Pakistan

RAWALPINDI - Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Investigation Nasir Ali Khan on Thursday held an open court at Police Lines Headquarters to address public complaints and issued directions to concerned officers for their resolution.

Rawalpindi - Ganjmandi police have booked two officers of Water and Sanitation Agency (WASA) for showing negligence in construction of an underground drain on Hamilton Road, posing risk for general public in the area.

rawalpindi - An accountability court has denied post arrest bail to brother of late Junaid Taj Bhatti, who was deputy director finance Rawalpindi Development Authority (RDA), for laundering nearly Rs400 million in the case of embezzlement of RDA funds worth Rs2.

ISLAMABAD - Vice President Pakistan Peoples Party, Senator Sherry Rehman, submitted a calling attention notice in the Senate session against the anti-encroachment operation in Bari Imam.

ISLAMABAD - Islamabad police have claimed an overall 30 percent reduction in crime in the federal capital during the first four months of the ongoing year.

ISLAMABAD - The Institute of Regional Studies (IRS) Islamabad, Pakistan and the Institute of International Studies (IIS), Shandong University, China, held a joint session, marking the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) aimed at strengthening academic cooperation, policy dialogue, and collaborative research between Pakistan and China.

Tuesday, 22nd April 2025.

For much of the twentieth century, there was a persistent belief, sometimes cautious, sometimes confident, that the international system was moving, however unevenly, toward stability.

ISLAMABAD - Pakistan on Thursday voiced optimism about a possible agreement between Iran and the United States “sooner rather than later.

GILGIT - Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday inaugurated and performed groundbreaking of multiple development projects in Gilgit-Baltistan (GB), including renewable energy initiatives, Safe City projects, and the establishment of Daanish Schools amid distributing free solar panels, laptops, and business loan cheques among the.

SHAHZADA WAZIR/Staff Report WANA/ PESHAWAR - At least four children of the same family were martyred and several others injured after multiple drone missiles struck the Ghwa Khwa area of South Waziristan, reportedly targeting suspicious vehicles and alleged militant movements, local sources said on Thursday.

The United States and Iran exchanged fire on Thursday in the most serious test yet of their month-long ceasefire, but Iran said the situation returned to normal while the US said it did not want to escalate. The renewed hostilities broke out as Washington was awaiting Iran’s response to a US proposal that would stop the fighting but leave the most contentious issues, such as Iran’s nuclear programme, unresolved for now. Iran’s military said the US targeted two ships entering the Strait of Hormuz and carried out strikes on Iranian territory. The US military said it fired in response to Iranian attacks. Trump told reporters the ceasefire was still in effect and sought to play down the exchange. “They trifled with us today. We blew them away,” Trump said, while inspecting renovations to the Lincoln Memorial’s reflecting pool in Washington. Meanwhile, Iran’s top joint military command accused the US of violating the ceasefire by targeting an Iranian oil tanker and another ship, and of carrying out air attacks on ...

WASHINGTON: Nearly 30 Democratic lawmakers have urged US Secretary of State Marco Rubio to end Washington’s longstanding ambiguity over Israel’s alleged nuclear weapons programme, arguing that such secrecy has become untenable during the ongoing war on Iran. Israel is widely believed to be in possession of nuclear weapons, though it neither acknowledges nor denies having a nuclear arsenal. In a May 4 letter addressed to Secretary Rubio, the lawmakers said the US was “currently engaged in a war against Iran, a conflict with nuclear dimensions that the administration has not adequately addressed with Congress or the American public”. The move is led by Congressman Joaquin Castro, a senior Democratic lawmaker from Texas who has served in the US House of Representatives since 2013 and is known for his work on foreign policy and intelligence-related issues, including his tenure on the House Foreign Affairs Committee. In a post on the social media platform X on Thursday, Castro said, “For nearly six decades, the US...

ISLAMABAD: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB), Karachi, has frozen four more high-value properties of Bahria Town on the instructions of an accountability court. Sources in the NAB said the action was carried out under the Anti-Money Laundering Act, 2010, following investigations that established that these assets were purchased through the laundering of crime proceeds. The bureau has attached the Bahria Icon Tower in Clifton, Karachi, where investigations revealed that Rs8 billion in crime proceeds had been laundered for its construction. The property was being held under a front company, M/s Galaxy Construction Pvt Ltd. Similarly, the Bahria Town Tower on Tariq Road, Karachi, was attached after it was established that the project was held in the name of Muhammad Awais, a “benami” frontman for Malik Riaz Hussain and M/s Bahria Town. Beyond Karachi, the operation extended to significant land holdings. The bureau has attached 817 kanals of prime land in Sheikhupura and 2,029 kanals of land in Peshawar in...

KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Thursday directed the provincial government to make the University Road fully functional within two months. The SHC also ordered the Sindh government to complete the much-delayed Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) Red Line project within the given timeline after it was informed that the project was now scheduled to be completed by October next year. A constitutional bench of the SHC comprising Justice Muhammad Saleem Jessar and Justice Nasir Ahmed Bhanbhro made it clear that the construction of the Red Line must not in any manner affect the smooth flow of traffic on the University Road. The bench issued such directives while disposing of a petition filed by M/s AM Associates and CR 3, and submitted that the petitioner company was executing the project, but the respondents had sealed their project site and served a termination notice on April 21 without any lawful justification and contrary to the terms of the contract. The bench noted that the contract of the petitioner company had...

NEW YORK: A federal judge on Wednesday released a document described as a suicide note purportedly written by the late Jeffrey Epstein and including the line: “It is a treat to be able to choose ones time to say goodbye.” Epstein, the disgraced financier and accused sex trafficker, was found dead in his Manhattan jail cell in August 2019 in what was ruled a suicide. The handwritten note was said to have been found by his former jail cellmate, convicted murderer and ex-police officer Nicholas Tartaglione. US District Judge Kenneth Karas, who oversaw the Tartaglione case, released the note after a request by The New York Times, which reported its existence last week. Karas ruled that the note qualified as a judicial document subject to the public’s right of access because it was submitted in connection with Tartaglione’s criminal case. Tartaglione is serving four consecutive life sentences for drug-related murders. Karas oversaw that case. Published in Dawn, May 8th, 2026

• Seeks probe into ‘sudden and suspicious’ transfer of ex-PM’s spouse to medical centre from Adiala jail • Rana Sanaullah advises party to pursue matter through legal channels ISLAMABAD: PTI senators walked out of the Senate on Thursday after the party’s parliamentary leader in the House, Syed Ali Zafar, raised alarm over reports that Bushra Bibi was “suddenly and suspiciously” taken to a hospital from Adiala jail during the night and returned without any disclosure, calling it a “serious human rights violation”. Raising a point of order, Mr Zafar said the reports had caused “grave apprehension and concern throughout the country”. He termed the situation “highly strange and secretive” and said it raised several questions. “If Bushra Bibi was unwell, why has the nation not been informed about her medical condition? To which hospital was she taken? What medical tests were conducted? Which doctors examined her? Why was she immediately brought back to jail?” he asked. He said the silence of the government and jai...

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump’s decision to pause a US operation to escort commercial ships through the Strait of Hormuz reportedly followed pressure from Saudi Arabia, according to an NBC News report citing two US officials. The operation, dubbed Project Freedom, was unexpectedly announced by Trump on social media on Sunday and began on Monday. However, US allies in the Gulf were reportedly surprised by the announcement. According to the officials, Saudi Arabia — one of Washington’s key regional partners— subsequently suspended the US military’s access to its bases and airspace needed to support the mission. “Trump surprised Gulf allies by announcing ‘Project Freedom’ on social media Sunday afternoon, the officials said, angering leadership in Saudi Arabia,” NBC News reported. “In response, the Kingdom informed the US it would not allow the US military to fly aircraft from Prince Sultan Airbase southeast of Riyadh or fly through Saudi airspace to support the effort.” Riyadh rejects media report on Tr...

Foreign Office (FO) spokesperson Tahir Andrabi said on Thursday that Islamabad was hopeful about and would expect an agreement between the US and Iran “sooner rather than later”. He said this during a weekly briefing, where he was asked how soon the agreement could be expected. “You have asked us how soon we can expect an agreement. We remain optimistic. A simple answer would be that we expect an agreement sooner rather than later. We hope that the parties will come to a peaceful, sustainable solution and bring peace, not just to our region but internationally as well,” he said. In this regard, Andrabi also said Pakistan would welcome a settlement between Iran and the US wherever it may be reached. “If an agreement is reached in Pakistan, it would be an honour for us,” he said. The FO spokesperson also said he could not say whether the draft of the agreement would be one page or longer. Asked whether the US government could be under pressure to end the war due to the upcoming mid-term elections, Andrabi said:...

ISLAMABAD: The Ministry of Finance and the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Thursday showed unanimous optimism over economic growth and achieving fiscal and current account targets despite the regional crisis. The development comes amid anticipated approval of disbursements worth over $1.2bn by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Friday and the scheduled visit of another mission for next year’s budget formulation on May 15. Testifying before the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Finance and Revenue, SBP Governor Jameel Ahmed confirmed that the SBP had purchased about $27bn from the market over the past three years, including $4.5bn so far this year, to boost foreign exchange reserves. He said the expected $1.2bn disbursements from the IMF would take foreign exchange reserves beyond $17bn by the end of the current fiscal year — enough for three months of import cover. Meanwhile, Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb said that Pakistan had received regulatory approval from China for the inaugural laun...