Pakistan

Four terrorists belonging to the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) were arrested for their involvement in the suicide blast in Islamabad earlier this week, the government said on Friday. “In a joint operation conducted by the Intelligence Bureau Division and the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD), four members of the TTP/Fitna al-Khawarij terrorist cell involved in the suicide attack at the Judicial Complex G-11, Islamabad have been apprehended,” the government said in a post on social media platform X. Fitna-al-Khawarij is a term the state uses for terrorists belonging to the TTP. The government said that during the investigation, the handler of the suicide bomber, identified as Sajidullah alias Sheena, confessed that TTP Commander Saeedur Rehman alias Daadullah contacted him through the Telegram app to carry out a suicide attack in Islamabad to cause maximum casualties of law enforcement agencies. The government said that the TTP commander sent pictures of the suicide bomber, identified as Usman alias...

The Punjab Education Foundation (PEF) announced on Friday that all partner schools will now observe Saturday as a weekly holiday.

The Senate swiftly passed four bills related to the recently approved contentious 27th Constitutional Amendment on Friday, including one that seeks changes to the Army Act and resets the tenure of Chief of the Army Staff (COAS) Field Marshal Asim Munir after his appointment as the chief of the defence forces (CDF). As explained by Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar in the National Assembly (NA) yesterday, this means that the five-year tenure of the chief of the defence forces would commence from the date of his notification of the appointment. The four bills were passed by the Senate today — a day after their hurried passage in the National Assembly — without debate and with little resistance from the opposition. Apart from the Pakistan Army Amendment Bill 2025, the bills also included the Pakistan Air Force Amendment Bill 2025, the Pakistan Navy Amendment Bill 2025, and the Supreme Court Practice and Procedure Amendment Bill 2025. Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar tabled the Pakistan Army Amen...

The United States circulated a second revision of its draft resolution on Gaza at the UN Security Council (UNSC) on Thursday, even as Russia countered with its own text calling for the preservation of the current ceasefire and a renewed commitment to a two-state solution. Senior UN diplomats told Dawn that Washington placed “Revision 2” of its draft under a silence procedure until 6:30pm New York time on November 13, a step intended to indicate that the negotiation phase was nearly complete. Under this procedure, the absence of objections signifies consent. “But China and Russia broke the silence,” one diplomat said, noting that both delegations submitted formal objections shortly before the deadline. “Once silence is broken, other member states may also submit comments — and some did — although Pakistan did not,“ the diplomat added. Following the break, Russia swiftly distributed its own draft resolution to UNSC members. Breaking silence means, the US may now be forced to resume negotiations. Washington may ...

RAWALPINDI: After a day and a night of chaos, focus will finally shift back to cricket when Pakistan take on Sri Lanka in the second One-day International at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium on Friday. The encounter — Pakistan’s opportunity to wrap up their second successive ODI series — comes after a turbulent 48 hours that threatened to overshadow the cricket itself. The match was originally slated for Thursday, but the schedule was thrown into disarray after a terror attack in Islamabad on Tuesday sparked understandable concern within the Sri Lankan camp. Reports soon emerged that several visiting players were contemplating abandoning the tour altogether. The uncertainty prompted urgent intervention from Pakistan’s interior minister and Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Mohsin Naqvi, who, along with the country’s top security officials, held lengthy discussions with the Sri Lankan delegation to assure them of their safety. By late Wednesday night, the situation had stabilised. Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) rea...

The federal cabinet has approved the launch of a new ferry service connecting Gwadar in Balochistan with Oman, the Ministry of Maritime Affairs announced on Friday.

Air pollution across Punjab has surged to life-threatening levels, with Lahore once again emerging as one of the most polluted cities in the world.

Justice Aminuddin Khan on Friday took oath as the first chief justice of the newly established Federal Constitutional Court (FCC).

More than 25 million children across Pakistan are currently out of school, with 20 million of them having never attended school, according to a new report by the Pakistan Institute of Education (PIE).

The Army Act Amendment Bill will be presented before the Senate today (Friday) for formal approval as part of a major legislative agenda set for the session.

Pakistan is preparing to return to the international debt markets next year by issuing dollar-denominated Eurobonds, ending a nearly five-year pause, Bloomberg reported.

A comprehensive list prepared under the 27th Constitutional Amendment has proposed the transfer of 14 judges from the Lahore High Court (LHC) and Islamabad High Court (IHC) to various provincial benches across the country, sources said.

• Proposals to be considered in TTAP meeting today • Achakzai wants demos on Fridays • KP CM stopped from meeting Imran for sixth time ISLAMABAD: Appre­ciating the resignations of the judges of the top court and urging the judiciary to stand on its feet, the PTI’s Parlia­mentary Commi­ttee has suggested holding countrywide protests against the passage of the 27th Constitutional Amendment. However, the suggestions will be discussed in a meeting of the opposition alliance Tehreek Tahafuz Ayeen-i-Pakistan (TTAP) on Friday (today), followed by a press conference. The parliamentary party’s meeting was chaired by Mahmood Khan Achakzai, the Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP) chief and TTAP chairman, and attended by PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan, Asad Qaiser and other members of the National Assembly. Former NA speaker Qaiser, while talking to Dawn, said during the meeting, proposals were sought to devise a strategy after the passage of the 27th Amendment. “The participants [of the meeting] unanimously agr...

.

.

.

Settlers set mosque ablaze as violence surges

.

ISLAMABAD - Investigation by security agencies into terrorist attack on Cadet College Wana has re-vealed that the attackers were Afghan citizens and the attack was planned and controlled from Af-ghanistan.

ISLAMABAD - Minister for Defence Khawaja Muhammad Asif said on Thursday that Pakistan is commit-ted to promoting peace, stability, and cooperation across the region, particularly with Central Asian states.