Pakistan

Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz on Friday dismissed demands for an apology from her political rivals, asserting that it was their spokespersons who owed Punjab an apology for mocking the province during the historic floods.

Federal Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi on Friday commended the Security Forces for their successful operation in the Shirani district of Balochistan, which resulted in the elimination of seven Indian-sponsored terrorists.

The UN Security Council (UNSC) Committee has temporarily lifted a travel ban on the Afghan Taliban foreign minister, which would allow him to visit India between October 9 and 16, India’s foreign ministry said on Friday. If confirmed, it would be the first visit to India by a senior leader of the Taliban-run Afghan administration since it seized power in 2021 after 20 years of US military presence. Delhi and Kabul have traditionally enjoyed close ties when the Islamist Taliban were not in power. Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi is among Afghan Taliban members who are under UN sanctions, including a travel ban and asset freeze. Temporary exemptions are sometimes granted for diplomacy. The Afghan administration did not immediately respond to inquiries about Muttaqi’s travel plans. India’s foreign ministry spokesperson told reporters that New Delhi had already been speaking to the Afghan administration, and noted that it had provided support after an earthquake on August 31. He did not specifically confirm tha...

Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif on Friday said that she would “never apologise” over a recent outburst which escalated into a rift between her party, the PML-N, and its coalition partner, the PPP. The war of words between the two sides — kicked off over flood compensation — expanded to water rights on the Indus River as the Punjab chief minister told the PPP leadership to keep its advice to itself. In response, the PPP, the ruling party in Sindh, had lawmakers stay away from the National Assembly and Senate sittings to protest the diatribe. On Wednesday, PPP and PML-N bigwigs met in Islamabad to find a way out of the row, with the former asking Maryam to “rethink her tone” while speaking about water rights of the provinces. Addressing a ceremony in Lahore, the Punjab CM censured the PPP for hurling “wrongful criticism” at the Punjab government amid devastating floods sweeping the country. “When floods swept through Punjab, the people of one province not only wrongly criticised the Punjab government,...

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said on Friday that the 20-point Gaza peace plan released by US President Donald Trump was “not ours” but insisted that there was no room for politicking on the matter. Speaking on the floor of the National Assembly, Dar referred to his earlier press briefing in Islamabad and said: “I made it clear that the 20 points that President Trump made public are not ours. Changes were made to our draft. I have the record.” However, he went on to say: “This is the end result, and there is no room for politicking.” Eight Muslim and Arab countries — Jordan, United Arab Emirates, Indonesia, Pakistan, Türkiye, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Egypt — had held a meeting with Trump on the sidelines of the 80th United Nations General Assembly session, where the US president discussed his plan for ending the Israeli onslaught in Gaza. On Sept 29, US President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had met and, in a press conference after the meeting, announced the forme...

Indian Air Force Chief Amar Preet Singh on Friday claimed that his country “downed five Pakistani fighter jets of the F-16 and JF-17 class” during the intense fighting between the nuclear-armed neighbours in May. “As far as air defence part is concerned, we have evidence of one long-range strike … along with that five fighters, high-tech fighters between F-16 and JF-17 class, our system tells us,” Singh told reporters at the Indian Air Force annual day press conference. However, he did not share the said evidence. The F-16 is a US-made fighter jet, while the JF-17 is of Chinese origin. Although Singh had previously too claimed without credible evidence that five Pakistani fighter jets and another military aircraft were shot down during the conflict, this is the first time New Delhi has mentioned the class of jets in public. He also refused to comment on Pakistan downing Indian jets in May. The first time the Indian air chief had claimed that Pakistan’s jets were downed during the four-day escalation, Defence ...

India and China will resume direct flights between their two countries this month after a five-year suspension, officials said, with bookings opening on Friday. Direct flights between the world’s two most populous countries were suspended during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 and were not resumed as tensions grew between Beijing and New Delhi over border disputes. Relations between the Asian rivals have since thawed, and their leaders spoke in China in August and in Kazan, Russia, last year. Following technical discussions, “it has now been agreed that direct air services connecting designated points in India and China can resume by late October”, an Indian government statement released on Thursday said. “This agreement of the civil aviation authorities will further facilitate people-to-people contact between India and China, contributing towards the gradual normalisation of bilateral exchanges,” it said. IndiGo, India’s largest commercial operator, said today it would start direct daily flights between Kolkat...

Security forces killed seven terrorists during an intelligence-based operation (IBO) in Balochistan’s Sherani district, the military’s media affairs wing said on Friday. In a statement, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said that on October 1, security forces conducted an IBO in Sherani on the reported presence of terrorists belonging to Indian proxy, Fitna al Khawarij. Fitna al Khawarij is a term the state uses for terrorists belonging to the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). “During the conduct of [the] operation, own forces effectively engaged the terrorists’ location, and after an intense fire exchange, seven Indian-sponsored terrorists were sent to hell,” the ISPR said. It added that weapons, ammunition and explosives were also recovered from the terrorists, who remained actively involved in “numerous terrorist activities” in the area. According to the ISPR, a sanitisation operation was underway to eliminate other terrorists in the area. “The security forces of Pakistan are determined to ...

Minister of State for Interior and Narcotics Control Talal Chaudhry said on Friday that Pakistan’s diplomacy is achieving new milestones under the current leadership.

The Punjab Safe Cities Authority (PSCA) has successfully reunited more than 430 missing, abandoned, and special persons with their families through the use of modern technology and artificial intelligence.

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar on Friday expressed confidence that the concerns raised by Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) members, who are allies in the government, would be resolved.

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar on Friday rejected the altered draft of the Gaza peace agreement, clarifying that the 20 points presented by U.

Punjab Relief Commissioner Nabeel Javed on Friday assured that the ongoing survey and financial assistance process for flood-affected people will be completed in a timely and efficient manner.

The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) staged a walkout from the National Assembly on Friday in protest against remarks made by Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz.

Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Friday strongly condemned Israel’s detention of former Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) Senator Mushtaq Ahmed Khan and other activists aboard the Global Samoud Flotilla, demanding their immediate release.

A police constable was martyred and seven others, including civilians, injured when a remote-controlled bomb targeted a patrolling police van in Peshawar’s Garhi Qamardin area, on Friday.

Chairman of the Prime Minister’s Youth Programme (PMYP), Rana Mashhood Ahmad Khan, on Friday claimed that Pakistan downed seven Indian aircraft and disabled India’s S-400 defense system during the recent “Maarka-e-Haq.

Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif on Friday praised Pakistan’s security forces for eliminating seven India-supported terrorists belonging to the group Fitanah al-Khawarij in the Sherani district of Balochistan.

The Sindh High Court on Friday suspended a notification issued by the University of Karachi (KU) that cancelled the law degree of Islamabad High Court’s (IHC) Justice Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri. The court’s decision came during the hearing of a petition filed by Justice Jahangiri on Monday impugning the decisions of the KU’s Unfair Means Committee (UMC) and Syndicate, which cancelled his degree in August last year. The KU registrar, the Sindh advocate general and others appeared before the court as it took up the plea today. They sought more time for submitting their replies on the plea, saying that they had received notices pertaining to the case yesterday. At that, Justice Iqbal Kalhoro remarked, “We are ready to give more time but what if any action is taken against the petitioner in this duration? If we accept your request today and any action is taken tomorrow, who will take responsibility in that case?” He further enquired whether the respondents had issued any notice to Jahangiri before “taking action aga...

Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Friday agreed to strengthen partnership on rail modernisation and regional connectivity, Press Information Department (PID) said. Pakistan and the UAE share close diplomatic, economic, and cultural ties. The UAE is one of Pakistan’s largest trading partners in the Middle East and a major source of remittances, with a large Pakistani expatriate population living and working there. According to the PID, Minister of State for Finance and Railways Bilal Azhar Kayani met the UAE’s Minister of Energy and Infrastructure Suhail Mohamed Al Mazrouei in Abu Dhabi, discussing “opportunities to strengthen cooperation in upgrading Pakistan’s rail network to boost trade, enhancing connectivity and supporting sustainable economic growth.” The ministers reaffirmed the “strong brotherly ties between both countries and expressed their shared commitment to advancing mutual prosperity and promoting environmentally responsible transport solutions in the region,” the statement added. T...