Karachi | Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB), Karachi, has frozen four more high-value properties of Bahria Town on the instructions of an accountability court. Sources in the NAB said the action was carried out under the Anti-Money Laundering Act, 2010, following investigations that established that these assets were purchased through the laundering of crime proceeds. The bureau has attached the Bahria Icon Tower in Clifton, Karachi, where investigations revealed that Rs8 billion in crime proceeds had been laundered for its construction. The property was being held under a front company, M/s Galaxy Construction Pvt Ltd. Similarly, the Bahria Town Tower on Tariq Road, Karachi, was attached after it was established that the project was held in the name of Muhammad Awais, a “benami” frontman for Malik Riaz Hussain and M/s Bahria Town. Beyond Karachi, the operation extended to significant land holdings. The bureau has attached 817 kanals of prime land in Sheikhupura and 2,029 kanals of land in Peshawar in...

Police on Tuesday released seven Aurat March activists after briefly detaining them near Karachi Press Club (KPC), following orders from Sindh Home Minister Ziaul Hasan Lanjar. The activists were detained after they gathered at Karachi Press Club (KPC) for a press conference scheduled for 4pm to demand a no-objection certificate (NOC) for their upcoming annual march in Karachi. An Aurat March organiser confirmed to Dawn that seven people, including Sheema Kirmani and Shahzadi Rai, had been released. This came shortly after Lanjar ordered the metropolis’ south zone police to release the detained activists. In a post on X following the release, Aurat March Karachi said: “We will NOT back down from our politics, and we will continue to demand an NOC! “Scare tactics to suppress dissent are shameful!” it said, demanding that the Sindh government issue a statement explaining the reason for the arrests and for the “delay” in granting the NOC. Shortly before 4pm, the rights group said three of its organisers were “pi...

The weather in Karachi remained hot and dry on Tuesday, though temperatures are expected to fall slightly compared to the previous day, the Pakistan Meteorological Department said.

10 found dead as Karachi sizzles

Karachi is experiencing an intense heatwave as temperatures climb to 44°C, causing widespread discomfort across the city.

KARACHI: Aurat March organisers in Karachi said on Sunday that they had not been issued a no-objection certificate (NOC) yet for holding the annual march in the city, scheduled for May 10. The organisers said they had sent a letter to PPP’s Aseefa Bhutto Zardari “after receiving no positive response from the authorities” on the matter. “Seven days to the march, and we still have no NOC! We really hope that Aseefa Bhutt-Zardari will stand with Aurat March in the spirit of Sindh’s history of women in political life, and ensure that an NOC is promptly issued!” they said in a post on X. The march is planned to be held at Sea View on Mother’s Day, which is observed on the second Sunday of every May. Dawn reached out to the relevant authorities regarding the matter, among whom South Deputy Inspector General Asad Raza said police would provide “maximum security to the organisers of the Aurat March” like they did every year. But as far as the issuance of an NOC is concerned, that was to be “dealt with by the district...

Traffic police in Karachi have announced stricter measures against motorists driving on the wrong side of the road, aiming to improve discipline and reduce violations across the city.

KARACHI: A judicial magistrate on Saturday granted bail to a serving police officer’s son, who was arrested in Karachi’s Defence Housing Authority (DHA) following a heated argument with officials for having a police number plate on a private luxury vehicle. A video of the man, identified as the son of Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Nasim Ara Panhwar, arguing with policemen had gone viral on social media. He was released from custody late on Friday night on personal surety, police sources said. A first information report (FIR) was registered against the suspect by the Defence police on Friday on the complaint of Sub-Inspector Shazan Shakeel. It invoked sections 353 (assault or criminal force to deter a public servant from the discharge of his duty), 186 (obstructing a public servant), 170 (personating a public servant) and 171 (wearing garb or carrying a token used by a public servant with fraudulent intent) of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC). On Saturday, the suspect appeared before the court of Judicial...

Karachi continued to endure intense heat on Thursday as a temperature of 36°C felt like 44°C due to high humidity and weather conditions.

Karachi Mayor Murtaza Wahab on Wednesday expressed objection to comparisons between Karachi and Lahore in terms of infrastructure and governance, noting that both provincial capitals had different ground realities. Speaking alongside Punjab Housing Minister Bilal Yasin in Lahore, Wahab said, “When you compare Karachi to Lahore, this comparison is improper because of the population. We get water from a distance of 125 kilometres. Our daily water requirement is 1,100 million gallons per day (MGD), while our daily supply is 550 MGD, and the population continues to grow”. “Therefore, I think that comparing them leads to conflict,” he added, calling for both administrations to “work together” and share expertise. At one point, a reporter asked Wahab why the PPP “could not deliver what the public wanted” despite ruling Sindh for years, prompting Yasin to ask media persons to be “mindful of respecting the guests”. Responding to another question, Wahab said making such comparisons “leads to an unfortunate situation”,...

Several key air routes within the airspace of Karachi will remain temporarily closed following a Notice to Airmen (NOTAM) issued by the Pakistan Airports Authority.

Work on the long-delayed University Road corridor in Karachi has officially resumed, with Mayor Murtaza Wahab confirming that the Frontier Works Organization (FWO) has restarted construction activities.

Gul Plaza’s three facades were clearly damaged in the stage II and III January 18 fire which killed 70 people, but when a building inspector came afterwards, he held back. “It was impossible to go inside,” he said, “the heat was too intense even after two days.” That same month, one after another, three other market fires erupted in Karachi, intensifying the feeling of anger and helplessness that the city had turned into a tinderbox because of years of neglect. The bodies just keep piling up. The preventable deaths from urban negligence — fires, open manholes, building collapses, electrocution, rains, bad road design — all speak to the systemic weakening of Karachi. At least 300 have been reported in newspapers so far in 2026 by rough count. Many of these deaths are evidence of the failure of vertical expansion of informality. You cannot allow floor upon floor, shop upon shop, to be slowly added to urban spaces and infrastructure that was never designed to support such density in the first place. Neither the ...

KARACHI: An 11-year-old boy was feared to have drowned after he could not be recovered even hours after being swept away while swimming in an open water line in Karachi’s Scheme-33 area on Friday. East Deputy Commissioner (DC) Nasrullah Abbasi, who was supervising the rescue operation, told Dawn that the boy, Zahid Mohammed Khan, was swept away around 2pm while swimming in the Karachi Water and Sewerage Corporation (KWSC)’s line. He was not recovered until late at night, when the last updates were received. Lifeguards from Rescue 1122 and Edhi Foundation carried out the search for him, the DC said, adding that the delay in finding the boy could have been due to the heavy flow of water. Rescue 1122 said in a statement that its two teams were searching for the boy at two spots. The DC said KWSC officials had also visited the spot and had estimated that the boy may end up as far away as in Gulistan-i-Jauhar’s Block-1 near Continental Bakery, where an iron grill had been installed in the line. But that might take...

Inside the gynaecology clinic of Karachi’s largest public hospital, the air felt several degrees hotter. It was only 9:30am on a Friday in late February, and the windowless waiting room was already packed with women jostling for a place to sit, calling nurses for help, and scuffling for an ultrasound. Asiya, 21, was pregnant with her third child. The baby was due in May, when the mercury often crosses 38 degrees Celsius, and humidity soars past 70 per cent, making the heat unbearable. As temperatures rose in the room, Asiya felt nauseated and dizzy. “The heat exhausts me,” she said. “My body feels like lead, I’m barely able to stomach food. I am afraid that my child might be born sick.” Asiya lives in Lyari, one of Karachi’s most densely populated neighbourhoods, with narrow alleys and little to no green space. Inside her home, ventilation is poor and cooling scant. Intense summer heat in her neighbourhood is compounded by power outages that last up to 12 hours a day, shutting down fans and other appliances t...

Two exciting fixtures are lined up today (Tuesday) in Pakistan Super League Season 11, with matches taking place in Lahore and Karachi.

A major development has surfaced in the case of two minor sisters from Sadiqabad who were found abandoned in Karachi, as the initial post-mortem report has ruled out any signs of sexual assault.

KARACHI: A judicial magistrate on Monday sent a man to prison on judicial remand in a case pertaining to extending alleged threats to bomb the US consulate general in Karachi. Suspect Sharjeel Akbar was on Sunday arrested and booked in a case registered under Sections 506-B (criminal intimidation) and 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace) of the Pakistan Penal Code read with Section 25-D (Penalty for causing annoyance) of the Telegraph Act. The FIR was lodged at the Docks police station on the complaint of an inspector of the Foreign Security Cell, who said he was deputed at the US consulate and on April 15, the consulate’s staff informed him that they had received a threatening phone call from a man, who identified himself as Sharjeel Akbar, claiming that he had planted a bomb near the consulate. The complainant stated that he immediately informed his superiors and he, along with bomb disposable unit, searched the area for the explosives but did not find anything near the consul...

An 18-year-old daughter of Member of the National Assembly Iqbal Mehsud died after being struck by a stray bullet inside her home in Karachi, police said.

• 159 patients admitted to three city hospitals this year • Majority of them contracted the incurable virus due to ‘unsafe healthcare practices’ • Alarm raised over lack of basic infection control protocols in hospitals KARACHI: Three hospitals in Karachi have recorded a dramatic increase in the number of paediatric human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) cases over the last nine months and their numbers continue to grow, it emerged on Friday. According to sources, 10 HIV positive children were admitted to the Sindh Infectious Diseases Hospital and Research Centre (SIDH&RC) in 2024 and their number rose to over 70 in 2025. This year, 30 children with HIV positive status were admitted to the hospital. At the Indus Hospital, 144 HIV positive patients were reported in 2024, whose number rose to 176 in 2025. In the first quarter of this year, 69 HIV patients have been reported at the facility. “There has been an alarming surge in paediatrics cases registered at our hospital. Since August 2025 till date, 72 children le...