Pakistan

The 21st century’s cultural terrain has fostered an unusual sociological phenomenon: the over-analysis of an entire demographic. Whereas researchers have studied youth cohorts since the 1960s, none have faced quite as intense a spotlight as Generation Z (henceforth Gen-Z). Born between 1997 and 2012, this group is the first to be fed constant digital data portraits of their own behaviour. Cultural commentators repeatedly insist that Gen-Z do not strive for traditional academic or career goals and are rebuffing them. Yet, in a case of what is referred to as a meta-paradox, Gen-Z are feeling the pressure to perform the very definitions assigned to them by market analysts and some sociologists. When corporate-backed surveys repeatedly declare that Gen-Z is anxious, boundary-setting and radical, the generation feels compelled to stage their lives to match these expectations, simply to feel visible. This performative trap exists in the various spaces that this generation largely operates in. Data portraits from fi...

ISLAMABAD: The National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA) has summoned Noreen Niazi, sister of former incarcerated prime minister Imran Khan, to appear before it on Monday, July 20, over allegations of disseminating “false, offensive and inflammatory” content against state institutions. “You have been found to have disseminated false, offensive and inflammatory social media content to defame state institutions and spread fake narratives,” stated the NCCIA notice dated July 18 said. The agency directed her to appear at its G-13/3 office in Islamabad in connection with an inquiry. “In case of non-compliance, it will be assumed that you have nothing to present or state in your defence,” the notice further stated, adding that non-compliance was punishable under Section 174 of the Pakistan Penal Code. While the notice did not specify the content in relation to which Niazi has been summoned, it was issued after a clip of her making claims in relation to last year’s brief military conflict between Pakistan an...

President, PM reaffirm support for Kashmiris' right to self-determination

• Only 370 of 783 commercial and residential projects found in compliance with fire safety rules • 416 buildings do not have emergency exits • Survey raises concerns over emergency preparedness in commercial and residential buildings KARACHI: A comprehensive fire safety audit of buildings across the city has revealed widespread non-compliance with basic safety standards, raising concerns over emergency preparedness in the city’s commercial and residential structures. The audit, conducted across seven districts, assessed 783 buildings on four key parameters — adherence to approved layout, availability of emergency exits, presence of portable fire extinguishers, and overall risk categorisation. The exercise was ordered by the provincial government following the devastating fire at Gul Plaza on M.A. Jinnah Road that had killed scores of people in January. The chief secretary had constituted sub-divisional fire safety audit committees headed by assistant commissioners to conduct the survey. According to the conso...

LAHORE: A sessions court on Saturday granted interim pre-arrest bail to Sohail Lashari, the CEO of Sozo Water Park, till Aug 1 in a case related to the death of a minor girl in a swimming pool at the recreational facility. Additional District & Sessions Judge Nasir Mahmood Sial heard Lashari’s bail petition. The judge directed the suspect to join the investigation and summoned the case record from the police at the next hearing. The judge also restrained the police from arresting him till the next hearing. The Batapur Police had registered the case following the death of the girl, 9, who became trapped in a drainage pipe of a swimming pool at the park due to the alleged negligence of its staff. The district administration had also sealed the park and the police arrested three officials of the facility. Published in Dawn, July 19th, 2026

LAHORE: Police are still awaiting forensic and post-mortem reports to determine the cause of mysterious deaths of four members of a US-based family, including a woman and her three children, who were found dead in a rented house in Valencia Town two days ago. The deceased were identified as Aleena and her children Rehan (16), Aresha (11) and Arsal (6). According to investigators, the family had recently returned to Pakistan from the United States and had been living in a rented house. Police had taken Aleena’s husband Nasir Dogar into custody for questioning before releasing him after recording his statement on Saturday. Police quoted Dogar as saying that he had gone to the market and found his wife and children lying unconscious when he returned home. They were later pronounced dead. He told the investigators that his wife had been suffering from mental health issues for the past three to four years and she was receiving treatment for the last six months. He claimed that his wife was still conscious when he ...

The United States launched new strikes on Iran early on Sunday after the US military earlier announced that two US military personnel were killed in Jordan and another was missing following an Iranian attack. Later, Iran’s army said it had targeted two US bases in Kuwait with drones in response to American attacks on Iranian territory. The Islamic republic’s army said it carried out “large-scale attacks with kamikaze drones against the US military’s ammunition depot at Camp Udairi and the Patriot radar system and air surveillance radar at Ali Al Salem Air Base in Kuwait”, according to a statement carried by the state broadcaster. Before the US strikes, Iran’s supreme leader said Washington would pay for “seeking to escalate the conflict”. US Central Command said in a statement that the airstrikes began at 6pm ET (2200 GMT), at President Donald Trump’s direction. “The strikes are designed to further degrade Iran’s ability to threaten commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz and swiftly punish Islamic Revolu...

ISLAMABAD - Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Senator Muhammad Ishaq Dar on Saturday underlined the importance of upholding ceasefire commitments under the Islamabad MoU and avoiding any actions that could further escalate tensions.

ISLAMABAD - Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif said, “Pakistan will continue to extend its unwavering diplomatic, political and moral support until the people of Jammu and Kashmir are able to exercise their inalienable right to self-determination.

Abdul Rauf, a 52-year-old daily wager, clutches a crumpled prescription in his hand at a pharmacy. His doctor has prescribed him medicine for his back pain and high blood pressure. But the total cost is almost double what he paid last year. With a sigh, he picks only two of the four prescribed items. “What is the point of medicines being available if I cannot afford them?” he mutters. They say the shortage is over, but for people like him, the suffering continues. He’s among many others who are forced to compromise their health due to financial constraints. In Rawalpindi’s busy markets, pharmacy shelves that once stood bare now brim with medicines. From insulin to psychiatric drugs and even cancer treatments, supplies are no longer scarce, thanks to the government that deregulated prices of non-essential medicines. But for patients, availability means little when the price tags remain out of reach. This paradox stems from a major policy decision taken in February 2024, when the government deregulated prices o...

WASHINGTON: Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb arrived in Washington on Saturday evening for a three-day visit during which he is expected to hold talks with US officials on trade, finance and investment. Pakistan and the United States will resume negotiations on Monday on a broader bilateral economic partnership, diplomatic sources told Dawn. During his visit, Aurangzeb is scheduled to meet officials from the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR), the US Export-Import Bank, the US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC), and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), sources said. A key focus of the visit will be discussions on the framework for a potential bilateral trade agreement aimed at expanding trade and investment between the two countries. The talks are expected to cover tariffs, market access, investment opportunities and broader economic cooperation. Meetings with the Exim Bank and the DFC are also expected to explore avenues for financing infrastructure, energy and priv...

Tariq Fazl says comments not an isolated incident, reflect broader pattern by Imran Khan's family

LAHORE - Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif on Saturday launched a major initiative to modernise sewerage and drainage infrastructure across the province by handing over symbolic keys of newly procured machinery to Water and Sanitation Agency (WASA) authorities.

IN a Los Angeles courtroom, Kaley G.M., 20, described a childhood consumed by social media. She began using YouTube at six and Instagram at nine. On one occasion, she said, she spent 16 hours on Instagram. By 10, she had uploaded 240 videos and created nine other accounts to like and comment on. She told jurors that the platforms disrupted her sleep, education and friendships, and worsened anxiety, depression and body-image problems. Meta and Google argued that her difficulties had other causes, including bullying and a troubled home life. Her lawyers instead focused on platform design: autoplay, infinite feeds and notifications intended to keep users engaged. After more than 40 hours of deliberations, the jury found both companies negligent. What made the verdict historic was that it emerged from the first US jury trial of its kind, holding the companies responsible not for material posted by users, but for the design and operation of the platforms themselves. Kaley’s case was not an isolated tragedy. In 202...

The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) has issued a flash flood warning for Gilgit-Baltistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Azad Jammu and Kashmir, as heavy rainfall is expected across the country from July 18 to 23.

PAKISTAN’S power elite, particularly those within the security structures, has rarely lacked confidence, maintaining an optimism that ground realities seldom justify. Over the decades, the sources of this self-assurance have shifted, from military might to the country’s critical geopolitical location, and now to physical resources, chief among them the critical minerals concentrated in the turbulent province of Balochistan. What remains constant is not the source of hope, but the elite’s persistent unwillingness to reconcile it with Pakistan’s actual sociological, political and economic indicators, which tell a far less reassuring story. The power elite might not have been surprised by the European Commission’s latest report on the implementation of the GSP-Plus, which flagged certain compliance issues. This latest assessment comes at a time when Pakistani exporters enjoy preferential access to the European market in return for implementing 27 international conventions covering human rights, labour rights, en...

THE Islamabad MoU, and the broader US-Iran ceasefire this document is supposed to underpin, is unravelling before our eyes. Following a recent escalation, Washington and Tehran have been trading fire across the Gulf, with each round more intense than the last. The US has struck locations in Iran, while Tehran has responded in kind by hitting targets in the GCC states allied with the US, as well as in Iraq, Jordan and Syria. Both sides have hit civilian sites, including water plants. The immediate trigger for hostilities was Iran’s demand that only its ‘approved’ route be used for transit of the Strait of Hormuz. Its attacks on ships using ‘unauthorised’ routes invited an American military response. Apparently, both sides were reading the MoU’s clause regarding the vital strait differently. Yet beyond Hormuz, Israel’s attacks in Lebanon have also put great strain on the MoU. As of Saturday, the MoU seemed all but dead, as Iran’s deputy foreign minister has said his country is “no longer implementing” its commi...

4,808 reports filed ​by Facebook users in US, with 63% of users ​facing issues accessing website

World champions will receive $50 million, while the losing finalists will collect $33 million

• Resolution calls for compensation, water royalty, plan for protection of glaciers • Opp leader calls for probe into use of climate funds, alleges corruption GILGIT: The Gilgit-Baltistan lawmakers have asked the federal government to establish a “special green fund” to protect its fast-melting glaciers and preserve its fragile ecosystem from the impacts of global warming, while also calling for a probe into funds allocated for climate change. In a resolution unanimously approved by the house, the lawmakers said the mountainous region faced a serious threat due to climate change, which also posed risks to future generations. The house demanded the federal government provide compensation, water rights, and water royalty through development packages, saying the move would be in accordance with the principles of justice and fairness. “Therefore, we urge the federal government to establish a green fund for preserving its natural environment and water resources, promoting clean water projects, supporting waste man...