Pakistan

In a joint statement shared on Sunday, Pakistan and the European Union (EU) called on Afghanistan to deal with terrorist organisations operating from its soil and to ensure the protection of human rights, especially those of women and girls. The development came as the 7th Strategic Dialogue between Pakistan and the EU was convened in Brussels. The meeting was co-chaired by Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar and the EU’s chief diplomat Kaja Kallas. According to a joint statement shared by the Foreign Office (FO), Dar and Kallas discussed relations between Islamabad and Kabul amid cross-border tensions last month, with both top diplomats reaffirming their commitment to regional peace, stability, prosperity, and resolving issues with neighbours through dialogue. “The two sides called on Afghanistan’s de facto authorities to play a constructive role in achieving the shared objective of rooting out terrorism from Afghan soil,” the statement read. It added that Dar and Kallas expressed concern ov...

PML-N Senator Rana Sanaullah on Sunday reiterated the government’s offer to the opposition PTI to hold dialogue and resolve the long-standing political crises marring the country. Speaking to the media in Faisalabad, Sanaullah said, “We are still in favour of politicians sitting together at a table to resolve issues.” He recalled Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s “unconditional offer“ he made in August to all political parties to become a part of the ‘Misaq-i-Istehkam-i-Pakistan’ (Charter for Stability of Pakistan). Sanaullah was speaking to reporters as by-elections were underway today in PP-116, where his son-in-law Ahmed Shaharyar is contesting as the PML-N candidate. On the PTI’s official boycott of most of the by-elections held today, Sanaullah said, “Imran Khan sahib is not even doing politics. He has never done politics. It is this country’s and the public’s misfortune that he was brought [into power].” Sanaullah, also the PM’s political aide, assailed Imran for “always creating a deadlock”, while “democ...

Pakistan has called for rapid, grant-based, and predictable financing for climate-vulnerable developing countries, warning that recurring climate disasters are exacerbating debt distress and undermining development gains in nations that have contributed the least to global emissions. The appeal was made at a high-level side event titled “Operationalising Loss and Damage: Financing Resilience and Recovery in Vulnerable Countries”, organised jointly by the Ministry of Climate Change and Environmental Coordination and Unicef at the Pakistan Pavilion during the UN climate summit (COP30) in Belém, Brazil. Secretary for Climate Change and Environmental Coordination Aisha Humera Moriani, in her keynote address, stated that Pakistan was investing heavily in strengthening national resilience despite contributing less than one per cent to global greenhouse gas emissions. She recalled the catastrophic floods of 2022 and 2025 that displaced millions, damaged infrastructure and caused multi-billion-dollar economic losses....

Pakistan and the European Union (EU) on Saturday urged the Taliban administration to take “serious and practical” steps to eliminate terrorism, stressing that peace in Afghanistan is essential for regional stability.

A United Nations wildlife trade body decided on Sunday not to restrict India from importing endangered animals, after many countries supported reversing an earlier, stringent recommendation that had embroiled the private zoo run by Asia’s richest family. Vantara, a 3,500-acre zoo in Gujarat run by the philanthropic arm of the Reliance conglomerate led by Mukesh Ambani and his family, had faced allegations from non-profit and wildlife groups of improper imports of some animals, triggering higher scrutiny by Germany and the European Union. After visiting the facility in September, the Secretariat of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) issued a report this month asking India to “not issue any further import permits” as discrepancies had been found between exporter and importer trade data, and there were insufficient checks on the origin of some animals. At the CITES meeting in Uzbekistan, live-streamed on Sunday, the recommendation was reversed after many c...

The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has approved the establishment of the Special Branch as a formal specialised unit/separate cadre.

If ‘post-truth’ was Oxford Dictionaries’ 2016 Word of the Year, then ‘post-reality’ reflects the even murkier information climate unfolding today, one where audiences and journalists alike struggle to navigate competing narratives and contested facts. This shifting landscape framed the session ‘Truth, Trust, and Tenacity: The New Media Paradigm,’ held on Saturday, which brought together journalists Fazil Jamili, Azhar Abbas, Amber Rahim Shamsi and Azaz Syed under the moderation of Nadia Naqi. The discussion was part of the Adab Festival, which returned to Karachi for its 10th edition at Habitt City from November 22 to 23. Opening the discussion, Naqi noted the challenges journalists face in working and surviving in the current media environment. “Speaking the truth comes with challenges; often we’ve seen journalists being intimidated, and the controlled environment makes it difficult to speak the truth,” she said. “With truth, of course, comes trust. Is there public trust in the media? That’s the big question...

The Foreign Office (FO) on Sunday strongly condemned the continued Israeli attacks across the Gaza Strip as a “blatant violation of international law”. Despite a ceasefire signed by Israel and Hamas on October 9, Israeli forces have continued to regularly bombard Gaza with airstrikes, with the latest attack on Saturday leaving at least 21 dead in the territory. A statement issued by the FO today said, “Pakistan condemns, in the strongest possible terms, the attacks by Israeli occupying forces across Gaza.” It added that the attacks had reportedly resulted in the deaths of several Palestinian civilians and left many more wounded. “Such actions constitute a blatant violation of international law, relevant UN resolutions, and the recently concluded peace agreement at Sharm el-Sheikh,” the FO said. It said that the attacks also undermined international efforts aimed at achieving “lasting peace and stability” in the region. “The Government of Pakistan reiterates its call upon the international community to take im...

Pakistan has strongly condemned attacks by Israeli occupying forces across Gaza, which have reportedly resulted in the deaths of several Palestinian civilians and left many more wounded.

ISLAMABAD: Two premier lawyer bodies on Saturday extended support to the establishment of the Federal Constitutional Court (FCC) through the recently passed 27th Amendment. In a joint statement, the Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) and the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) affirmed that it was their two-decade-old demand that the FCC should be established with equal representation of the provinces for hearing constitutional and political matters, so that general public cases could be decided by the Supreme Court of Pakistan in a timely manner. The statement was jointly issued by PBC Vice Chairman Chaudhry Tahir Nasrullah Warriach and SCBA President Haroonur Rashid. According to the statement, the FCC will strengthen the federation. It said the premier bodies were watching carefully the entire process, including the appointment of judges, and would express their concerns and grievances, when needed, through decisions and resolutions of the general houses of both bodies. The statement said that the PBC and the SCB...

The United States is poised to launch a new phase of Venezuela-related operations in the coming days, four US officials told Reuters, as the Trump administration escalates pressure on President Nicolas Maduro’s government. Reuters was not able to establish the exact timing or scope of the new operations, nor whether US President Donald Trump had made a final decision to act. Reports of looming action have proliferated in recent weeks as the US military has deployed forces to the Caribbean amid worsening relations with Venezuela. Two of the US officials said covert operations would likely be the first part of the new action against Maduro. All four officials quoted in this article spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of impending action by the United States. The Pentagon referred questions to the White House. The CIA declined to comment. A senior administration official on Saturday did not rule anything out regarding Venezuela. “President Trump is prepared to use every element of Amer...

FAISALABAD - State Minister for National Health Services Dr.

PESHAWAR: TikTok is a popular entertainment app with approximately 1.6 billion active users worldwide, but here, like many other places, it is posing a new challenge to law enforcement agencies including the police to clamp down on cognisable offences in soft form. Police officials note with concern the increasingly disturbing trend to promote obscenity, vulgarity and brandishing of weapons to terrorise citizens: the rise of negative content on TikTok, which is increasingly influencing young people. Police say, content creators have turned to entertainment platforms like TikTok to make money by generating more views through showcasing of weapons and promoting vulgar content that is having a negative impact on society. In some cases, the exchange of abuses on the social media platform led to fire fight between individuals, resulting in killings. Taking note of the increasing trend, Peshawar police recently launched a crackdown against those responsible for pushing boundaries and were promoting negative content...

Control rooms have been set up at the Election Commission headquarters in Islamabad and Lahore to monitor the by-elections in six National Assembly and seven Punjab Assembly constituencies on Sunday.

LAHORE: Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) Emir Hafiz Naeemur Rehman has said that family enterprises and cult-based political parties cannot bring change in society. He was addressing the participants of JI’s Ijtima-i-Aam at Minar-i-Pakistan here on Saturday. He said that the nation wouldn’t allow the government to accept the supremacy of the United States in connection with foreign policy and internal affairs of Pakistan. He said that Islam does not provide immunity to anyone, be it a marshal or a president. He directed his party workers to invite all political workers without discrimination to join their struggle to change the ‘corrupt and dilapidated’ system. Talking about reforms to empower people, he lambasted the Punjab government and questioned why it had not held local government elections in the past one and a half decade. Talking about the education sector, he said the provincial governments had allocated tens of billions of rupees for the sector, yet the situation was utterly disappointing. Taking a dig at PPP ...

LAHORE: Former prime minister and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Central Punjab President Raja Pervaiz Ashraf said on Saturday that whenever the president steps down, his immunity will end too as the presidential immunity lasts only during his tenure. He was talking to the media after offering condolences to the family of PPP leader Mian Manzoor Ahmed Maneka. Mr Ashraf said that Mian Manzoor Maneka was an asset of the PPP, who stood with the party through thick and thin. He said it was not appropriate to comment on the IMF report and take it as a benchmark. All constitutional institutions should work within their limits, he said, adding that the Chief Minister of KPK should meet the founder of PTI to seek guidance. To another question, he said that no government wanted inflation, but it was true that it had been out of control. But now, it was bridled to a great extent. He said that the PPP had an agreement with the PML-N that the local bodies elections would be held in the province soon. Published in Dawn, No...

LAHORE/GUJRAT: Punjab Information Minister Azma Bukhari has dismissed the allegations made by KP Chief Minister Sohail Afridi regarding jail meeting permissions, stressing that Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz has no role whatsoever in arranging or influencing meetings between prisoners and visitors. In a detailed response, Ms Bukhari said that the chief minister “never interferes in the work of any government official,” and that all meetings inside jails were strictly governed by established prison rules. She said that political meetings were categorically prohibited under jail regulations, and the jail superintendent was the “final authority” on all such matters. She explained that prison officials only facilitate meetings between inmates and their immediate family members and that the list of approved visitors was provided by the prisoner himself. “If an inmate does not wish to meet someone, jail authorities cannot forcibly arrange such a meeting,” she added. Suggests KP CM to study the law; Kundi again rules o...

PESHAWAR: Ahead of 11th National Finance Commission (NFC)’s inaugural meeting scheduled for December 4, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has said that it is focusing on financial merger of the merged areas into federal divisible pool. Earlier on Friday, KP chief minister Muhammad Sohail Afridi in a media interaction in Islamabad told reporters that he intended to attend NFC inaugural meeting. He said that he was going to attend the meeting as it was a matter of provincial rights and that the Centre should pay Rs3 trillion of liabilities. On Saturday, KP adviser to chief minister on finance Muzzammil Aslam in a social media post stated the shared a range of items which the province was expecting from the 11th NFC Award. Province seeks to align Award with ‘ground realities’ He said that the KP was looking towards the financial merger for erstwhile Fata into federal divisible pool. “Currently, merged area gets special grants from federal government. This will pass on the burden on provinces and relief to federa...

Polling is being held today for by-elections in six National Assembly (NA) and seven Punjab Assembly (PA) constituencies.

Punjab police have finalised a comprehensive security plan for the by-elections being held in national and provincial constituencies across the province on Sunday (today).