Pakistan

Assistant Commissioner (AC) Pattoki, Furqan Muhammad Khan, passed away on Sunday after suffering a brain hemorrhage while engaged in flood relief operations.

President Asif Ali Zardari on Sunday gave his assent to the Anti-Terrorism (Amendment) Bill, 2025, a move aimed at strengthening the state’s counter-terrorism framework while ensuring transparency and accountability.

KARACHI: The Pakistani rupee is under increasing pressure as demand for dollars rises, while exchange companies are struggling with a severe shortage of cash dollars. Currency experts have warned that administrative measures aimed at supporting the rupee may backfire, especially in the face of unforeseen events such as the recent flood devastation across the country. Despite the growing demand for dollars and a reduction in supply, the rupee has managed to appreciate since the government crackdown and stricter monitoring in July. However, experts believe that the current trend could be unsustainable if demand continues to outstrip supply. According to currency dealers, many exchange companies are running low on US dollars, raising concerns about potential hoarding or smuggling. “While smuggling has been largely controlled, hoarding is becoming increasingly likely,” said one currency dealer. This shortage is also a sign of illegal currency operators possibly entering the market, further exacerbating the situat...

President Asif Ali Zardari on Sunday signed into law the Anti-Terrorism (Amendment) Bill, 2025, seeking to improve counterterrorism efforts while ensuring legal oversight and safeguards. The amendments, made to the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA), 1997, were passed by both the National Assembly and the Senate this month amid the opposition’s uproar, as it reinserted powers granted to law enforcement authorities (LEAs) and the armed forces to detain individuals for up to three months. “President Asif Ali Zardari has given assent to the Anti-Terrorism (Amendment) Bill, 2025,” today’s statement by the President’s House said. “This law strengthens the ability of security agencies to prevent terrorism and protect national security.” It added that the law included judicial oversight and safeguards to provide recourse against misuse and abuse of power, unlike past arbitrary practices. “The amendment aims to improve counter-terrorism efforts while ensuring legal oversight and safeguards,” it said. “This is an important step...

Olympic champion Sifan Hassan and Ethiopian Hailemaryam Kiros both ran course record times to win the titles at the Sydney Marathon on Sunday as the race entered a new era as part of the World Marathon Majors series. Dutchwoman Hassan showed her class to cross the line at the city’s Opera House in two hours, 18 minutes and 22 seconds, well clear of former world record holder Brigid Kosgei of Kenya with last year’s champion Workenesh Edesa third. View this post on Instagram In the men’s race, Kiros broke clear of the leading pack with Addisu Gobena at about the 30 kilometre mark and outsprinted his compatriot to win in 2:06:06. Gobena was second while Tebello Ramakongoana of Lesotho was a third. Kenyan marathon great Eliud Kipchoge, who turned 40 last year, dropped off the leading pack when the two Ethiopians broke away and finished ninth in 2:08:31. Sydney put on its best face with bright sunshine and cool temperatures as the race joined New York, London, Boston, Chicago, Tokyo and Berlin on the elite majors ...

Spillways of Rawal Dam will be opened at twelve-o-clock today as the water level in the dam has reached 1751.

All government and private schools in Punjab’s flood-hit Narowal district will remain closed from September 1 to 5 due to the deteriorating flood situation, officials announced on Sunday.

ISLAMABAD: Federal Ombudsperson for Protection Against Harassment (FOSPAH) has declared that constant CCTV surveillance of employees amounts to workplace harassment. Announcing the decision, Ombudsperson Fauzia Viquar also imposed a fine of Rs50,000 on the head of a private teaching institution for misusing CCTV surveillance and harassing a female officer. The decision arose in the case of a subordinate employee at the institution in Rawalpindi against its chief executive officer where the complainant alleged that she was subjected to excessive surveillance and intimidation. After reviewing the evidence, the ombudsperson found that the accused had engaged in unjustified and targeted monitoring, including sending CCTV screenshots to the complainant, which created a hostile and distressing work environment. The ombudsperson declared this behaviour to be harassment under the law and ordered payment of Rs50,000 in compensation to the victim and a penalty of censure against the CEO. The ombudsperson also directed ...

ISLAMABAD: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Saturday launched a formal inquiry into alleged financial irregularities in the multi-billion-rupee Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Cities Improvement Project (KPCIP) following concerns over procurement violations and suspected corruption. In a notice, seen by Dawn, issued to the project’s management unit of KPCIP, the NAB’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) chapter directed officials to furnish all records related to consultant hiring, contractor pre-qualification, bid submissions, audit reports and advertisements. The bureau cautioned that concealing or misreporting facts could lead to penal consequences under the National Acco­untability Ordin­ance, 1999. The move follows allegations by lawmakers in the KP Assembly of massive irregularities amounting to Rs32 billion in the project, which is funded by the Asian Development Bank and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank. Demands all records, cautions officials against hiding or misreporting facts The KPCIP is designed to up...

The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has categorically denied a fake advisory circulating on social media, which falsely claimed that mobile phones would be blocked if more than five SIMs were used within a month.

Deputy Commissioner Lahore has announced that educational activities across the city will resume from September 1 after days of disruption caused by heavy rains and floods.

Torrential downpours lashed several parts of Punjab and Peshawar on Saturday night, worsening the already grim situation in flood-hit regions.

SHARJAH: Saim Ayub and Hasan Nawaz struck half-centuries as Pakistan thumped the United Arab Emirates by 31 runs in Sharjah on Saturday, making it two wins from two in their T20 tri-series also featuring Afghanistan. Opener Saim smashed a 38-ball 69, with four sixes and seven fours, while Hasan’s 26-ball 56 included six maximums, lifting Pakistan to 207 all out in exactly 20 overs. Asif Khan threatened to snatch an unlikely win for UAE with a brilliant 35-ball 77 before falling in the last over. The UAE managed 176-8 from their 20 overs. Skipper Muhammad Waseem also hit a breezy 18-ball 33 but was run out in the sixth over. Earlier, Pakistan’s innings was built around the excellence of Saim and Hasan after they won the toss and batted first. Once Pakistan lost Sahibzada Farhan, Fakhar Zaman and skipper Salman Agha cheaply, it was left to Saim and Hasan to provide the rescue acts. Saim’s fourth T20I half-century came off just 25 balls while Hasan’s fifty was reached in 24 deliveries with a hat-trick of sixes o...

CHINIOT - The Chenab River has reached a historic high flood tide of 855,500 cusecs in Chiniot, with the water level continuously decreasing.

Flood death toll rises to 30 n 130 villages inundated in Jhang district 14 snake bites cases reported due to flood in Sialkot PDMA issues high alert for Jhang, Multan as 900,000 cusecs expected at Trimmu Headworks and 700,000 cusecs at Head Muhammad Wala today.

ISLAMABAD - Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Saturday landed in China to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit, the 80th anniversary of the victory of the Chinese People’s War in Beijing and other official engagements.

ISLAMABAD: Leading human rig­hts and civil society organisations in a joint press conference on Saturday condemned government’s failure to put an end to the practice of enforced disappearances, calling it a deeply entrenched tool of repression that continues to devastate many families. The groups, including Amnesty Int­ernational, the Human Rights Com­mi­ssion of Pakistan (HRCP) and Defence of Human Rights (DHR), voiced collective alarm over what they described as a systemic failure to deliver justice, truth or reparations to victims and their families. “A flawed system of accountability and official data from the Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappear­a­nces (COIOED) reveals the scale of the problem but also the system’s failure to provide meaningful justice,” cha­­irperson of Defence of Human Rig­­hts (DHR) Amna Masood Janjua said. Ms Janjua noted that state institutions have practised enforced disappearances with utmost impunity for over two decades. HRCP, seven other groups seek justice, legal reform...

ISLAMABAD - We were asleep when a wave of stones and mud along with roaring flood entered our vil-lage and all of sudden swept away many houses.

LAHORE - Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif reached PDMA head office during heavy rain on Saturday and reviewed flood situation and took a briefing from all Deputy Commission-ers on video link.

ISLAMABAD: The Judicial Department of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) has submitted a report in Dr Aafia Siddiqui’s case, stating that the contempt of court notices served to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and his federal cabinet cannot be executed before resolving certain legal issues. The department placed a report in the case file of Dr Fowzia Siddiqui, who is seeking her sister Dr Aafia Siddiqui’s release from a US prison, noting that the notices to premier and his ministers over non-compliance of the order were not executable. In its report, the registrar office proposed the formation of a larger bench to deliberate over three central legal issues. The office questioned whether a judge can self-assign cases to their court, violating the Roster of Sitting. It also asked whether a judge can hear a case without the issuance of the approved cause list and whether the consent of various benches is mandatory for the consolidation of identical petitions. IHC registrar office proposes larger bench to determine leg...