Pakistan

Bugti directs reforms in vocational training sector

Suicide bomber killed on Punjab border

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) on Tuesday announced that students intending to pursue medical or dental education abroad must qualify for the Medical and Dental College Admission Test (MDCAT) and obtain registration before going abroad. According to a statement, the PMDC informed that a high-level committee chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar is currently overseeing the strengthening of the regulatory framework for medical and dental education in Pakistan. It said that a meeting of the PMDC’s Sub-Committee on Accreditation of Medical and Dental Colleges and Postgraduate Qualifications was held today to “review ongoing reforms and regulatory measures to strengthen medical and dental education in Pakistan”. “The sub-committee is focused on enhancing transparency, standardising accreditation mechanisms for medical and dental colleges, and streamlining the recognition process inspections for undergraduate and postgraduate qualifications in line with international standards,” it a...

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Police say crackdown targets proclaimed offenders, drug peddlers

Students divided over pace, visibility of integration efforts

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ISLAMABAD: As international funding to Pakistan’s health sector continues to decline and major foreign donors are set to completely suspend grants by 2030, the country faces serious health risks unless urgent steps are taken by the government, it emerged on Tuesday. These are the findings of a report published last week, titled “Beyond Dependence: Understanding the Impact of ODA Cuts on Pakistan’s Health System”. The report, prepared by think tank Tabadlab, is authored by Behzad Taimur, Shahab Siddiqi and Syeda Farwa Qamar Jaffri and discusses the impact of declining Official Development Assistance (ODA) on Pakistan. ODA refers to grants and concessional loans provided by governments and international agencies to support economic development and welfare in low- and middle-income countries. The report finds that shrinking foreign assistance can threaten disease control programmes, immunisation efforts, and institutional capacity across the country. Once funding stops, it may significantly affect district-level...

A powerful Hindu group from which Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s party emerged claimed on Tuesday it had organised foreign visits, including to the US, to counter perceptions that it is a paramilitary outfit involved in attacks on minority communities. The outreach by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), or National Volunteer Organisation, came after the US Commission on International Religious Freedom said in a report in November that it “has been involved in acts of extreme violence and intolerance against members of minority groups for decades”. The commission is a bipartisan body of the US federal government that monitors religious freedom around the world and makes policy recommendations to the president, the secretary of state and the US Congress. Modi joined the RSS in his youth, and the rise of his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to near-national dominance is widely attributed to the RSS’ vast network of volunteers, during a period marked by a hardening Hindu-Muslim political divide in the offic...

US President Donald Trump on Tuesday announced talks with Cuba, which has been crippled by a fuel blockade in the wake of Washington’s capture of key regional ally Nicolas Maduro, the former president of Venezuela. In a post on Truth Social, Trump described the communist-ruled island as “a failed country,” adding: “Cuba is asking for help, and we are going to talk!!!” He did not provide details. There is growing speculation in Washington that Trump is seeking to overturn the Cuban government as part of a drive to increase US dominance in the Caribbean and Latin America. Earlier this month, Trump said the United States would be “taking over” the Caribbean island off the Florida coast “almost immediately.” He has also said that following the US military operation to depose Venezuela’s longtime leader, Maduro, Cuba will be next. The communist island has been in a standoff with successive US administrations since the 1960s, and Florida, only around 145 kilometres away, hosts a large, politically influential Cuban...

KARACHI: Amid recent reports of Cambridge exam paper leaks, students who appeared for an AS-level Mathematics paper on Tuesday made fresh claims that the paper they received was identical to a solved paper they had come across on social media just a day earlier. Cambridge International Education (CIE), part of Cambridge University Press and Assessment, offers internationally recognised exams to schools in over 160 countries. In Pakistan, O Levels (grades 10–11) cover a broad range of subjects, while A and AS Levels (grades 12–13) are more specialised and advanced, providing pathways to higher education in Pakistan and abroad. When Dawn reached out to Cambridge about the matter, a spokesperson said that Cambridge investigates all allegations of paper leaks. “We do not comment on individual reports of paper leaks. In the rare case where there is a genuine issue, we update schools at the right time and provide the recommended next steps,” the spokesperson said. “We ask people only to trust official statements fr...

ISLAMABAD: A division bench of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Tuesday issued notices to the Capital Development Authority (CDA) on intra-court appeals filed by apartment owners of One Constitution Avenue and Bank of Punjab (BoP) and sought a response in the matter concerning lease cancellation and third-party rights. The bench, comprising Justice Muhammad Azam Khan and Justice Raja Inaam Amin Minhas, heard arguments from appellants’ counsel, Advocate Taimur Aslam, who requested the court to restrain disciplinary or coercive action until the recommendations of a committee recently formed by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif are finalised and approved by the cabinet. On May 1, the premier constituted a high-level committee to review the issue involving One Constitution Avenue and halted authorities from taking any action. The court adjourned further hearing on the intra-court appeals, observing that the decision on the stay application would be issued later. The case stems from an April 30, 2026, judgment of a s...

Pace bowler Nahid Rana claimed five wickets as Bangladesh trumped Pakistan by 104 runs in a rain-hit first Test on Tuesday after a thrilling fifth day of batting collapses. Chasing 268 for victory in Dhaka, Pakistan were 119-3 before they fell to 163 all out in the final session with debutant Abdullah Fazal scoring a valiant 66. Bangladesh now hold a 1-0 lead in the two-match home series. The Test win was Bangladesh’s first against Pakistan on home soil and their third overall. The 23-year-old Fazal put on 51 runs with Salman Agha, who made 26, to raise Pakistan’s hopes of victory before Rana rattled the opposition with career-best figures of 5-40. Rana, 23, made an impact with his pace and reverse swing and his final spell of 4.5 overs got him four wickets for just 10 runs to turn the match on its head. “Very happy — proud of all the guys, the way we played,” Bangladesh captain Najmul Hossain Shanto said. “We have been working hard the last few months and slowly we are getting better at Test cricket — that’s...

Chairman of the Pakistan Peoples Party, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, on Tuesday paid tribute to the martyrs of the May 12, 2007 tragedy, saying innocent lives in Karachi were “sacrificed to hatred and violence.

Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan chief Hafiz Naeem ur Rehman has announced a major protest demonstration in Islamabad on May 15 against rising inflation and the recent increase in petroleum prices.

Attock: The funeral prayers of the brave citizen Muhammad Liaquat Ali Shaheed, who sacrificed himself while foiling a suicide attack in Tehsil Jand of Attock district, was offered with official honors at Police Lines Attock.