Pakistan

Three days of political rallies began in Bangladesh on Thursday with rival groups set to stage mass demonstrations in Dhaka, drumming up support for eagerly anticipated elections following an uprising last year. Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus, 84, who has led an interim government since autocratic prime minister Sheikh Hasina fled into exile as crowds stormed her palace in August, has said elections will be held as early as December, and at the latest by mid-2026. The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), widely tipped to win the poll, will hold a May Day rally in Dhaka. “We are confident this will be the most memorable grand rally in recent times,” BNP media officer Shairul Kabir Khan said. Jamaat-e-Islami will also take to the streets of the capital on Thursday. The Jatiya Party, formerly close to Hasina’s regime, will also hold a rally. It will be its first outdoor political event since its offices were vandalised in October, allegedly for helping Hasina’s Awami League cling to power. On Friday, the...

ISLAMABAD - Federal Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi paid a late-night visit to the Jinnah Square Murree Road Underpass Project to review the ongoing construction work.

ISLAMABAD - Munir A Malik, counsel of the Islamabad High Court (IHC)’s five judges Wednesday objected to the executive role in transfer of judges from one High Court to another.

ISLAMABAD - The Supreme Court 13-member bench will conduct hearing of the review petitions against its own judgment in Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) reserved seats from May 6.

ISLAMABAD - In a suo moto matter related to transfer of a case from one bench to another, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) Wednesday directed Additional Registrar and the Deputy Registrar to appear before the court on the next hearing.

QUETTA: The body of a 23-year-old Quetta resident, Aryan Shah, who died in Chennai, India, last week while undergoing cancer treatment, arrived in Karachi on Wednesday after a delay caused by an airline mishap. Aryan Shah, who had been receiving treatment for several months in a hospital in Chennai, succumbed to the illness last week. He had travelled to India with his parents for medical care. Following his death, Shah’s mother appealed to Balochistan Chief Minister Sarfraz Bugti for financial assistance to repatriate the body as the family could not afford the costs. Chief Minister Bugti arra­nged financial support and contacted the Pakistani ambassador in India through the Foreign Office to facilitate the transfer. The parents travelled to Karachi via an international airline with the coffin. However, upon arrival, they discovered that the body had been mistakenly left in Colombo. “I have received the body of my son from Colombo,” Shah’s mother said. “The Indian government or hospital did not extend any he...

KARACHI: The Sindh transport department has officially launched the Peoples Pink and Normal Taxi Service. Sindh’s Senior Minister Sharjeel Inam Memon made this announcement in a social media post. He said that the aim of this project was to bringing a revolutionary change to the public transport system, empower women, ensure safe travel, and promote eco-friendly transport across the province, said a press release issued on Wednesday evening. Mr Memon, who also holds the portfolio of transport and information departments, described the Peoples Pink and Normal Taxi Service as a “historic milestone for Sindh”. He said that the Sindh government was committed to modernising the transport system and creating equal opportunities for all segments of society. Earlier, Mr Memon had said that the provincial government was working to bring ride-hailing services in Karachi under one system, Dawn.com reported. “We are working to bring the [online] taxi system in Karachi under one umbrella in an integrated and modern manner...

International Labour Day, also known as May Day, is being observed across the world including Pakistan today (Thursday) to renew pledge for protecting rights of workers.

QUETTA: Members of the Hindu community staged a protest rally in Quetta on Wednesday, condemning what they called baseless allegations against Pakistan by the Indian government regarding the recent terrorist attack in Pahalgam in held Kashmir. Led by Sanjay Kumar, a PPP minority member of the Balochistan Assembly, the rally included men and women carrying placards and banners with anti-Modi and anti-India slogans. The protesters marched through various roads and streets of the provincial capital before gathering outside the Quetta Press Club. Chanting slogans against Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his government, protesters rejected any involvement by Pakistan in the Pahalgam attack. “The Hindu community in Pakistan stands united with the country’s armed forces. If India dares commit aggression, over 10 million Hindus in Pakistan will stand behind our military,” Sanjay Kumar said while addressing the gathering. Other speakers, including several women, also condemned the Indian government’s actions an...

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s media is standing at a crossroad amid an existential threat and increased restrictive environment, deteriorating safety and job security, significant challenges to professional integrity of media and its practitioners, says Freedom Network’s annual Freedom of Expression and Media Freedom Report for 2025. Titled “Free speech and public interest journalism under siege”, the report finds that the existential crisis was triggered by amendments to Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (Peca) in January 2025 that now “makes it easier” for authorities to arrest, fine and imprison journalists and dissidents — both offline and online — besides other challenges. “The existential threat is serious as such a situation is seen rare in Pakistani media history. This situation is threatening the very foundation of democracy and the state is more brutal now than it was before to tolerate hard questions,” Freedom Network Executive Director Iqbal Khattak said, as the report launch coincides with World Press ...

ISLAMABAD: The government has appointed Lt Gen Muhammad Asim Malik, the incumbent dire­ctor general of the country’s premier intelligence agency, as the new National Security Adviser (NSA). The Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) chief becomes the country’s tenth NSA. A notification issued by the Cabinet Division on Tuesday said that Gen Malik would retain his role as DG ISI, a position he has held since September 2024. “Lt Gen Muhammad Asim Malik HI(M), DG (I), shall hold the additional charge of the National Security Adviser, with immediate effect,” the notification stated. His appointment marks the first time a serving ISI chief will concurrently serve as the NSA. The posting comes amid heightened tensions with India following the recent Pahalgam attack. The NSA position had remained vacant since April 2022, when the PTI government was ousted after former Prime Minister Imran Khan lost a vote of confidence. At the time, Moeed Yusuf was serving as the NSA. The NSA holds the status of a federal minister and se...

• Registrar says ex-PM’s appeal at ‘motion stage’, much needs to be done before regular hearing • Bushra Bibi’s appeal to be taken up by division bench next week ISLAMABAD: In a major blow to Imran Khan’s hopes for a legal reprieve, the Islamabad High Court has signalled that his appeal against a 14-year sentence in the £190 million Al-Qadir Trust corruption case won’t be heard this year — effectively keeping the former prime minister in legal limbo throughout 2025. The report by the IHC registrar office was submitted to a division bench in response to an application, seeking the early hearing of an appeal against the conviction of the PTI founder and his spouse, Bushra Bibi. As per the report, a criminal appeal filed in January 2025 by Mr Khan, sentenced to 14 years imprisonment, faces indefinite delays, with the court confirming that the case would not be heard during the current calendar year. The report cited the National Judicial (Policy Making) Committee (NJPMC) recommendations, according to which the c...

• Forces continue to trade fire at LoC; checkpost in held-Kashmir destroyed after ‘unprovoked firing’ • India closes airspace for Pakistani planes until May 23; flights to GB cancelled for a few hours • US Secy of State urges PM Shehbaz to help probe Pahalgam attack; tells New Delhi to work with Pakistan for de-escalation ISLAMABAD: Amid a flurry of diplomatic activity aimed at calming tensions in the Subcontinent, fears of a possible military confrontation between India and Pakistan continued to persist on Wednesday. Following a statement by Information Minister Atta Tarar in the early hours of Wednesday, where he warned of a possible incursion by India within the next 24-36 hours, a number of incidents of Indian aggression heightened tensions. According to the Associated Press of Pakistan, Pakistani security forces delivered a robust response to India’s unprovoked ceasefire violation along the Line of Control (LoC), destroying an Indian checkpost after late-night aggression on April 29-30. According to secu...

MULTAN - Chairman of the Central Ruet-e-Hilal Committee Maulana Abdul Khabir Azad said on Wednesday that Pakistan is a great blessing of Allah Almighty, established through the sacrifices of millions of people.

Burewala - The Punjab Food Authority (PFA) conducted an operation at a bakery in Burewala, seized 1800 rotten eggs and wasted on the spot.

Vehari - Under Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif’s vision for a cleaner and greener Punjab, the “Suthra Punjab” initiative is gaining strong momentum in Vehari and surrounding areas.

MUZAFFARGARH - According to details, following the arrests of several major proclaimed offenders, the legal process of confiscating the movable and immovable properties—worth millions of rupees—of those absconding and involved in serious criminal cases has been completed.

Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif on Wednesday received a telephone call from U.

Defence Minister Khawaja Asif has issued a strong warning to India, stating that Pakistan will deliver a "firm and proportional" response to any acts of aggression by New Delhi.

The Supreme Court on Wednesday constituted a 13-member larger constitutional bench to hear review petitions challenging its previous verdict concerning the distribution of reserved seats.