Pakistan

ISLAMABAD - Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) on Monday is­sued non-bailable arrest warrants against sever­al leaders of PTI includ­ing Zartar Gul, Omar Ayub, Zain Qureshi and Ali Bokha­ri in protest and riots case.

ISLAMABAD - The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Monday announced a ban on the post­ing and transfer of govern­ment officers in Faisalabad and Sahiwal districts, aiming to ensure free, fair, and trans­parent by-elections in the re­spective constituencies.

ISLAMABAD - Minister for Interior Mohsin Naqvi called on Pa­kistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari at Bilawal House in Karachi.

LAHORE - The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Monday acquit­ted a death row inmate, Maqbool Hussain, who was convicted of killing a man over a financial dis­pute.

LAHORE - An anti-terrorism court on Monday granted a fur­ther 10-day physical remand of Pir Zaheerul Has­san Shah, the deputy chief of Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) , in a case pertaining to an inflam­matory speech against a senior judicial figure.

ISLAMABAD - The Constitutional Bench of the Supreme Court of Pakistan on Monday adjourned the hearing of multiple petitions challenging the imposition of super tax until Tuesday.

ISLAMABAD - The federal government on Monday dismissed the claim of newly elected Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi that the bullet proof ve­hicles recently gifted by the Centre to the provincial police were defective and outdated.

DEPALPUR /LAHORE - Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif on Monday announced Rs100 billion pack-age for the rehabilitation of flood victims across the province, pledging complete transpar-ency and swift assistance to every affected family.

PM PM calls for promotion of cottage SMEs to achieve industrial developmentcalls for promotion of cottage SMEs to achieve industrial development.

Amazon’s cloud services unit AWS was struggling to recover on Monday from a widespread outage that knocked out thousands of websites along with some of the world’s most popular apps — Snapchat and Reddit — and disrupted businesses globally. The turmoil marked the largest internet disruption since last year’s CrowdStrike malfunction hobbled technology systems in hospitals, banks and airports, and highlights the vulnerability of the world’s interconnected technologies. After more than nine hours of disruptions, some applications were gradually coming back online as of 1pm ET (10pm PKT). But AWS acknowledged that elevated errors were still affecting several AWS services and that it was working on recovering connectivity. AWS was down for more than 9,300 users as of 1pm ET, according to outage tracking website Downdetector. That figure is higher than the earlier peak of about 5,800 reports at 3:48am ET (12:48pm PKT). Lambda, one of AWS’s computing services, was experiencing errors due to issues with an internal s...

Veteran Bollywood comedy actor Govardhan Asrani died after a prolonged illness on Monday at the age of 84, Indian media outlets reported. A post on his Instagram account confirmed his demise, saying: “The news of the demise of Asrani ji, the king of laughter, ruling over millions of hearts has immersed us all in deep sorrow. He gave a new identity to Indian cinema with his unique acting, simplicity and humor. The life they put into every character, will live in our memories forever. Their departure is not just for the film industry, but the loss of everyone who ever smiled at their acting.” View this post on Instagram Indian wire agency ANI reported that his last rites were performed at Santacruz Crematorium in the presence of his family. His manager, Babu Bhai Thiba, told the outlet that Asrani died at 3pm at Arogya Nidhi Hospital, Mumbai, Maharashtra. “He is survived by his wife, sister, and nephew,” the manager added. The outlet added that over his long and successful career, Asrani became one of Hindi cin...

After a week of violence, residents on the frontier between Pakistan and Afghanistan are hoping a new ceasefire deal will end the clashes and revive crucial cross-border trade. While the crossings remain closed, life has regained a semblance of normality, with bakers kneading bread, fruit and vegetable sellers wheeling out their carts, and customers frequenting shops. “People can breathe and feel relieved. (But) before that, gunfire damaged a few houses in our village,” said Sadiq Shah, 56, a shopkeeper from Baizai on the Pakistani side. Fighting between Pakistan and Afghanistan broke out after explosions in Kabul on October 9. The Taliban government blamed the blasts on its neighbour and launched a retaliatory border offensive, prompting Islamabad to vow a strong response. After further clashes left soldiers and civilians dead, the two sides declared an initial 48-hour ceasefire on Wednesday. New Pakistani strikes hit Afghanistan on Friday, with Islamabad saying it was targeting armed groups that the Taliban...

Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said on Monday that the ceasefire agreement between Islamabad and Kabul was linked to the Afghan Taliban’s ability to rein in terrorists attacking Pakistan from neighbouring soil. The two countries agreed to a ceasefire in Doha at the weekend after days of border clashes that killed dozens, the worst such violence since the Taliban seized power in Kabul in 2021. Ground fighting between the one-time allies and Pakistani airstrikes across their contested 2,600-kilometre frontier were triggered after Islamabad demanded that Kabul control terrorists it says operate from safe havens in Afghanistan. “Anything coming from Afghanistan will be [a] violation of this agreement,” Asif said in his office at Parliament in Islamabad. “Everything hinges on this one clause.” The Taliban administration and Afghanistan’s defence ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment. “In the agreement signed by Pakistan, Afghanistan, Turkiye and Qatar, it was clearly spelled out that there wo...

Saudi Arabia joined other nations on Monday in welcoming the ceasefire agreed between Pakistan and Afghanistan after days of border hostilities, affirming its support for efforts aimed at promoting peace and stability between the two countries. The ceasefire was agreed early yesterday morning during talks between Afghan and Pakistani delegations in Doha with the mediation of Qatar and Turkiye. A next round of negotiations between the two sides is scheduled to be held in Istanbul on October 25. A statement posted on the Saudi foreign ministry’s X account said it “expresses the kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s welcome of the signing by the Islamic Republic of Pakistan and Afghanistan of an immediate ceasefire and the establishment of mechanisms to consolidate lasting peace and stability between the two countries, during the round of negotiations held in Doha.” “The kingdom affirms its support for all regional and international efforts aimed at promoting peace and stability, and its continued commitment to ensuring sec...

Pakistan bowler Rameen Shamim said on Monday that although the weather was out of their control, the team was trying their best to make the semi-finals ahead of their pivotal South Africa ICC Women’s World Cup encounter on Tuesday. Monsoon rains in Colombo have seen Pakistan’s last two matches end in washouts against England and New Zealand, respectively, costing the team a chance to pick up more points in their last-four push. The washed-out New Zealand fixture on Saturday saw South Africa become the second team to qualify for the semi-finals of the tournament, with the Green Shirts still searching for their first win. Speaking at the pre-match press conference in Colombo, Rameen said: “Yeah, obviously, rain is not in our control. We cannot control the weather. Yeah, unfortunately, we are upset because we were up to the mark against England. “… But we are confident because we played some good cricket in the last two matches. And now we have to play against South Africa and Sri Lanka.” The off-spinner added t...

PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari and Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi on Monday stressed the need for internal stability and unity to tackle the current challenges afflicting the country. The meeting came in the wake of a feud between the PPP and PML-N, coalition partners in the federation, that has seemed to cool down for now. Ties between the allies came under immense strain recently as they engaged in a war of words over flood relief, after Bilawal asserted that the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) was the “sole method” of providing relief to those affected by floods in the country, while Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz accused his party of “politicising” the issue. Concerted efforts were made by leading figures, such as Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and President Asif Ali Zardari, who stepped in to defuse tensions, with the latter also calling on Naqvi to play his role for a possible rapprochement. A statement from the PPP issued today said Bilawal met Naqvi and discussed issues of mutual inter...

At least two people, both workers of the outlawed Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat (ASWJ), were shot dead in a suspected targeted attack in the Nagan Chowrangi area of Karachi on Monday. The attack comes over a week after another worker of the ASWJ was shot dead on the main University Road in Karachi, while in a separate attack in March, a local leader of the party was shot. “A religious scholar-cum-shopkeeper and his employee were shot dead in a suspected targeted attack at Nagan Chowrangi on Monday evening,” SSP Central Zeeshan Shafiq Siddiqi told Dawn.com. The incident occurred near an ASWJ office, he said. “Armed pillion riders resorted to direct fire on the shopkeeper and his employee and fled,” said Siddiqi, adding that the incident “appeared to be a targeted killing” but the exact motive has not yet been ascertained. “They sustained critical bullet injuries and were transported to Abbasi Shaheed Hospital, where doctors pronounced them dead on arrival,” added the police official. “The deceased have been identifie...

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The Lahore High Court (LHC) was informed on Monday that the computerised national identity card (CNIC) of social media personality Arshad Khan, who rose to fame as ‘chaiwala’, was restored by the National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra) after verification. Khan, who hails from Mardan, rose to fame back in 2016 when a photographer shared a photo of him pouring tea on Instagram, which went viral. He approached the LHC in April against the blocking of his identity documents by Nadra and the Directorate General of Immigration and Passports. An order issued today by LHC Justice Justice Jawad Hassan noted that the petitioner informed the court his grievance was redressed. “Learned counsel for the petitioner … submits that after this court had taken cognizance of the matter, the competent authority called the petitioner to appear before the verification board constituted at the concerned office of Nadra and after due verification, his CNIC has been unblocked, thereby redressing his grievance,” the order ...

Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif on Monday extended Diwali greetings to the Hindu community and other religious minorities, calling the festival a “beautiful message of joy, peace and tolerance” and reaffirming the government’s commitment to protecting minority rights.