Pakistan

Punjab police have arrested an elderly man after a video went viral on social media, showing him using offensive language against Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz and senior government officials.

The Sindh Irrigation Department reported on Sunday that water levels in the Indus River have continued to rise, particularly at Guddu Barrage, where an increase of 24,000 cusecs was recorded over the past 24 hours.

Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi has said that former US President Donald Trump’s offer to mediate the Kashmir dispute opened a window for peace, but India shut it by refusing to engage.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur has strongly condemned the involvement of state institutions in political affairs, asserting that their role is not to make or break governments.

Pakistan’s Ambassador to the United States, Rizwan Saeed Sheikh, has clarified that there is no pressure from Washington for Islamabad to recognize Israel.

LAHORE: The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf’s five senior leaders incarcerated in Kot Lakhpat Jail have demanded fresh, free and fair general elections in the country, while learning lessons from the 1970 debacle, otherwise India will go ahead with its nefarious designs. In an open letter on Saturday, PTI vice chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Senator Ejaz Chaudhry, former governor Omar Sarfraz Cheema, Dr Yasmin Rashid and Mian Mahmoodur Rasheed stated that Pakistan’s two provinces, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, were undergoing the worst kind of terrorism, turmoil and instability. They said both provinces were geologically important for having natural and mineral reserves, and the world was also eyeing those resources. “Those rare earth materials had become significantly important for the outside world,” they highlighted. The PTI leaders said Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had been a peaceful province during the PTI’s rule owing to former premier Imran Khan’s balanced policy but before and after Khan, the province remained a...

DERA GHAZI KHAN: In a pleasantly surprising turn of events following the tragic incident near Loralai, Balochistan, one of the nine individuals initially declared dead has been confirmed to be alive. The individual, identified as Irfan from Dera Ghazi Khan, was mistakenly presumed dead due to a mix-up in the identification of bodies. Commandant Border Military Police Dera Ghazi Khan Asad Chandia (who had supervised transportation of bodies from Balochistan border to their native areas in Punjab) told that Irfan was among the 12 passengers who were forcibly offloaded from the bus by armed assailants. However, Irfan managed to escape execution. The commandant said following his escape, Irfan did not return to the passenger coach but instead took an alternative vehicle to reach his native village, Wasti Buzdar, tehsil Taunsa Sharif. At present he is in a state of shock according to his family, Chandia said. One Kashif, who is an employee of 1122 and hails from the same village, told Dawn that Irfan successfully ...

LAHORE: A judicial magistrate on Saturday denied police further physical remand of an underage car driver and sent him to jail on judicial remand in a case involving death of a young man and injuries to several others in Shahdara Town. The police produced suspect Hashir Umar before the court on completion of his four-day physical remand. The investigating officer informed the court that the process of determining the suspect’s exact age was still underway and that a co-suspect was yet to be arrested. He sought remand of the suspect for further investigation. However, the magistrate turned down the request, sending the suspect on judicial remand. The magistrate noted that no significant progress had been made in the investigation during the previous remand of the suspect. He said a mere claim of requiring more time for age determination or arresting a co-suspect was insufficient to justify extending physical remand. He further noted that the report regarding the suspect’s age can be submitted at the time of fi...

QUETTA: Iran Air plans to launch direct weekly passenger and cargo flights from Quetta to the Iranian cities of Zahidan and Mashhad in a move aimed at boosting trade and travel between the neighbouring countries, an Iranian diplomat announced on Saturday. The new air service will help facilitate commerce, reduce travel time and costs for traders, and strengthen bilateral ties, said Ali Reza Rajai, Iran’s acting consul general in Quetta. The announcement was made at a ceremony organised by the Pak-Iran Joint Chamber of Commerce. The flights are intended “to facilitate trade and travel between Pakistan and Iran,” Rajai said, stressing the need for stronger cooperation. Top officials from the airline, including Iran Air Chief Agha Karimi and Deputy Chief Agha Ismail, were also in attendance. Mr Rajai said the new service would be critical for enhancing port-to-port cooperation between Pakistan’s Gwadar Port and Iran’s Chabahar Port. He called for bureaucratic hurdles to be removed to improve bilateral business, ...

Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif said the government of Pakistan will continue to extend its political, diplomatic and moral support to the people of Jammu and Kashmir who are waging struggle to gain their right to self-determination and freedom.

Kashmiris on both sides of the Line of Control, as well as those living in Pakistan and across the world, are observing the Kashmir Martyrs' Day on Sunday to pay tributes to the martyrs of July 13, 1931, and all Kashmiris who sacrificed their lives for freedom.

ISLAMABAD: Despite generating higher revenues, Pakistan Telecommunication Company Ltd (PTCL) — the only state-owned enterprise (SOE) managed by the private sector — continues to incur losses, raising concerns over its financial health and future strategy. According to the biannual performance report (July-December FY25) released by the Central Monitoring Unit (CMU) of the Ministry of Finance, PTCL posted a loss of Rs7.2 billion during the period, pushing its accumulated losses to Rs43.6bn. The report also noted that PTCL has moved up the ranking of loss-making SOEs, rising from 10th position in the first half of FY24 to 7th place in the current fiscal year. The finance ministry cautioned that the proposed acquisition of Telenor Pakistan by PTCL, if not carefully managed, could further destabilise the Group’s finances. The ministry warned the move may hinder PTCL’s digital transformation goals and limit its ability to invest in core growth areas over the coming years. Finance ministry flags risks to Telenor ac...

BANGKOK: More than 500 civilians and soldiers fled conflict in Myanmar and crossed into Thailand on Saturday after an assault by ethnic fighters on a military base, the Thai army said. Myanmar has been mired in civil conflict since a military coup in 2021, with the junta battling a coalition of ethnic armed groups and pro-democracy resistance forces. Saturday’s attack by the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) targeted a military base in Kayin state at around 3pm local time, Thailand’s military said in a statement. One hundred Myanmar soldiers and 467 civilians had crossed into Thailand on Saturday, where Thai military and police disarmed them and provided treatment and humanitarian aid, officials said. Three kids among 22 civilians killed in monastery bombing Saw Thamain Tun, a leader of the KNLA’s political wing, confirmed there had been fighting near the border and said that joint forces had “seized some front posts” from the army. “Some (Myanmar troops) defe­c­ted to our joint forces, but some of them r...

Peshawar - Governor Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Faisal Karim Kundi held a meeting with the Deputy Head of Mission of Malaysia in Pakistan, Mohd Syafik Firdaus, at the Governor House, Peshawar, on Saturday.

• 13 houses, waterways, crops destroyed in Ghizer, Gilgit • Orders issued for immediate restoration of irrigation channels amid drought threat GILGIT: Extremely high summer temperatures and erratic weather patterns continue to cause destruction in Gilgit-Baltistan, as a cloudburst-induced flood damaged 13 homes, agricultural land, crops, and other properties in Gilgit and Ghizer on Saturday. The flood also blocked Naltar Highway, Gilgit-Ghizar road and other link roads. Gilgit-Baltistan Disaster Management Authority (GBDMA) Deputy Director Raja Zahooruddin Babar described the cloudburst as “unprecedented,” as such an event had never been recorded in these areas before. He said cloudbursts have happened in GB before; however, the scale of the disaster this time was unprecedented. The cloudburst resulted in a heavy downpour in several areas of Gilgit and Ghizer districts, resulting in flash floods. At least 13 homes were damaged by the deluge along with farmlands, crops, water and irrigation channels and other ...

Pakistan to continue supporting people of Jammu & Kashmir: PM.

ISLAMABAD - The Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) on Saturday examined 24 complaints under Article 209 of the Consti-tution filed by different individuals out of which 19 were unanimously decided to be filed while 5 others were deferred for the time being.

ISLAMABAD - The Election Commission of Pakistan [ECP] will soon send a reminder to the federal government for conducting long pending local bodies’ polls in Islamabad.

Islamabad - Pakistan smashed Indian false narrative at 32nd ASEAN Regional Forum Meeting in Kuala Lumpur and told the influential regional forum that India’s covert footprint was not confined to Pakistan.

MUZAFFARABAD: DG ISPR Lt-Gen.