Pakistan

The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has announced plans to hold a public rally at Minar-e-Pakistan in Lahore on August 5, calling for the release of party founder Imran Khan.

At least five children lost their lives in rain-related incidents across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Swat district as torrential rains triggered flash floods in various parts of the region, rescue officials said on Tuesday. Monsoon rains continue to lash many parts of the country, prompting authorities to release an urban flooding warning. According to the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), 221 people have been killed and more than 500 others injured in rain-related incidents since June 26. According to Rescue 1122 spokesperson Shafiqa Gul, a woman and her two sons were attempting to cross a stream in the Sur Dherai area of Malam Jabba, when her children drowned. “The mother, holding her 10-month-old baby in her arms, was trying to guide her seven-year-old son across the stream when a flash flood struck. In the chaos, she lost control, and the child in her arms was swept away,” Gul said. The bodies of the two sons were recovered by rescue personnel after hours of coordinated effort, the official added. I...

Rescue teams in Rawalpindi are searching for Colonel (retd) Ishaq Qazi and his daughter after their car was swept away by powerful floodwaters on Tuesday.

The National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) has announced significant policy changes to enhance the security, legal recognition, and accuracy of identity documents for families and children across Pakistan.

The United States will soon require international visitors to pay a “visa integrity fee” of at least $250, a new addition to existing visa application costs, according to a provision in the Trump administration’s recently enacted domestic policy bill, CNN reported on Tuesday. In the fiscal year 2024, the US issued nearly 11 million non-immigrant visas according to the State Department. These encompass international students, many leisure and business travellers and other temporary visitors. The new fee will apply to all visitors requiring non-immigrant visas to enter the US. This does not include tourists and business travellers from countries that are included in the Visa Waiver Programme — including Australia and many European countries — that do not need visas for stays of 90 days or less. The fee is to be paid at the time visas are issued. Although there will be no fee waivers for the payment, the provision states that travellers who comply with the terms of their visa can have the fee reimbursed after th...

Iran has no plans to abandon its nuclear programme, including uranium enrichment, despite “severe” damage to its facilities after US strikes last month, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Monday. For now, enrichment “is stopped because, yes, damages are serious and severe”, Araghchi told Fox News’ “Special Report with Bret Baier”. “But obviously we cannot give up enrichment because it is an achievement of our own scientists,” he continued, calling it a source of “national pride”. He stressed that any future nuclear deal would have to contain the right to enrichment. When asked whether any enriched uranium had been saved from the strikes, Araghchi said he had “no detailed information”, but that Iran’s Atomic Energy Organisation is “trying to evaluate what has exactly happened to our nuclear material, to our enriched material”. Washington bombed three nuclear facilities in Iran on June 22 to support Israel’s 12-day military offensive, including the Fordow underground uranium enrichment site located south o...

Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif, in her message on World Brain Day, highlighted the significance of mental health and the need for collective awareness regarding brain-related illnesses.

Pakistan on Monday signed a United Nations (UN) agreement aimed at conserving marine biodiversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction, the Foreign Office (FO) said. In 2015, Pakistan’s seabed territory grew by about 50,000 square kilometres after a UN body accepted Islamabad’s claim for extension of sea limits. Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar signed the “Agreement on the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Marine Biological Diversity of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction” (BBNJ Agreement) at the UN Headquarters in New York. The BBNJ pact is the third implementing agreement under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (Unclos), which was adopted in 1982 and entered into force in 1994. Pakistan signing the BBNJ agreement “reflects on its commitment to multilateral cooperation and protection and sustainable use of marine biodiversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction”, the FO noted in a statement. The BBNJ agreement was adopted on 19 June 2023 by an intergovernmental conference. “Paki...

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian is scheduled to visit Pakistan on July 26, according to a statement by Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei, as reported by Tasnim News.

At least 25 children were among the 27 dead pulled from scorched buildings after a Bangladesh Air Force jet on a training mission crashed into a college and school campus in Dhaka, officials said on Tuesday, with 88 people being treated in hospital. The F-7 BGI aircraft crashed soon after it took off at 1:06pm (12:06pm PKT) on Monday from the airbase in Kurmitola in the capital on a routine training mission. The military said the plane experienced a mechanical failure. Visuals showed rescue workers scouring the charred buildings for debris as distressed family members surrounded the site. Sayedur Rahman, special assistant to the chief adviser on health, told reporters that 27 people had died and 88 were admitted to hospital with burn injuries. Those dead included 25 children, a teacher and the pilot. The government announced a day of mourning, with flags at half-mast and special prayers at all places of worship. The F-7 BGI is the final and most advanced variant in China’s Chengdu J-7/F-7 aircraft family, acc...

KARACHI: Nolberto Solano’s last managerial job might have not gone too well but the Newcastle United legend will look to turn a page on that when he takes over as the head coach of Pakistan’s senior and under-23 teams next month. Solano is the first major appointment by the freshly-elected Pakistan Football Federation leadership with president Mohsen Gilani telling Dawn on Monday that he expected the former Peru winger to help the national team reach new heights. “He will bring more zest and energy to the national team … especially in our style of play,” Mohsen added, noting Solano’s experience as the assistant coach of the Peruvian national team. During his seven-year stint as assistant to Ricardo Gareca, Solano helped his country qualify for their first FIFA World Cup appearance in 36 years as Peru made it to the 2018 tournament in Russia. Solano, who also helmed the under-23 side, stayed till 2022, leaving after Peru fell to Australia in an intercontinental playoff for the World Cup that year in Qatar. Sin...

Ahmed Raza, a 19-year-old resident of Karachi, remains effectively invisible to the state unable to study, work, or access basic services simply because he lacks identification papers.

The Pakistan Army has launched a large-scale rescue operation to evacuate stranded tourists in the Deosai region and surrounding areas, following severe weather and landslides that cut off key routes in Gilgit-Baltistan.

In response to recent terrorist attacks targeting passengers in Balochistan, the government has imposed a night travel ban on all transport from Punjab to Balochistan.

Widespread financial irregularities have been uncovered in Pakistan’s power sector, with eight electricity distribution companies allegedly involved in overbilling consumers by a staggering Rs244 billion, according to an official audit report.

ISLAMABAD: The Senate on Monday passed several private member bills, including one enhancing punishment for obscenity-related offences. The Criminal Laws (Amendment) Bill 2024, introduced by PPP Senator Shahadat Awan, seeks to amend Sections 292 to 294 of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC). The bill has defined obscenity as per Article 37(g) of the Constitution, which states: “[The State shall:] prevent prostitution, gambling and taking of injurious drugs, printing, publication, circulation and display of obscene literature and advertisements”. Under the proposed changes, Section 292 would increase the penalty for publishing, producing, exhibiting, distributing, or selling obscene material from a three-month sentence and an unspecified fine to two years’ imprisonment and a fine of Rs200,000. A proviso clarifies the law does not apply to religious content or objects used for religious purposes. Section 293 would raise the punishment for selling obscene material to individuals under 20 years from six months’ impriso...

QUETTA: Police have arrested at least 14 suspects for their involvement in the killing of a man and a woman in the Quetta district, who were shot dead on the orders of a tribal jirga ahead of Eidul Azha for so-called honour. The horrific video of the incident went viral on Sunday, prompting a countrywide outcry. Baloc­histan Police chief Moa­zzam Jah Ansari told Dawn the woman’s family and her tribe members were allegedly involved in the murder as they killed her and her partner for allegedly having a relationship out of wedlock. The man who shot and killed the woman was her brother, the IGP said. On Sunday, it was reported that the woman and the man had contracted a love marriage, and they were invited by their families on the pretext of a feast, where they were informed about the decision of the jirga. Separately, a court ordered the police to exh­ume the bodies and conduct an autopsy, while an anti-­t­errorism court granted physical remand of Sardar Sher­baz Satak­zai to police for two days. Balochistan Hi...

MUMBAI: An Indian court acquitted on Monday 12 men previously convicted for a series of bomb blasts that ripped through packed commuter trains in Mumbai in 2006 that killed 187 people. The men were convicted in 2015 of murder, conspiracy, and waging war against the country over the attacks during the evening rush hour of July 11, 2006 that also injured more than 800 people. Five were sentenced to death, while the other seven were given life imprisonment. But, 10 years later, the Bombay High Court set aside a lower court’s verdict and acquitted the 12 men. Justices Anil Kilor and Shyam Chandak said in their judgement, the prosecution had “utterly failed to establish the offence beyond the reasonable doubt against the accused on each count”. The men were ordered to be released from jail “if they are not required to be detained in any other case”. The prosecution can appeal against the order in the Supreme Court. A total of seven blasts ripped through the trains after the bombs, packed into pressure cookers, wer...

LONDON: The defamation trial between Brigadier (retd) Rashid Naseer and UK-based former army officer Adil Farooq Raja opened today at the Royal Courts of Justice in London. The proceedings, scheduled to continue until July 24, centre on a series of online allegations made by Mr Raja against the retired intelligence officer, which Brigadier Naseer claims are defamatory and untrue. Mr Raja, who runs a YouTube channel and has positioned himself as a whistleblower, is accused of making multiple defamatory statements on social media, including allegations of corruption, electoral interference, judicial manipulation, and human rights abuse, all of which Brigadier Naseer strongly denies. Brigadier Naseer appeared in person in the court, whereas Mr Raha appeared via video link. Mr Raja’s witness former accountability tsar Shehzad Akbar appeared in person, whereas Shaheen Sehbai and Syed Akbar Hussian appeared online from the US. Naseer told the UK High Court that he and his family had faced threats to their lives, ha...

ISLAMABAD - Vice President of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Senator Sherry Rehman on Monday delivered a strong condemnation of the recent brutal murder of a man and woman in Balochistan, calling the incident “not an honour killing, but an act of sheer dishonour.