Pakistan

The first of 180 Pakistani Hajj flights scheduled to fly to Saudi Arabia’s Jeddah — part of the Road to Makkah Initiative — arrived at the King Abdul Aziz International Airport from Islamabad carrying 310 Haj pilgrims, the Associated Press of Pakistan reported today. Launched in 2019 at the Islamabad airport and later extended to Karachi, the Road to Makkah initiative offers an exemption to Haj pilgrims from the immigration process at Saudi airports by clearing them at their respective airports in Pakistan by Saudi immigration officials before boarding their flights. Marking the second phase of the initiative, the passengers were received at the airport by Minister of Religious Affairs & Interfaith Harmony Sardar Muhammad Yousaf, Consul General of Pakistan in Jeddah Khalid Majid, DG Hajj Abdul Wahab Soomro and the senior officers of the Consulate General of Pakistan. The pilgrims were presented bouqets by the receiving party. This year, an estimated 50,500 Haj pilgrims will travel to Saudi Arabia under the in...

US President Donald Trump said on Thursday that the United States was getting very close to securing a nuclear deal with Iran, and Tehran had “sort of” agreed to the terms. “We’re in very serious negotiations with Iran for long-term peace,” Trump said on a tour of the Gulf, according to a shared pool report by AFP. “We’re getting close to maybe doing a deal without having to do this … there [are] two steps to doing this, there is a very, very nice step and there is the violent step, but I don’t want to do it the second way,” he said. An Iranian source familiar with the negotiations said there were still gaps to bridge in the talks with the United States. Fresh talks between Iranian and US negotiators to resolve disputes over Tehran’s nuclear programme ended in Oman on Sunday with further negotiations planned, officials said, as Tehran publicly insisted on continuing its uranium enrichment. Though Tehran and Washington have both said they prefer diplomacy to resolve the decades-long nuclear dispute, they remai...

Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Minister for Local Government and Rural Development, Raja Faisal Mumtaz Rathore, announced on Thursday that the AJK government has allocated Rs1 billion in relief funds for victims affected by recent Indian aggression across the Line of Control (LoC).

The National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA) on Thursday registered a case against five individuals for allegedly orchestrating a social media campaign targeting Pakistan’s state institutions.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday directed authorities to provide agricultural loans to farmers on easy terms and enhance focus on agricultural research to boost productivity.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has reaffirmed Pakistan’s determination to elevate its relationship with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) into a robust and mutually beneficial economic partnership.

• OMCs, refineries, dealers to benefit from additional Rs75bn • Petroleum division mulls GST on oil products ISLAMABAD: For a third time in two months, the government is considering imposing additional costs — this time at the rate of Rs4.12 per litre — on the prices of petroleum products, a move that may deprive consumers of potential relief in prices due to be announced for the next fortnight today (Thursday). This has been proposed by the petroleum division to the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet. The impact of Rs4.12 per unit works out to be around Rs75 billion on an annual basis to be paid to oil marketing companies (OMCs), refineries and retail dealers to meet their demands. On top of this, the petroleum division has also recommended imposition of general sales tax on petroleum products at the rate of Rs3-5 per litre from July 1, through the finance bill 2025-26. Without these proposed measures, the prices of petrol and diesel were estimated to decline by about Rs3.5 and Rs7 per litr...

Pakistan has called for revitalizing the political process in Yemen, emphasizing that only a comprehensive, diplomatic solution can secure a peaceful and stable future for the war-torn Arab nation.

Pakistan Air Force’s Air Vice Marshal (AVM) Aurangzeb Ahmed has become a widely admired figure among Pakistani youth, following his composed and confident presence during media briefings in the aftermath of the recent conflict with India.

PARIS: Human Rights Watch on Wednesday said grave abuses were being committed on giant construction sites in Saudi Arabia and warned the risks to migrant workers could increase as the building of stadiums for the 2034 World Cup gathers pace. HRW said that “scores of migrant workers in Saudi Arabia die in gruesome yet avoidable workplace-related accidents, including falling from buildings, electrocution, and even decapitation”. The NGO, which has studied nearly 50 cases of deaths in Saudi Arabia, said Saudi authorities had “failed to adequately protect workers from preventable deaths, investigate workplace safety incidents, and ensure timely and adequate compensation for families” including through life insurance policies and benefits to survivors. “The risks of occupational deaths and injuries are further increasing as the Saudi government ramps up construction work for the 2034 World Cup as well as other ‘giga-projects’,” HRW added. The Gulf kingdom was handed the right to host the 2034 World Cup at a FIFA C...

ISLAMABAD - Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif, during his telephonic interaction with the UN Secretary General on Wednesday, emphasized that the just resolution of Jammu and Kashmir dispute, in accordance with UN Security Council resolutions, was imperative to ensuring durable peace in South Asia and urged the Secretary General to.

ISLAMABAD: Saudi Arabia has deported a total of 5,033 Pakistani beggars whereas another 369 individuals have been apprehended for begging in five other countries in the last 16 months. This information was placed before the National Assembly by Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi on Wednesday in a written reply to a question asked by Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) MNA Sehar Kamran. The official data provided by the minister shows that a total of 5,402 Pakistanis have been deported from Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Malaysia, Oman, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) since January 2024. As many as 4,850 Pakistani nationals faced deportation from these countries in the year 2024 whereas 552 have returned to Pakistan this year. The questioner has sought data of the last three years, but the minister provided details of the period starting from January 2024. Another 369 individuals caught begging in five other countries; nearly 52pc deportees belong to Sindh; Pakistan has expelled over one million illegal Afghans Interesting...

Shehbaz Sahrif says we are ready for whatever may come Indian PM sponsoring acts of terrorism in Pakistan History will eternally record how Pakistan’s defenders extinguished India’s aggression with unmatched precision India deliberately evaded path of neutral investigations into Pahalgam.

ISLAMABAD - Pakistan yesterday sent a letter to India reminding that the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) was fully in force and there was no change in its status.

ISLAMABAD - The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has received the second tranche of funding from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) programme.

ISLAMABAD: An Intelligence Bureau (IB) report claims that an “organised system of corruption” has been prevalent in the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC), specifically highlighting the “fraudulent” establishment and recognition of Bahawalpur Medical College (BMC), according to a document available with Dawn. However, the current PMDC management has distanced itself from the allegations, asserting that any wrongdoing occurred in the past and that new checks and balances have now been introduced. “It is learnt that there is an organised system of corruption prevalent in PMDC primarily due to excessive discretionary powers and a lack of transparency,” the report stated. “A perception persists that heavy bribe is a norm for recognition of private medical and dental colleges as well as their affiliated teaching hospitals and for their inspections.” The report further alleged, “Repor­tedly, private medical colleges pay approximately Rs10 million per seat for the allocation of additional student seats. Anot...

QUETTA - A man died and 10 others injured when a bomb blast struck the convoy of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) MPA Ali Madad Jattak in Quetta on Wednesday.

ISLAMABAD - President Asif Ali Zardari has warned that entire regional security was at risk due to the Hindutva ideology and Modi’s government wanted to use aggression against Pakistan for its political mileage.

LAHORE: An anti-terrorism court on Wednesday allowed the prosecution/police to conduct polygraph (lie detection) and photogrammetric (facial and voice analysis) tests of incarcerated PTI founding chairman Imran Khan in 12 cases of May 9 (2023) riots against him. ATC-I Judge Manzer Ali Gill granted the permission to the prosecution accepting its written application, which was opposed by the lawyer of the former prime minister. The judge has ordered completion of the tests within 12 days, saying the prosecution may meet the PTI founding chairman in Adiala Jail, Rawalpindi, during that period. Earlier, the judge heard the concluding arguments of PTI founder’s lawyer, Barrister Salman Safdar, and the prosecution before reserving the verdict. Barrister Safdar opposed the prosecution request, questioning the police decision to conduct the polygraph and photogrammetric tests 727 days after the May 9 incidents. The lawyer argued that bail had already been granted to the former prime minister in 21 cases and the state...

ISLAMABAD - The Supreme Court’s constitutional bench has reinstated the Sales Tax Amendment Act for the formerly Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and Provincially Administered Tribal Areas (PATA), suspending the Peshawar High Court’s earlier verdict that had nullified the act.