Pakistan

The National Assembly on Tuesday approved all 59 clauses of the 27th Constitutional Amendment during a session chaired by Speaker Ayaz Sadiq.

Medicine prices have increased by an average of 15 per cent since the government announced the deregulation policy in February 2024 instead of 32pc as claimed by the authorities recently, the Pakistan Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association (PPMA) said on Wednesday. In a statement, the association said that the figure of 32pc represents the cumulative increase over the past two years, not just after deregulation. “The actual increase of 15pc includes around 2.5pc growth in production units and new product introductions, meaning the real impact on existing medicines is closer to 13.5pc,” the statement highlighted. Citing the latest IQVIA report, considered the most reliable global source for pharmaceutical sales and pricing data, the PPMA said the overall price increase stood at only 16pc over the last 12 months. “Before deregulation, Pakistan’s pharmaceutical sector was facing a severe crisis due to strict price controls, unprecedented rupee depreciation, and record inflation of up to 35pc,” as per PPMA. The...

Pakistan on Wednesday said that it continued to fully participate in good faith in the Neutral Expert proceedings, with its next phase scheduled to take place on November 17-21 in Vienna.

Minister for Information Technology and Telecommunication Shaza Fatima Khawaja has stressed the need of taking advantage from modern emerging technologies to ensure prosperity and development of the country.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi has convened the first meeting of the provincial cabinet, with the official agenda released ahead of the session.

Valérie Hickey, Global Director of the World Bank’s Climate Change Group, has praised Punjab Chief Minister Marium Nawaz Sharif as a “Climate Change Warrior” and “Climate Leader” during a meeting in Lahore.

National Assembly Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq has once again extended an olive branch to the opposition, offering to mediate dialogue between both sides to ease political tensions.

Ambassador Tarik Ali Khan, the newly appointed High Commissioner of Canada, paid a courtesy call on Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif at the Prime Minister’s House on Wednesday.

A roadside bomb blast was reported on Wednesday in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Shakardara area in Matta (Swat district), damaging Awami National Party (ANP) leader Mumtaz Ali Khan’s vehicle. Swat District Police Officer (DPO) Muhammad Umar told Dawn, “After the incident, the police reached the spot and began a search operation, which is still underway.” According to the official, Khan was on his way to attend a funeral when a pre-planted bomb exploded 300 feet away from his house. However, no casualties have been reported. DPO Umar said that the Swat police were ready to deal with all kinds of situations. Khan was also the senior vice president of the ANP. The party’s central president, Aimal Wali Khan, in a statement on social media, condemned the attack. “The people of Swat have made unparalleled sacrifices against terrorism and extremism,” said ANP’s post on X. “This recent incident clearly shows that terrorists are attempting to silence those voices that speak for peace, tolerance, and democracy through organise...

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has announced that it will not participate in the National Assembly proceedings on the 27th Constitutional Amendment.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi has reaffirmed that restoring peace in the province remains the government’s foremost priority, stressing that decisions to eliminate terrorism must be made collectively with political leaders rather than in isolation.

The Foreign Office (FO) issued a statement on Wednesday in response to clarifications issued by the Court of Arbitration on the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT), saying that Pakistan had taken note of the decision and calling the clarifications “helpful”. The Hague’s Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) had issued its Award on Issues of General Interpretation of the IWT on August 8. On September 19, Pakistan initiated an arbitration against India under the provisions of the IWT, which India suspended unilaterally following a four-day conflict between the two countries in May. The PCA on Saturday issued clarifications on its decisions surrounding the treaty in response to the request, which concerned the interpretation and application of the IWT to certain design elements of run-of-river hydroelectric plants (HEPs). The FO statement added that Pakistan had also taken note of the procedural order issued in parallel with the decision. In response to a Procedural Order also issued in light of the decision, in which the ...

Hit to all parts by India in the Asia Cup final at the end of September, Haris Rauf turned to domestic cricket to rediscover his mojo. On his return to international cricket, the grind of first-class cricket paved the way for a fiery spell of fast bowling that clinched victory for Pakistan with the 32-year-old ripping through the Sri Lankan top-order, and finishing with figures of 4-61, as the hosts scraped to a six-run win in the first One-day International at the Pindi Cricket Stadium on Tuesday night. “It wasn’t easy to win tonight,” Haris said at the post-match press conference. “It wasn’t easy to bowl in the dew but you keep trying as a bowler to pick wickets and in the end we won, which was important.” The performance was important for Haris as well. Slammed for being too easy to put away in the highly-charged Asia Cup final against arch-rivals India, the right-armer got back to work with Islamabad in the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy. “You keep giving your best effort and try to make an impact,” he said. “In our...

The Prime Minister’s Task Force on Water Scarcity has agreed to strengthen inter-provincial coordination and adopt data-driven strategies to ensure equitable water distribution and safeguard national food security.

The scenic Neelum Valley in Azad Jammu and Kashmir received the season’s first rain and snowfall, bringing a sharp drop in temperatures and drawing tourists to the region’s winter charm.

It has become nearly impossible for people to tell the difference between music generated by artificial intelligence and that created by humans, according to a survey released on Wednesday. The polling firm Ipsos asked 9,000 people to listen to two clips of AI-generated music and one of human-made music in a survey conducted for France-based streaming platform Deezer. “Ninety-seven per cent could not distinguish between music entirely generated by AI and human-created music,” said Deezer. The survey came out as a country music song featuring a male singer’s voice generated by AI reached the top of the US charts for the first time this week. “Walk My Walk” by Breaking Rust — an artist widely reported by US media to be powered by generative AI technology — made it to the top spot on Billboard magazine’s chart ranking digital sales of country songs, according to data published on Monday. Deezer said more than half of the respondents to its survey felt uncomfortable at not being able to tell the difference. Polls...

The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) is preparing to launch a historic and comprehensive audit of income tax returns this year, according to departmental sources.

The National Assembly is expected to approve the 27th Constitutional Amendment Bill on Wednesday (today) as debate continues in the lower house of parliament.

Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Muhammad Ishaq Dar on Wednesday said that cowardly acts of terrorism would never weaken Pakistan’s resolve to deal with this menace. He made the remarks while addressing the two-day Inter-Parliamentary Speakers’ Conference being held in Islamabad, where he mentioned the suicide blast in the federal capital and the attack on the Cadet College in Wana. “Let me be very clear — these cowardly acts will never shake or weaken our national resolve to deal with this menace [terrorism],” he said. “If anything, they reaffirm our conviction that dialogue, understanding and partnership are the only sustainable path of peace and security,” he asserted. “We just witnessed two heinous acts of terrorism in Wana and Islamabad in the last 48 hours, resulting in the loss of 15 precious lives,” the minister said. Condemning the attacks and extending sympathies to the victims’ families, Dar went on to say: “We categorically reject acts of terrorism in all forms and manifestations, whethe...

Turkiye on Wednesday said all 20 people onboard a military cargo plane that crashed in Georgia on its return from Azerbaijan had died. The plane had taken off from Ganja airport in western Azerbaijan on Tuesday afternoon but crashed shortly after crossing the border into eastern Georgia, the defence ministry said after the incident. It said there were 20 people on board, including the flight crew. “Our heroic comrades-in-arms were martyred on November 11, 2025 due to the crash of our C-130 military cargo aircraft, which had taken off from Azerbaijan to return to Turkiye,” Defence Minister Yasar Guler said in a statement posted on his X account alongside 20 photographs of those who died. Turkiye has not said what caused the accident but dramatic footage taken by eyewitnesses and published by Azerbaijani media appeared to show the plane spinning horizontally alongside several bits of debris as it fell. Georgia’s interior ministry had confirmed the plane went down in the Sighnaghi area, “about five kilometres (3...