Pakistan

TIES between Pakistan and India are perhaps at their lowest point since Partition. Bilateral interaction is close to zero, while Pakistan has strong reasons to believe that its eastern neighbour is playing a key role in fomenting terrorism within its borders. This is unsustainable in the long run, as the threat of conflict is never far away when such a massive gulf of mistrust exists. And while India keeps harping on about the main obstacle to better ties being ‘terrorism’, which it alleges emanates from Pakistan, it is India which is bringing terrorism to this country. Meanwhile, the main flashpoint in South Asia remains the unresolved question of Kashmir. Though New Delhi would like to believe its own fiction that the Kashmir dispute has been ‘resolved’ by the scrapping of the occupied territory’s limited autonomy in 2019, the fact remains that internationally, Kashmir remains a disputed region. The lack of resolution of the Kashmir question results in a state of permanent insecurity in the subcontinent. We...

The vibrant kite-flying fever in Punjab’s capital faded on Sunday as the three-day Basant celebrations drew to a close, marking the final day of the colourful festival with enthusiasm and cheer across Lahore.

With the holy month of Ramadan just a week away, details about fasting hours across different parts of the world have come into focus, highlighting sharp contrasts between regions.

LAHORE: Bangladesh has expressed keen interest in procuring freight wagons and passenger coaches after Pakistan offered the rolling stock at prices cheaper than those in other countries. A two-member delegation, headed by a senior Bangladeshi official, has also visited the Pakistan Railways (PR) carriage factory in Islamabad and the Mughalpura Workshop in Lahore to receive a briefing from the railway authorities and to witness the rolling stock manufacturing process, Dawn has learnt. According to the Lahore-based PR authorities, Mr Farhad Islam, Bangladesh’s Secretary for International Organisations and Consular Affairs and Designate D-8 Commissioner and Mohammad Iqbal Hussain Khan, High Commissioner of Bangladesh to Pakistan, visited the Mughalpura workshop on Friday. Muhammad Nasir Khalili, Chief Mechanical Engineer (Carriage and Wagons), briefed the delegation on the overall functioning, technical capabilities, and ongoing projects of the PR’s workshops. A short documentary highlighting the workshops’ oper...

ISLAMABAD: The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) and the Power Division faced sharp criticism on Friday from a wide range of stakeholders over proposed changes to net-metering regulations, as critics accused authorities of ganging up against rapid solar energy adoption and pushing the country towards an “inefficient, unreliable and unaffordable” power system. The objections were raised during a marathon public hearing convened by the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) to seek feedback on its proposed Prosumers Regulations 2025, which aim to significantly reduce incentives for net-metering solar consumers. Although Nepra itself proposed the draft regulations, their defence was largely mounted by the Power Division and its utilities, including distribution companies and K-Electric. Participants at the hearing included think tanks, politicians, chambers of commerce, solar installers, service providers, industrialists and domestic consumers, many of whom argued that the propos...

KARACHI: The prices of tomatoes, onions, potatoes, and other vegetables have started creeping up ahead of the start of Ramazan, after hitting rare seasonal lows, thanks to a winter production glut, while prices of flour varieties and fruits have risen. As the holy month will get underway from the third week of this month, fruit vendors have already started charging higher rates for the most sought-after items like banana, apple and guava. In the flour industry, retailers blame millers for raising rates, while flour millers flatly reject the claim. As the new Sindh wheat crop will arrive in March, a random market survey ahead of the holy month reveals a price hike in a 20 kg bag of wheat flour to Rs2,500-2,700 from Rs2,400-2,600 two weeks back, followed by a Rs141 per kg increase in fine flour, up from Rs133 per kg. The Sensitive Price Index ending Feb 4 revealed a slight jump in the price of a 10kg bag of wheat to Rs1,100 from Rs1,050 two weeks back. Vegetable, fruit and flour prices rise ahead of holy month ...

KARACHI: The city is expected to face a daily water shortage of around 200 million gallons for at least four days as the Karachi Water and Sewerage Corporation (KWSC) begins repair work on a leaking 84-inch diameter main water line on Monday. The leak was detected in the Phase-I main water line in Block 19 of Gulshan-i-Iqbal. It prompted the utility to initiate urgent repair and maintenance work. The 96-hour operation will begin at 12 noon on Monday. The Phase-I main pipeline project, particularly the University Road section near Block 19, is part of the high-priority K-4 water augmentation initiative aimed at improving supply reliability. A KWSC spokesman said the repair work was being carried out to stabilise and strengthen the city’s water supply system ahead of Ramazan. He said the decision was taken to ensure a smooth water supply during the holy month, adding that specialised teams would oversee the process to minimise disruption. KWSC says leakages in 84-inch main in Gulshan to be plugged in four days ...

RAWALPINDI: An Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) in Rawalpindi on Saturday dismissed an application filed by PTI founder and former prime minister Imran Khan, seeking permission for a medical check-up by his personal doctors at Adiala jail. After hearing arguments from both sides, the court declined to grant access to Mr Khan’s private physicians inside the jail. Appearing for the PTI founder, counsel Faisal Malik argued that as a former prime minister, his client deserved the same medical facilities previously extended to other ex-premiers, citing Nawaz Sharif as precedent. He contended that Mr Khan was an undertrial prisoner and had the legal right to be examined by doctors of his choice. The lawyer also claimed that Adiala jail lacked adequate facilities for specialised eye treatment. Referring to Pakistan Prison Rules, Mr Malik said Rule 795 required that a prisoner’s family be informed before any medical treatment. He questioned why Mr Khan had been taken to the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) lat...

Ramesh Chandra, 44, from Gopalganj district in Bangladesh’s southwest, 127 kilometres from the capital Dhaka, has been making sculptures for over two decades. He is a voter in the Gopalganj-3 constituency, from where former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was elected for eight consecutive terms. Chandra has long supported Hasina’s Awami League. But this time, the situation is different. Following the mass student-led uprising on August 5, 2024, Sheikh Hasina fled to India. On May 10, 2025, the interim government, headed by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus, banned the political activities of the Awami League and all its affiliates, under the Anti-Terrorism Act. The International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) in Bangladesh, a domestic judicial body founded by Hasina in 2010, is currently prosecuting Awami League leaders for “genocide” and “crimes against humanity”, related to the 2024 movement. Ironically, the same tribunal sentenced Hasina to death for ordering a crackdown on the 2024 protesters. Previously, the...

“This bargain no longer works. Let me be direct. We are in the midst of a rupture, not a transition… You cannot live within the lie of mutual benefit through integration, when integration becomes the source of your subordination.” — Mark Carney, Prime Minister of Canada, at Davos 2026 “After the war, we gave Greenland back to Denmark. How stupid were we to do that? But we did it, but we gave it back. But how ungrateful are they now? And then after the war, which we won, we won it big — without us, right now, you’d all be speaking German and a little Japanese, perhaps.” — Donald Trump, US President, at Davos 2026 “If anyone thinks that the European Union, or Europe as a whole, can defend itself without the US, keep on dreaming. You can’t. We can’t.” — Mark Rutte, Secretary-General Nato, speaking at EU Parliament Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney went to the World Economic Forum at Davos and told the world that his country — by extrapolation, all US allies — had lived a “pleasant fiction” that is now over. Th...

• Law minister sees fourfold drop in cases of enforced disappearances • Says recent reforms must to ‘end judicial overreach’ • Claims military courts hand down ‘lenient sentences’, compared to civil courts • Legal experts warn against 28th Amendment; question govt’s legitimacy LAHORE: Federal Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar on Saturday announced that the government is forming a new high-level committee to investigate the issue of ‘missing persons’ with greater scrutiny, reaffirming the government’s commitment to reaching a target of zero missing person. Addressing the 6th Asma Jahangir Conference in Lahore, Mr Tarar admitted that while the reported number of enforced disappearances dropped significantly in recent years from nearly 10,000 to around 2,600, even the current figure was “unacceptable” from a human rights standpoint. He detailed an interim relief package designed to support the families of missing persons. This policy mechanism, developed over 18 months, provides not only financial assistance but al...

GILGIT: A renowned young mountaineer from Shimshal lost his life after falling from a mountain during ice climbing in the Khyber area of Gojal, Hunza, on Saturday. According to officials, Shah Daulat, 31, a resident of Shimshal, was climbing an ice wall in Khyber village along with a foreign tourist. The two were practising ice climbing, as the mountain develops a steep ice wall during winter. During the climb on Friday evening, Shah Daulat suddenly slipped on the ice and fell nearly 400 metres, sustaining fatal injuries. He died on the spot. Local volunteers later recovered his body and shifted it to a government hospital in Sost, near the Pakistan–China border at Khunjerab Pass. On Saturday, his body was dispatched to Shimshal for burial. Shah Daulat was a young and highly respected climber from Shimshal. He had successfully summited four eight-thousand-meter peaks, including the world’s second-highest peak K2 (8,611m), Nanga Parbat (8,126m), Gasherbrum-II (8,035m), and Gasher­brum-I (8,080m). In 2025, he a...

RAWALPINDI: The Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) has forecast rain, snow and thunderstorms in the upper parts of the country as well as Balochistan over the next two days, as a westerly wave is likely to approach the western parts of the country on Feb 8 (today). The PMD said that due to the new weather system, landslides may occur in vulnerable areas of upper Khyber Pakhtu­nkhwa, Gilgit-Baltistan and Kashmir, warning that snowfall may cause traffic disruptions and slippery conditions in the hilly areas on Feb 9 and Feb 10. Tourists have been urged to remain extra cautious and avoid unnecessary travel during the forecast period. Under the influence of this weather system, rain accompanied by wind and thunderstorms, with sno­wfall over the hills, is expected in Quetta, Ziarat, Chaman, Pishin, Qilla Abdullah, Qilla Saifullah, Chaghai, Nushki, Harnai, Zhob, Kalat, Mastung, Barkhan, Sibi, Loralai, Khuzdar, Kech, Gwadar, Panjgur and Awaran on Feb 8 and 9. In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, rain-wind/thunderstorms with...

Three others also arrested from K-P; Naqvi points finger at India; Says terror network operate from Afghanistan

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Business leaders call for structural reforms in energy and taxation, clarity from IMF

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Commerce minister inaugurates expo, cites PTA and transit facilitation