Pakistan

• Committee headed by CS also recommends action against Civil Defence, fire department officers and building management committee • Suggests amendments to building control law to allow post-construction inspections KARACHI: The Implementation Committee constituted by the Sindh government has recommended disciplinary and legal action against officials of the Sindh Building Control Authority (SBCA) who served between 2020 and the date of the incident in January 2026 when the deadly Gul Plaza fire broke out. The committee held them responsible for alleged failures in inspection, enforcement and regulatory oversight, including the approval of a revised building plan and its subsequent regularisation. It also proposed amendments to the Sindh Building Control Ordinance, 1979, to empower the SBCA to carry out mandatory post-construction inspections and enforce compliance after completion of buildings. The recommendations were made at a recent meeting of the committee held under the chairmanship of Sindh chief secret...

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar left for a two-day visit to China’s Shanghai on Thursday to sign an agreement for Pakistan to join the World Artificial Intelligence Cooperation Organisation (WAICO) as a founding member, the Foreign Office (FO) said. China proposed the creation of WAICO last year for AI governance. According to FO, Dar would also participate in the World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC) 2026 during the visit and engage with other leaders to advance international AI cooperation and promote inclusive, equitable AI governance. An earlier statement by the FO said that Dar would also hold a bilateral meeting with his Chinese counterpart, as well as meetings with other officials to discuss matters of mutual interest during the China trip. “During his engagements, the Deputy Prime Minister/Foreign Minister will share Pakistan’s perspective on strengthening international cooperation in artificial intelligence, with particular emphasis on the priorities and development nee...

Peshawar - Governor Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Faisal Karim Kundi on Wednesday stressed the need for collective efforts to eliminate militancy from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, saying peace was essential for the development and prosperity of the province.

Peshawar - Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Sohail Afridi, distributed appointment letters to 4,306 newly-recruited police constables from all eight divisions of the province, marking a significant milestone in strengthening the operational capacity and human resource base of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Police.

House vote 314-104 to defeat measure, offered as an amendment to State Department spending bill

MIRPUR/ISLAMABAD - Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Wednesday intensified his party’s campaign for the July 27 general elections in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), announcing that he would remain in the region until polling day to personally oversee election activities.

Petition also contends to strike down granting members of provincial assembly entitlement to official passports

Security forces foiled on Thursday an attempted suicide attack targeting a military post in the Kari Kot area of Lower South Waziristan’s Wana, killing four terrorists, sources said. According to security sources, the terrorists tried to attack the security forces’ post using an explosives-laden vehicle. But the attempt was foiled as the threat was detected, and the suicide attacker was killed, they said. The sources said that three other terrorists were also killed in the action taken by security forces. They said the targeted post was being used to protect the local population and to prevent the movement of Fitna-al-Khawarij — a term that the state uses for the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban — towards Wana Bazaar. The sources said that the terrorists wanted to destroy the post after their persistent failure in achieving their objectives. A search and clearance operation was launched in the area after their unsuccessful attempt to attack the post, they added. Last month, the district administrations of Upper South...

THERE are many reasons to be bullish about Pakistan these days, not least the hard-fought stability in the external sector following a few years of near-catastrophic depletion of reserves. But there are now a growing number of reasons to be concerned about the underlying fragility of it all. The stability is real. There is no doubt about that. A wall of high repayment obligations that first loomed into view back in February 2021 and remained persistently high since then has finally started to come down. They not only met all these obligations and paid down their debt, but also bui­lt reserves through it all — organically — and not borrowed reserves. The return of stability to Pak­istan’s external sector after the near catastr­ophic volatility of 2021-2023 is one for the history books. The most ferocious inflationary fire in our history was doused. The most precarious foreign exchange reserves position was rebuilt. The most runaway fiscal train wreck was returned to surpl­uses on its primary balance. The state...

With AI, robots become smart, easily adaptable, and accessible, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang says

The nine-month-old pup attends seven couture shows, winning over designers and street-style photographers

GILGIT-BALTISTAN has emerged as Pakistan’s climate ground zero. For decades, the country’s climate emergency was narrated from its floodplains: Sindh’s submerged villages, Punjab’s swollen tributaries, the 2010 and 2022 disasters. These were the consequences of a deeper story. The origin has abruptly moved upstream. GB is no longer the water tower that occasionally leaks. It is where the Indus system’s first disasters now begin, not where they arrive. Heatwaves once confined to Sindh’s cities and Punjab’s plains now reach the Upper Indus Basin (UIB). In June 2026 alone, the Met Office issued its second Glof (glacial lake outburst flood) alert of the month, warning that sustained high temperatures across GB and KP were accelerating glacier and snowfield melt to the point that existing lakes were expanding and new ones forming in real time. This follows a pattern of near-annual escalation: in August 2025, a Glof from the Shishper glacier tore through Hassanabad Nullah in Hunza, severing the Karakoram Highway, i...

Bullish analysts, investors say SpaceX warrants a high premium ​because of its profitable Starlink internet service

ISLAMABAD - Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has said that the federal government will provide 100 percent funding for the development of an indigenous vaccine against Foot and Mouth disease to promote the livestock sector.

ISLAMABAD/ MIRPUR - Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Tariq Fazal Chaudhary said Wednesday that that the general elections in Azad Jammu and Kashmir will not be postponed and will be held on the 27th of this month in a free, fair, and transparent manner.

ISLAMABAD - Electricity tariff is likely to go up by approximately Rs1 per unit from August 1 as the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) has approved National Grid Company’s three-year Use of System Charges (UoSC) at an average Rs515.

SINCE early June, Azad Kashmir has been on tenterhooks, with routine life severely disturbed, as the regional administration seeks to quell the protests of the now proscribed Joint Awami Action Committee, a coalition of political and civil society groups. Violent confrontations have claimed some 30 lives of both security personnel and protesters since last month. Rawalakot, the focal point of the protest movement, has been under curfew for about six weeks. The JAAC’s demands have focused on governance issues and economic concerns, with most being accepted by the authorities. But its call for the abolition of seats in the AJK legislature for refugees from India-held Kashmir has created a deadlock. Violent clashes on Tuesday resulted in at least nine deaths. Yesterday, the JAAC launched its ‘long march’ on Muzaffarabad. The primary concern of all stakeholders should be the restoration of calm in AJK. Too many valuable lives — of both LEAs and civilians — have been lost, and while violent elements must be prosec...

The 24-year-old will represent Pakistan at Miss World for the first time in the pageant's 73-year history

ISLAMABAD - Chairman of the Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) Farid Ahmed Tarar called on National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Chairman Lt-Gen (R) Nazir Ahmed at the NAB Headquarters on Wednesday to discuss closer cooperation in promoting fair competition, economic transparency and accountability.

ISLAMABAD - The Supreme Court of Pakistan has achieved significant progress in reducing its case backlog under the Judicial Reform Action Plan launched in November 2024, fast-tracking the disposal of cases involving personal liberty, family disputes, taxation and rent matters.