Pakistan

UNHCR says 2,147 people were rescued in 17 sea arrivals recorded in Mauritania so far in 2026

ISLAMABAD: The Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP) on Tuesday approved the appointment of 10 new judges to the Lahore High Court (LHC) during a meeting chaired by Chief Justice of Pakistan Yahya Afridi.

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan secured a silver medal and a merit certificate at the 37th International Biology Olympiad (IBO) 2026, held in Vilnius, Lithuania, from July 12 to 19, the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) announced on Monday.

One claim that resurfaces periodically in public debate over Balochistan’s accession to Pakistan is that the Instrument of Accession of the Khanate of Kalat is evidence of Balochistan’s accession as a whole. This conflates a single princely state with the entire province, and it is worth examining why that conflation matters. The central claim advanced is that Khan Ahmed Yar Khan’s signature on March 27, 1948 proves Balochistan existed as a fully sovereign, independent state from Partition in August 1947 until that date — a span of nearly seven months. This narrative forms a foundational pillar of separatist ideology and, for that reason alone, demands careful scholarly and constitutional scrutiny. The mosaic structure Few historical accounts have suffered greater distortion than the assertion that Balochistan constituted a single, indivisible political entity that acceded to Pakistan as a unified province in 1948. Propagated by adversarial foreign elements and terrorist outfits such as the Balochistan Libera...

The ongoing torrential rainfall in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has killed 12 people in three days, while 18 people have been injured, the Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) said on Tuesday. Power supply has been disrupted in several regions of the province due to the weather conditions, Peshawar Electric Supply Company (Pesco) said. Furthermore, the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) issued a nationwide alert warning of flash floods, urban flooding and landslides from July 21 to 24. The PDMA report, detailing losses and damages for the Sunday to Tuesday period, showed that five men, two women and five children had been killed by the heavy rains. Half of the deaths were reported from Khyber district, where a vehicle carrying Afghan families was swept away in a flash flood on Monday. Two children lost their lives in Mardan and a man died in Peshawar over the past three days. Furthermore, 10 men, four women and as many children were injured during the same period. Khyber accounted for half of thos...

Sindh minister says Kashmiris will reject 'form 47 product' as war of words with Punjab CM escalates

Group of seven was by Ohio river when swimmer struggled, triggering rescue attempts that killed five, sheriff says

ISPR says Pakistan and Iran reaffirm cooperation on regional security and effective border management

Rescuers were struggling to reach residents trapped under mud and boulders in eastern Afghanistan on Tuesday, after a major flood smashed through one province, killing at least 23 people. Around 100 people are unaccounted for, the national disaster agency and the provincial governor’s office said, also updating the death toll from Monday’s deluge. An AFP journalist saw dozens of people gathered in remote Parun, the capital of Nuristan province, using wooden poles and their bare hands to search for the missing. Afghan men stand amidst destroyed shops after flash floods hit Parun town in Afghanistan’s Nuristan province on July 21, 2026. — AFP Farid Gul Zaheer, a 34-year-old pharmacist, said he had “never witnessed such a dangerous flood”. “It felt like there was an earthquake, and I heard children and people screaming,” he told AFP, after getting injured while trying to flee up the mountain. On Tuesday, a bulldozer was of limited use in clearing some debris in Parun, where the flood had buried multiple shops an...

ISLAMABAD: The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) has issued a nationwide alert warning of potential floods, flash floods, urban flooding, and landslides in several parts of Pakistan until July 24 due to ongoing monsoon rains.

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Ejaz Chaudhary has approached the Supreme Court, seeking suspension of his sentence and challenging the Lahore High Court's April 28 order.

SINCE Brexit, political instability in the UK appears to be unending. Over the past decade, the country has had six prime ministers, yet the majority of the public remains despondent and views Britain as fractured. Now, Andy Burnham, the former mayor of Greater Manchester, has been appointed as the prime minister to help steer the country out of its current political turmoil with a complete reset of policies and governance. His pitch for the premiership is “good growth in every postcode and hope in every heart”. Andy Burnham humorously earned the nickname the ‘King of the North’, inspired by Game of Thrones, for his efforts to defend Manchester communities during the Covid pandemic. He took steps to bring the city’s transport under local control and championed the devolution of power from Westminster and Whitehall to regional authorities. This strategy is often referred to as ‘Manchesterism’, and ‘Burnhamism’. While Manchester’s economy has been the UK’s fastest growing in recent years, some argue that this s...

QUETTA: Three excise officials have been abducted at gunpoint following an attack on their department’s checkpost on the Dalbandin–Taftan Highway in Balochistan’s Chagai district, police sources told Dawn on Tuesday. According to the sources, the attack was carried out by unidentified men on Monday evening. They said around 30 armed men surrounded the checkpost that was set up temporarily for routine checking, held the officials on duty at gunpoint and later abducted them. The sources added that the attackers also took away two official vehicles and weapons. Police and other law enforcement personnel rushed to the site after being informed of the incident and cordoned off the area, the sources said, adding that a search operation has been launched to trace the attackers and ensure the safe recovery of the abducted officials. They said an investigation was under way to ascertain the identity of the assailants and determine the route they used to flee. The incident takes place as Balochistan continues to face s...

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Monday reaffirmed the federal government's commitment to working closely with the newly elected government of Gilgit-Baltistan to promote the welfare and development of the region.

AI-based PMOS aims to digitise governance and improve implementation of the prime minister's directives

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Tuesday met newly appointed Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) Chief Minister Advocate Amjad Hussain and assured him that the federal government was committed to working closely with his government for the welfare of the region’s people. According to the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), the premier told Hussain that the Centre is committed to working with his government for “the welfare and well-being of the people of Gilgit-Baltistan”. The statement said that he also congratulated Hussain on assuming office. PM Shehbaz also said that the federal government was undertaking development initiatives in renewable energy, tourism, infrastructure, health, education and other sectors for the region’s progress. “Among the federal government’s projects, the top priorities include a 100-megawatt solar energy initiative and the establishment of knowledge schools,” the statement quoted the premier as saying. He added that the federal government was also planning to establish a Pakistan Asaan Khidmat Cen...

Nawaz Sharif vows to resolve AJK issues, pledges tenfold budget increase if party forms government

China weighs steps to stop Western acquisition of advanced technology firms, report says

Digitising a museum collection is often framed as a technical challenge. Procure high-resolution cameras and scanners, hire trained photographers and scanning technicians, build databases and upload images to the cloud. In Pakistan, however, museum, archive and heritage digitisation is as much about navigating governance structures, institutional histories and professional anxieties as it is about the technology being used. For more than two decades, the Lahore Museum has not been led by a museum professional. For the past 16 years, the Taxila Museum has lacked authority over the majority of its reserve collection. During those same periods, specialised expertise in collections management, conservation and museum documentation have steadily eroded across much of the country’s cultural sector. The result is that projects that should primarily be about technology have become exercises in navigating institutional uncertainty. The recent digitisation of the Lahore and Taxila Museums demonstrates how the success o...

Government says its "AI for All" plan will prioritise public AI agents offering services absent on foreign platforms