Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: The path for the launch of 5G in Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) has been cleared as policy directives for trials have been approved, with four telecommunication operations expected to begin testing soon. The GB Council, chaired by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, has approved the summary to launch 5G test trials in the region; the approval is expected to be received by the telecom sector regulator in the coming week. GB Caretaker Information Technology Minister Ghulam Abbas said the council’s secretariat had prepared a summary seeking the approval of policy directives for 5G trials. He said that the summary had been endorsed by the ministries of Law and IT. He said that after the prime minister’s approval, the summary will now be sent back to the IT ministry. “The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) is the telecom sector regulator. The IT ministry will authorise the PTA to initiate the 5G test trials,” Abbas said. The 5G spectrum auction was held in the country last month on March 10, but GB and Azad J...

ISLAMABAD: Four members of a family, including a woman and a teenager, were gunned down in the capital’s suburbs, a police official said on Saturday. According to the police official, the incident occurred in a house located in the Jhangi Syedan area, adjacent to Sectors I-15 and I-18 of Islamabad. The police official said people in the neighbourhood heard gunshots in the morning and informed police about the incident. Upon reaching the spot, a police team found four bodies on the first floor of the house, with two victims on separate beds and one on the floor. All victims sustained bullet injuries on their heads, the police official said. The victims were identified as Mula Khalil; his wife, Shamim Bibi; their 14-year-old son, Musa Khan; and Habib Majid, believed to be Shamim Bibi’s brother. Police shifted the bodies to a hospital for medical-legal procedures. The reason behind the killing was yet to be ascertained, but police suspected it could be an incident of so-called honour killing. Preliminary investi...

A petition has been filed in the Lahore High Court challenging the recent increase in petroleum prices, arguing that the decision has placed an undue burden on the public.

Jury selection is to begin on Monday in a high-profile legal battle between billionaire Elon Musk and artificial intelligence (AI) startup OpenAI, which he accuses of betraying its non-profit mission. The clash in a courtroom across the bay from San Francisco pits the world’s richest man against a startup that Musk once backed and now competes against in the booming AI sector. OpenAI’s ChatGPT is a formidable rival to the Grok chatbot made by Musk’s xAI lab. While the lawsuit filed by Musk is part of a feud between him and OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman, it spotlights a debate over whether AI should ultimately benefit the privileged few or society as a whole. Court filings lay out how Altman tried to convince Musk to back OpenAI in 2015, acting as a co-founder for a non-profit lab whose technology “would belong to the world”. Musk pumped some $38 million into the lab before he left. OpenAI is now valued at $852 billion, with Microsoft among its backers, and is preparing to go public on the stock market. Th...

Security forces thwarted an attempted attack in the Dhadar area of Balochistan, killing several militants in an exchange of fire, officials said on Saturday.

Tight security arrangements were in place in Islamabad’s Red Zone on Saturday as a high-level Iranian delegation was in town amid intensifying diplomatic activity around the US-Iran conflict. Araghchi arrived in Islamabad late on Friday, carrying Tehran’s formal response to proposals conveyed earlier by the US through Pakistan. The Islamabad police have said that the Red Zone and Extended Red Zone will be “completely closed to all types of traffic” and issued an alternative traffic plan for the public. Dawn takes a look at some of the scenes from key roads in Islamabad, where security personnel stand guard and barricades are placed as part of stringent security. Police personnel keeps watch in the Red Zone area of Islamabad on April 25, 2026. — AFP A security personnel diverts traffic at a closed road in the Red Zone area of Islamabad on April 25, 2026. — AFP An army trooper keeps watch in the Red Zone area of Islamabad on April 25, 2026. — AFP An army trooper stands guard at a closed road in the Red Zone are...

Gul Plaza’s three facades were clearly damaged in the stage II and III January 18 fire which killed 70 people, but when a building inspector came afterwards, he held back. “It was impossible to go inside,” he said, “the heat was too intense even after two days.” That same month, one after another, three other market fires erupted in Karachi, intensifying the feeling of anger and helplessness that the city had turned into a tinderbox because of years of neglect. The bodies just keep piling up. The preventable deaths from urban negligence — fires, open manholes, building collapses, electrocution, rains, bad road design — all speak to the systemic weakening of Karachi. At least 300 have been reported in newspapers so far in 2026 by rough count. Many of these deaths are evidence of the failure of vertical expansion of informality. You cannot allow floor upon floor, shop upon shop, to be slowly added to urban spaces and infrastructure that was never designed to support such density in the first place. Neither the ...

WASHINGTON: The US Department of Justice has filed a civil case seeking to revoke the citizenship of a Pakistani-born physician convicted of sexually exploiting a minor and later concealing the offences during his naturalisation process. The doctor, Hassan Sherjil Khan, allegedly began contacting an 11-year-old girl online in 2007 or 2008 and continued communicating with her for several years, according to a statement issued by the department. Prosecutors say the doctor coerced the minor into sending sexually explicit images and engaging in live video sexual activity. The conduct continued until around 2013. The Justice Department further alleges that the accused travelled abroad to engage in sexual acts with the victim when she was 15. Despite this, he applied for US citizenship in August 2012 without disclosing his involvement in the offences and was granted naturalisation in May 2013. The victim later disclosed the abuse, after which the doctor was arrested in September 2015. He was charged with coercion a...

President Asif Ali Zardari will undertake an official visit to China from April 25 to May 1 at the invitation of the Chinese government.

The US Senate will vote as soon as next week on a Democratic-led effort to prevent US President Donald Trump from launching an attack on Cuba, Senate aides said on Friday, responding to the Republican’s threats to take military action against the island. Democratic Senators Tim Kaine, Adam Schiff and Ruben Gallego introduced the Cuba War Powers Resolution last month. Under Senate rules, the Senate’s Republican leaders must allow it to come up for a vote. “The president’s saber rattling toward Cuba makes clear where his sights are next,” Schiff said in a statement when the resolution was introduced. Exact timing of the vote has not yet been announced, but aides said they expected it before May 1. Under Trump, US forces have launched strikes on boats off Venezuela and gone into Caracas to seize President Nicolas Maduro, and, with Israel, waged war on Iran since February 28, all without authorisation from Congress. Trump has since said “Cuba is next,” while touting US military action in Venezuela and Iran. He di...

Gun battles between rival ethnic groups in India’s troubled northeastern Manipur state killed three men, police said, the latest unrest in the far-flung region. Manipur has seen periodic clashes for nearly three years between the predominantly Hindu Meitei majority and the mainly Christian Kuki community in which more than 250 people have been killed. “In a heavy exchange of fire… three individuals sustained fatal bullet injuries,” Manipur police said in a statement late on Friday. The clashes took place at Mullam village in Ukhrul district, and police did not specify which community the men came from. “Security measures have been enhanced in the area to prevent further escalation of violence,” police said. “Operations are still underway.” Longstanding enmity between the Meitei and Kuki communities revolves around competition for land and public jobs. Rights activists have accused local leaders of exacerbating ethnic divisions for political gain. Unrest erupted in 2023, when around 60,000 people were forced t...

Abbas Araghchi held a key meeting with Chief of Army Staff Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir during his visit to Islamabad, the Iranian Embassy said on Saturday.

Palestinians in the West Bank and a central area of Gaza began voting on Saturday in municipal elections in the first vote since Israel’s deadly invasion of Gaza, marked by a narrow political field and widespread disillusionment. Nearly 1.5 million people are registered to vote in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, as well as 70,000 people in Gaza’s Deir el-Balah area, according to the Ramallah-based Central Elections Commission. Polling stations opened at 7am (9am PKT). AFP footage from Al-Bireh in the West Bank and Deir el-Balah in Gaza showed election officials in polling stations as Palestinians came to cast ballots. Most electoral lists are aligned with President Mahmoud Abbas’s secular-nationalist Fatah party or feature candidates running as independents. There are no lists affiliated with Fatah’s archrival Hamas, which controls nearly half of the Gaza Strip. In most cities, Fatah-backed tickets will run against independent lists headed by candidates from factions such as the Popular Front for the Liberati...

The International Monetary Fund has urged Pakistan to ensure that all public sector entities transfer their funds into a Treasury Single Account (TSA), raising concerns over large sums currently held in commercial banks, sources said.

PESHAWAR: Five policemen were among eight people injured after unidentified assailants attacked a police vehicle and a Rescue 1122 ambulance in two separate areas of Khar tehsil in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Bajaur district on Friday night. Police and Rescue 1122 officials said on Saturday that the first incident occurred in the Lowi Sam area when assailants opened fire on a police mobile carrying policemen to the nearby Miagano post. They said five policemen in the vehicle were injured in the attack, adding that the attackers managed to flee. “The overnight attack on the police vehicle in the Lowi Sam area, considered among the peaceful areas of Khar tehsil, has left five policemen non-fatally wounded,” a spokesperson for the district police said. The official said that after the incident, a team from the Lowi Sam police station immediately rushed to the scene and launched search efforts for the attackers. The police spokesperson added that a Rescue 1122 ambulance was attacked by unknown assailants in Khar’s Rasha...

Peshawar - Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Sohail Afridi, while addressing a meeting of the provincial cabinet, spoke at length on the prevailing national and provincial situation, the political context, and the government’s forward-looking development priorities.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has decided to allow spectators into the stadium for the final of the 11th edition of the Pakistan Super League (PSL), Interior Minister and PCB Chairman Mohsin Naqvi said on Saturday. In a post on X, the PCB chairman said he had requested PM Shehbaz to allow spectators in the stadiums during the PSL 11 final. “While he was also inclined to permit fans, he emphasised that austerity measures are currently in place across Pakistan, with efforts underway to minimise fuel consumption,” Naqvi said. “However, on the request of franchise owners, he has graciously approved the presence of fans for the PSL 11 final.” The PCB chairman thanked the premier for the decision to facilitate the fans. This year’s PSL had initially been scheduled to be held across six venues — Lahore, Karachi, Rawalpindi, Multan, Peshawar, and Faisalabad. However, last month, it was announced that the tournament would go ahead sans spectators while matches would be held only in Karachi and Lahore in line with the ...

UNITED NATIONS: Terrorist groups are increasingly exploiting artificial intelligence, encrypted platforms and digital currencies, transforming the global threat into a more decentralized and harder-to-detect phenomenon. These trends were discussed at a panel organised by the Permanent Mission of Pakistan in collaboration with the United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism (UNOCT) at the UN headquarters in New York, where diplomats, security experts and academics examined emerging patterns in global terrorism. According to the panelists, the shift has expanded the reach of extremist networks beyond traditional conflict zones, enabling remote recruitment, propaganda and financing through online ecosystems that operate across borders and often outside regulatory control. The convergence of these tools with rising ideological extremism — including far-right movements in Western societies — has further complicated efforts to define and counter terrorism, as loosely organised groups operate without clear leadership...

• Seminaries declared a ‘red line’, with warning of protest movement after May 2 deadline • Govt moves to strengthen madressah registration process, says around 300 unregistered seminaries identified QUETTA: Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (JUI-F) Balochistan Emir Senator Maulana Abdul Wasay has announced a boycott of the Bugti-led coalition government’s functions, official meetings, and visits to the Chief Minister’s House, alleging that the provincial government has launched operations against madressas (seminaries) across the province and sealed many of them. Speaking at a press conference on Fri­day, along with Senator Kamran Murtaza and other party leaders, he said that the decision to socially boycott the government was taken in response to actions against seminaries. He said the law under which these actions are being carried out has neither been approved by parliament nor by the provincial assembly. He declared that seminaries are the party’s “red line” and warned that those taking action against them have “dug ...

Source: The 2026 Global Report on Food Crises • Multi-agency report says over 9m Pakistanis face ‘crisis’ conditions; another 1.7 million in the more severe ‘emergency’ category • Notes devastating monsoon rains, severe flooding wiped out crucial cropland, livelihoods • Warns global hunger remains at critical levels amid conflict, drought, aid cuts; outlook for 2026 remains ‘bleak’ ISLAMABAD: Pakistan remains one of the 10 fragile countries where global acute food insecurity is most concentrated, according to a UN-backed report released on Friday, as intensifying climate extremes and persistent economic challenges continue to strain the nation. The 2026 Global Report on Food Crises names Pakistan alongside Afghanistan, Bangladesh, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Myanmar, Nigeria, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria and Yemen as the primary centres of acute hunger. According to the report, Pakistan was among the world’s 10 largest food crises in 2025, with about 11 million people facing acute food insecurity. Of t...