Pakistan

Five members of a family were killed in a road accident on the Hazara Motorway in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Haripur district late on Monday night, according to Rescue 1122. Faraz Bilal Sidiqqui, the spokesperson for Rescue 1122 in Haripur, told Dawn.com that the accident took place when a trailer en route to Rawalpindi collided with a car near Maqsood interchange on the motorway. “As a result, five members of a family, including three men and two women, were killed,” he said. Sidiqqui added that rescue personnel shifted the dead bodies to a type-D hospital in Havelian. Accidents are common on highways and motorways across Pakistan, caused by reckless driving, speeding, driver fatigue, and poor vehicle maintenance. Poor road conditions contribute to mishaps, while weak enforcement of traffic laws allows violations to go unchecked, worsening the situation. In August, a policeman deployed on the security of a Chinese delegation had died while six others, including a deputy superintendent of police, were injured when ...

Adviser to the Prime Minister on Political Affairs Rana Sanaullah Khan won the Senate by-election from Punjab on Tuesday, according to unofficial results. According to Form-56 of the election results, the government candidate Sanaullah won after getting 250 votes. The polling was held at the Punjab Assembly. Out of 363 members of the provincial legislature, 251 cast their ballots and one vote was rejected. Sanaullah and the opposition’s Salma Ejaz, wife of disqualified candidate Ejaz Chaudhry, were in the fray. However, the opposition PTI had boycotted the by-election for the seat that fell vacant due to the disqualification of party senator Chaudhry. The government alliance had a majority of 263 voters, while the opposition had the support of 100 voters. The polling process in the Punjab Assembly continued uninterrupted from 9am to 4pm. Addressing the media after his victory, Sanaullah said, “The PTI did not choose to boycott the democratic process but chose to escape from the elections. Their boycott of the...

The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) on Tuesday warned of possible flooding in parts of Sindh and Balochistan due to expected widespread rainfall over the next 48 hours.

President Asif Ali Zardari on Tuesday directed the Ministry of National Food Security to take urgent measures to safeguard food security in the country in the wake of the recent flood devastation.

The National Commission on the Status of Women (NCSW), in collaboration with UNFPA, UN Women, Group Development Pakistan and the Embassy of the Netherlands, has concluded a two-day national consultation to finalise a unified framework for Pakistan’s first-ever National Gender Parity Report, scheduled for launch on International Women’s.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has directed the Federal Board of Revenue to expedite the completion of the income and sales taxpayer directory, aimed at recognizing and honoring responsible taxpayers.

Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has expressed support for building new dams in the country but urged the federal government to immediately focus on flood relief and declare an agricultural emergency.

School teachers across Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa will soon require a licence to continue teaching, as part of the government’s efforts to ensure high educational standards, the province’s Department of Elementary and Secondary Education said on Tuesday. Last year, Sindh became the first province to introduce a teaching licence test under its teaching licence policy — introduced in 2023 — in a bid to ensure a higher calibre of educators in schools. According to a notification issued by the department, a copy of which is available with Dawn.com, “only registered and licensed teachers will be authorised to teach at schools”, for which the education department will set up a regulatory body. The regulatory body will be responsible for issuing licences, as well as renewing them based on the teachers’ performance, the notification said. The establishment of the licensing regulatory body aims to “improve the quality of education”, enhance student learning outcomes, by ensuring that only “licensed and professionally qualifie...

Pakistan captain Salman Agha and his Indian counterpart Suryakumar Yadav will not tell their teammates to temper aggression when the arch-rivals clash in a geopolitically-charged men’s Asia Cup contest in Dubai on Sunday. It will be the first cricket match between the sides since four days of military conflict between the nuclear-armed neighbours in May this year. While players from both sides have shared cordial relations over the years despite geopolitical realities, both captains were asked if they would instruct their players to dial down their aggression, considering the larger context. “You don’t need to say anything to any player because every individual is different,” a relaxed-looking Salman said at the captains’ pre-tournament media interaction in Dubai on Tuesday. “If someone wants to be aggressive in the field, they are more than welcome to do that. “When it comes to fast bowlers, they are always aggressive and you can’t stop them because that’s what keeps them going. “So from my side, there is no...

Federal Minister for Climate Change and Environmental Coordination Dr.

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has announced December 31 as the deadline for all members of parliament and provincial assemblies to submit their yearly statements of assets and liabilities, including those of their spouses and dependents.

The federal government is preparing a relief plan to ease electricity bills for flood-affected families and a compensation package for farmers who lost crops and livestock.

A massive fire ripped through a garments factory in New Karachi’s Sector 8-A, causing the three-storey building to collapse with a loud explosion and leaving five firefighters injured.

PML-N senior leader Rana Sanaullah has been elected Senator in the Punjab by-election for a vacant Senate seat, securing 250 votes.

Pakistan’s Drug Regulatory Authority (Drap) on Tuesday ordered the withdrawal of a batch of Anarob antibiotic drip after it was found to contain harmful levels of bacterial toxins. Anarob Infusion is an intravenous antibiotic drip containing metronidazole, commonly used in hospitals to treat serious bacterial infections in the stomach, skin, lungs, joints, and other parts of the body when oral medicines are not effective. A medical product alert issued today said Drap’s Central Drugs Laboratory had informed the body that samples of the drug were declared “substandard” due to being out of specification for bacterial endotoxins. “Use of this contaminated infusion may cause severe adverse reactions such as fever, chills, septic shock and life-threatening complications. Hospitalised and immunocompromised patients are at the greatest risk,” the authority warned. It said its field force and Provincial Drug Control departments were directed to immediately conduct market surveys to detect and remove the affected batc...

Punjab Assembly Speaker Malik Muhammad Ahmad Khan on Tuesday said the opposition’s boycott of the electoral process was their political decision, but noted that their candidate’s name was not withdrawn from the Election Commission, making the election unavoidable.

Pakistan and China have agreed to enhance cooperation in space science, astronaut training, and the establishment of a Pakistan Space Center under a five-year action plan.

At least four firemen and one cameraman of a private TV channel were injured on Tuesday when a huge fire destroyed a garment factory in New Karachi Industrial Area, according to police and rescue services officials. Central District Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Zeeshan Shafiq Siddiqi told Dawn.com that the factory building that originally caught fire collapsed, and four firemen were injured as a result. Rescue 1122 spokesperson Hassaanul Haseeb Khan, in a statement, said, “Besides the four firefighters, a cameraman of a private TV channel was also injured due to the building collapse.” New Karachi Industrial Area Station House Officer (SHO) Rizwan Qureshi told Dawn.com that the fire erupted at around 6:30am and factory building collapsed around noon. According to SSP Siddiqi, the presence of diesel drums compounded the fire, which spread rapidly, engulfing two more industrial units in its vicinity. The injured firefighters were taken to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital, while further checks were being car...

Pakistani authorities have allegedly been surveilling over four million of its citizens, via tools of mass surveillance, acquired from private foreign companies, further clamping down on the country’s cyber landscape, an Amnesty International report revealed on Tuesday. The report, titled “Shadows of Control: Censorship and Mass Surveillance in Pakistan“ alleged that “Pakistani authorities have continued to unlawfully surveil the country’s citizens, including regular citizens, journalists, as well as prominent politicians.” The rights watchdog stated that Pakistani authorities allegedly “use the Lawful Intercept Management System (LIMS) to surveil a significant portion of the population’s digital activity through Pakistani telecommunications providers.” The number of phones under surveillance could be higher as all four major mobile operators have been ordered to connect to LIMS, Amnesty technologist Jurre van Berge told Reuters. The report, citing the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA), said that tel...

Polling for the Senate by-election is currently underway at the Punjab Assembly Hall.