s foreign minister told his Chinese counterpart in Beijing on Monday. Subrahmanyam Jaishankar met Wang Yi in Beijing during his first trip to the country since 2020, when a deadly border clash between their troops led to a four-year military standoff and damaged ties until a thaw began in October, when they agreed to step back. “Good progress” made by the countries in the past nine months for normalisation of relations is a result of the resolution of friction along their border, Jaishankar told Wang. India and China share a 3,800-kilometre border that is poorly demarcated and has been disputed since the 1950s. They fought a brief but brutal border war in 1962, and talks over the decades to settle the border dispute have made slow progress. Last month, Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh told his Chinese counterpart that the two countries should seek a “per...

Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb on Monday said that the additional powers granted to the Federal Bureau of Revenue (FBR) had nothing to do with income tax. The expanded enforcement powers for the FBR include the authority to block high-value financial transactions by non-filers — such as vehicle and property purchases, investment in securities and mutual funds, and opening certain prestigious bank accounts — along with powers to seal unregistered business premises, confiscate goods and recover taxes from firms, including those in the public sector. The move has generated criticism from many quarters. Addressing the matter in a press conference in Karachi today, Aurangzeb said, “I think there is something to understand about what the existing law was at the time. The first thing to understand is that it has no relation to income tax. This whole issue is a sales tax fraud issue.” The finance minister added that in the original law, Inland Revenue Service officers had the authority to arrest, and it was the ...