Pakistan

Police have arrested a suspect from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in connection with the recent killing of senior lawyer Khawaja Shamsul Islam, Karachi South Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Syed Asad Raza said on Monday. Islam was shot dead while his son was injured as they were leaving a mosque in Karachi’s Defence Housing Authority (DHA) on August 1. Darakshan Police registered a case the next day against eight nominated suspects under terrorism and murder charges. DIG Raza told Dawn.com that the vehicle in which the suspect fled the scene of the murder was also recovered by police. “Investigators have mapped the suspect,” the DIG said. “According to the evidence we gathered, he fled on a motorcycle alone. “Police have also unearthed a bungalow in DHA being used by the suspects. CCTV footage obtained from the bungalow showed their activities before and after the lawyer was killed.” According to the South police chief, investigators have so far obtained 30 pieces of CCTV footage of the suspects. “With the help of human ...

India’s Supreme Court on Monday ordered the removal of tens of thousands of stray dogs from the capital, citing public safety concerns after a surge in dog bites. India is home to millions of stray dogs and deadly attacks, particularly on children and the elderly, are regularly reported by the city’s media. At least 60,000 stray dogs live on the streets of Delhi, according to India’s Livestock Census of 2012, the most recent data available. Some suggest that number to be now far higher, with large rival dog packs patrolling parks and residential neighbourhoods across the city. The country accounts for more than a third of global rabies deaths, according to the World Health Organisation, a crisis exacerbated by a lack of sterilisation programmes and legal restrictions on canine culling. The court asked city authorities to set up dog shelters within eight weeks, and maintain daily records of the canines captured. “What is important, and without which the entire exercise would go futile, not a single stray dog s...

“I have a problem with the use of the term ‘minority’. It only serves to otherise religious groups within the country and reinforce existing divides. We are all equal citizens of Pakistan.” Christians like Pastor Daniel were among hundreds gathered at Karachi’s YMCA on Sunday for the Minority Rights March, which, ironically, was celebrated a day earlier since “minorities wouldn’t get a day off to celebrate it”. Jinnah’s oft-quoted speech of Pakistani citizens being free to go to temples and places of worship remains relegated to the history textbooks since the lived realities for religious minorities across Pakistan are far from that freedom once promised. “Christians like me aren’t allowed to preach their religion, and seldom can we practice it without the fear of the supposed majority,” said Daniel of Karachi’s Philadelphia Pentecostal Church. Jinnah’s speech and his very upbringing were woven through the day’s itinerary. The speakers emphasised that his early education was at schools founded by religious m...

Air India said on Monday that it would stop services between the capital cities of India and the United States from September 1, citing aircraft shortage due to the planned upgrades to its ageing Boeing planes and the closure of Pakistan’s airspace. The suspension of services between New Delhi and Washington, DC, marks the latest setback for Air India, which is facing heightened regulatory scrutiny after a June crash in Ahmedabad killed 260 people. The planned shortfall in Air India’s fleet and continued closure of airspace over Pakistan have impacted the airline’s long-haul operations, leading to longer flight routings and increased operational complexity, the carrier said. The airline has undertaken a $400 million retrofit programme to upgrade its fleet. It, however, sees the Pakistan airspace ban costing it $600m over 12 months, Reuters had earlier reported. India and Pakistan closed their respective airspaces to each other days after relations between the arch-rivals nosedived following a fatal attack on ...

About 55 per cent of India’s merchandise exports to the United States will be subject to the tariff imposed by President Donald Trump’s administration, the Indian government said on Monday. Last week, Trump imposed an additional 25pc tariff on Indian goods as punishment for Delhi’s purchases of Russian oil. That raised the total duty on Indian exports to the US to 50pc — among the highest on any American trading partner. The Indian government had taken into account the 25pc tariff that Trump initially imposed on goods while providing Monday’s estimate, Pankaj Chaudhary, India’s junior finance minister, said in a written response to a question from a lawmaker. “The Department of Commerce is engaged with all stakeholders, including exporters and industry, for taking feedback of their assessment of the situation,” Chaudhary added. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Thursday he would not compromise on the agriculture sector, a day after Trump announced 50pc tariffs on Indian goods. New Delhi also put on ...

Prominent Al Jazeera journalist Anas Al Sharif, who had previously been threatened by Israel, and four colleagues were killed in an Israeli airstrike on Sunday, in an attack widely condemned by media and rights groups. Israel has been facing growing international criticism over the humanitarian crisis in Gaza caused by its offensive since October 2023, with Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and experts already declaring its actions in Gaza as a “genocide”, which Tel Aviv rejects. Al Sharif, aged 28, was among a group of four Al Jazeera journalists and an assistant who were killed in a “directed assault” on a tent opposite Shifa Hospital in eastern Gaza City, Gaza officials and Al Jazeera said. An official at the hospital said two other people were also killed in the strike. A sixth journalist, Mohammad Al-Khaldi, a local freelance reporter, was also killed in the airstrike, medics at Al Shifa Hospital said on Monday. Calling Al Sharif “one of Gaza’s bravest journalists”, Al Jazeera said the attack was...

An anti-terrorism court in Lahore has acquitted senior Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Shah Mahmood Qureshi in cases related to the 9 May arson and siege of Shadman police station, which included the burning of police vehicles.

The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has imposed Section 144 in 13 districts for seven days in connection with the Chehlum of Imam Hussain (RA).

Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif has expressed deep sorrow and grief over the loss of lives following a landslide in Gilgit.

The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) kicked off the new business week on a bullish note, reaching a historic high amid surging investor confidence.

An Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) in Faisalabad has issued a contempt of court notice to Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader and former opposition leader in the National Assembly, Omar Ayub, and directed the City Police Officer (CPO) to arrest and produce him before the court on August 18.

At least seven volunteers died and six were injured early on Monday when a landslide hit individuals working at a water channel in Gilgit-Baltistan’s (GB) Danyor city, rescue officials said. The devastating impacts of climate cha­nge and melting glaciers have become more visible in GB, which has been facing heavy rains since late June. The situation worsened when deadly floods swept across the Babusar area on July 21, causing landslides and damaging infrastructure. So far, 10 deaths have been confirmed across the region, with a dozen tourists missing. Thirteen volunteers, mainly young people, were attempting to restore the water supply in the main water channel from Danyor nullah to Danyor town, which had been damaged due to the recent floods, when the landslide hit at 2am today. “Thirteen volunteers restoring the water supply were buried under the rubble,” Gilgit’s Rescue 1122 said in a statement. Stating the casualties, it said the injured were taken to a hospital. District Emergency Officer (operations) Ab...

The opposition has been convicted. Its leaders in both houses of Parliament have been sentenced to a decade in jail, along with over a hundred other members of their political party. They and seven other opposition parliamentarians have been removed from their elected offices. If you were to apply these words to any country on the planet, most people reading would immediately understand this to be a shameless power grab by an authoritarian status quo; the work of an insecure and dictatorial mindset that treats the will, dissent, and collective intelligence of its own people with ruthless contempt. But I am intentionally making no such statement here. For now, I’d like to focus instead on one simple, apolitical, and logical question — what did the judgment actually say? Even if you are not invested in law or politics, it is in your interest to keep an eye on how your judicial system treats others. Not just because that is how it could one day treat you, but because these judgments are representative of where w...

Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif has taken strict notice of the alleged torture and murder of a 13-year-old domestic worker in Gujranwala and sought a report from the Regional Police Officer (RPO).

Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) has inaugurated a new direct flight route from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia’s capital, to Sialkot, aiming to facilitate the large number of passengers travelling between the two cities.

The Ministry of Religious Affairs has opened the second phase of receiving applications for Hajj 2026, with the process continuing through its online portal and designated banks until Saturday.

Ministry of Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony has opened the second phase of receiving Haj applications for 2026, which will be accepted from August 11 to August 16, state-run Radio Pakistan reported on Monday. On Saturday, the ministry successfully completed the first phase for Haj next year, receiving more than 71,000 application submissions through its online portal and designated banks, the ministry’s spokesperson Muhammad Umar Butt said in a statement. “In the second phase, which will continue till Saturday, unregistered intending pilgrims can also submit their applications. The process of receiving applications will continue through the ministry’s online portal and designated banks,” the report said. Overseas Pakistanis can also apply for Haj through designated banks via a close relative. “Those living abroad will be required to submit their medical fitness certificates upon arrival in Pakistan,” it said. Haj, one of the fundamental pillars of Islam, is performed each year by millions of Muslims ...

MUZAFFARABAD: The death of a young woman after falling from a cliff on the outskirts of Muzaffarabad on Saturday has triggered widespread outrage across Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), with demands for the harshest punishment for those accused of harassing couples under the guise of “moral policing” to extort money or valuables. According to a police spokesperson, the incident occurred at about 1:15pm near Mera Tanolian village on Pir Chinasi Road, when Aqeel Ahmed and his tenant Fakhra Amjad — both residents of the Plate neighbourhood in Muzaffarabad — had stopped their Mehran car by the roadside while returning from a drive. Three to four men, one of them a police constable in plainclothes, confronted the pair, deemed their presence “suspicious” and began beating Aqeel. During the assault, Ms Amjad got out of the car and tried to flee, but fell approximately 100–120 feet down a mountainside into a ravine, sustaining critical head injuries. Aqeel, also injured, tried to take her to hospital, but she died on th...

The Punjab Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) has forecast the arrival of the seventh spell of monsoon rains from August 13 and issued a flood advisory for major rivers in the province.

The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) has issued an advisory warning of the potential spread of mosquito- and insect-borne diseases during the ongoing monsoon season.