Pakistan

KARACHI: Amid escalating tensions between Pakistan and Afghanistan, police on Saturday issued a public safety advisory which stated that Karachi had been placed on “high alert”. The advisory issued by the office of the Karachi additional inspector general of police, a copy of which is available with Dawn, said, “Karachi has been placed on high alert following increased military tensions between Pakistan and Afghan Taliban forces near the Pak-Afghan border.” “Police and other law enforcement agencies (LEAs) have strengthened surveillance and tightened security at key entry-exit points, transportation hubs, sensitive and important places to pre-empt potential security threats,” it said. In the safety guidelines for residents and visitors, the Karachi police urged them to stay vigilant and alert to announcements from local police, law enforcement and provincial officials. The advisory urged the citizens to report suspicious activity and immediately notify local police or emergency services if they observe unusua...

Afridi inaugurates digital platform for transparent, efficient animal husbandry services

Police repel assaults across province amid escalating border tensions with Afghanistan

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296 units sealed, Rs2.768 million recovered in Pindi during Ramazan

Multiple videos have been circulating on social media platform X since February 27, claiming to show Afghan BM-21 rocket strikes, launched from the Alishero border district, targeting Pakistani military installations. However, the videos are unrelated to the current situation and are old. Pakistan launched Operation Ghazab lil-Haq against the Afghan Taliban, after the neighbouring country opened fire on multiple locations across the border in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on late Thursday. Authorities in Kabul had called it a response to Pakistani strikes against terrorist hideouts on Afghan soil over the weekend. On Feb 27, a pro-Indian account on X shared a video of buildings set on fire. “Afghan BM-21 rocket strikes have begun from areas of Alishero district targeting Pakistani military installations across the so-called (imaginary) border… look what’s happened,” reads the caption. The post gained 100,800 views. Another pro-Indian account shared the same video with the caption: “Reports of BM 21 rocket strikes from A...

Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) has temporarily stopped its flight services to several Gulf states in response to the developing security situation in the Middle East.

London police said on Saturday a man had been charged with criminal damage for graffitiing a statue of Britain’s World War II prime minister Winston Churchill with pro-Palestinian slogans. The monument in the central Parliament Square was smeared with red paint early on Friday and “Zionist war criminal” among the slogans written on it. The Metropolitan Police said Caspar San Giorgio, 38, of no fixed address, was charged early on Saturday, some 24 hours after his arrest. He had been detained within minutes of officers being alerted to the incident, according to the force. He was due to appear at a London magistrates’ court later on Saturday. The words “free Palestine” and “stop the genocide” were also sprayed on the statue, which workers cleaned off on Friday. The incident prompted Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s office to call the damage “completely abhorrent” and commend police for the swift arrest. “Churchill was a great Briton,” a spokesman said. The 3.6 metre Churchill statue has been vandalised a number of...

The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting on Saturday rejected claims about a Pakistani jet being shot down in Afghanistan’s Nangarhar and the pilot being captured. The ministry’s fact check account on X attributed the claims to Afghan Taliban officials that were “amplified by Indian media”. “The Ministry of Defence of the so-called Islamic Emirate claimed that Afghan forces shot down a Pakistani fighter jet in Nangarhar and captured its pilot alive. The claim was widely amplified by Indian media and Afghan propaganda outlets,” it said. The ministry further said Pakistan’s armed forces had not reported any aircraft loss and stated that no “independent international media outlet or defence monitoring agency” had verified the claim. “The story relies solely on statements from Afghan officials and selective media amplification,” it said. It further stated that there was no visual proof of crash debris, the wreckage site or the captured pilot. “No geolocated imagery or satellite evidence supports the claim,” i...

The United States and Israel launched a wave of strikes against targets in Iran on Saturday, triggering explosions in the capital Tehran and an escalation across the region. “We are going to destroy their missiles and raze their missile industry to the ground. It will be totally — again — obliterated. We’re going to annihilate their navy,” said US President Donald Trump in an address from his Florida home posted to his Truth Social platform. On the other hand, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the operation aimed to “remove the existential threat posed by the terrorist regime in Iran”, and urged Iranians to overthrow the Islamic Republic’s clerical leadership. In response to the Israel-US aggression, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps of Iran later in the day confirmed the launch of the “first wave” of missile and drone attacks against Israel in response to the strikes on its territory. Political figures and analysts in Pakistan have condemned the recent developments, particularly criticising ...

The Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) on Saturday suspended its flights to Gulf countries due to the “evolving situation in the Middle East”. According to a statement by the PIA spokesperson, flights have been suspended to the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain, Doha, and Kuwait. “These flights will not operate until tomorrow evening or until the restoration of airspace, whichever comes later,” the spokesperson said. “PIA flights to Saudi Arabia will continue; however, their routes have been changed,” he added. “Flights have been shifted to Boeing 777 aircraft and will reach their destinations via longer routes,” the spokesperson added. The national carrier requested the travelers to contact the PIA call centre at 111-786-786 for information related to their flights or changes in the booking of flights.

Countries in the Middle East and around the world were watching with bated breath after the United States and Israel carried out long-feared strikes on Iran on Saturday. Trump: ‘annihilate’ US President Donald Trump vowed that the strikes would cripple Iran’s military and urged Iranians to rise up against the Islamic republic. “We are going to destroy their missiles and raze their missile industry to the ground. It will be totally — again — obliterated. We’re going to annihilate their navy,” Trump said in the address from his Florida home posted to his Truth Social platform. Calling on Iranians to stand up to their government, Trump added: “The hour of your freedom is at hand.” But he also warned that “the lives of courageous American heroes may be lost and we may have casualties”. Netanyahu ‘cast off the yoke’ Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the operation aimed to “remove the existential threat posed by the terrorist regime in Iran”, and urged Iranians to overthrow the Islamic republic’s cleri...

The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) on Saturday issued an advisory cautioning citizens against sharing “unverified, inflammatory or misleading information” in light of the recent geopolitical situation. “In view of the prevailing sensitive national situation, PTA urges all citizens to be responsible while using social media and digital platforms,” the body said, advising citizens not to “share, disseminate, forward or upload information/content which is authentic and based upon official sources and to refrain from spreading rumours and fake news”. PTA cautioned against sharing fake news or information “liable to legal action in accordance with applicable laws”. “PTA calls upon all citizens to act with caution, maturity, and a strong sense of national responsibility to help, maintain stability and public confidence,” the statement added. The statement comes against the backdrop of escalating geopolitical tension in the Middle East, as Israel and the United States launched an attack on Iran on Saturd...

In the wake of reported joint air strikes by Israel and the United States on Iran, the Pakistan government has directed aviation authorities to closely monitor the country’s airspace and adopt precautionary measures.

The moment reports of a military confrontation break, newsrooms gear up for sleepless nights, social media erupts with all sorts of “information” and memes (the latter is Pakistan-specific), and fact-checkers know they will have their hands full in the coming days. The latest clashes between Pakistan and Afghanistan, which began late Thursday night and continued into early Saturday morning, was no different. Within the first 12 hours, the fact-checking team at iVerify Pakistan had spotted more than a dozen claims circulating on social media, ranging from the names of Taliban commanders allegedly killed and footage of Pakistani jets crashing to visuals of chaos following an attack on the Kakul military academy and soldiers from both sides purportedly being captured. Local journalists and social media commentators all fed into this cycle of mis- and disinformation, along with propaganda accounts from India and Afghanistan. When war turns into content In the midst of the late-night action on Thursday, as Pakista...

Defence Minister Khawaja Asif on Saturday reminded Afghan Taliban leader Sirajuddin Haqqani of Pakistan’s support during the anti-Soviet war, urging the Afghan authorities to ensure their territory is not used for activities hostile to Pakistan.

US President Donald Trump said on Friday he is directing the government to stop work with Anthropic, and the Pentagon said it would declare the start-up a supply-chain risk, dealing a major blow to the artificial intelligence lab after a showdown about technology guardrails. Trump added there would be a six-month phase-out for the Defence Department and other agencies that use the company’s products. If Anthropic does not help with the transition, Trump said, he would use “the Full Power of the Presidency to make them comply, with major civil and criminal consequences to follow”. The actions mark an extraordinary rebuke by the United States against one of the premier companies that has kept it in the lead on national security-critical AI, threatening to give Anthropic a pariah status that Washington until now had reserved for enemy suppliers. Google and Amazon are among Anthropic’s financial backers. The moves further set a precedent that US law alone would constrain how AI is deployed on the battlefield, wit...