Pakistan

  • Telecom subscribers in Pakistan cross 200mn mark
    The Nation - National - 10:16 Jun 19, 2025
    Pakistan has crossed a major milestone in digital connectivity, with telecom subscribers exceeding 200 million, the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) announced.
    Tags: Pakistan
  • Field Marshal Munir, Trump discuss ceasefire, regional peace, and trade ties
    The Nation - National - 10:03 Jun 19, 2025
    In a rare and high-level diplomatic engagement, Pakistan’s Chief of Army Staff Field Marshal Asim Munir met with former US President Donald Trump over lunch at the White House Cabinet Room on Wednesday.
  • Two killed in Kohat shooting, 11 injured, police say
    Dawn - 09:41 Jun 19, 2025
    Two people, including a woman, were killed and 11 others injured on Thursday after unidentified men opened fire at a group of people returning from a funeral in Chashma Ganda area of Gumbat in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Kohat district, according to a police official. Kohat District Police Officer (DPO) Dr Zahidullah Khan said initial police investigation suggests that the attack was motivated by personal enmity. The injured, along with the deceased, have been shifted to a nearby hospital for medical treatment and legal formalities, according to DPO Kohat. Further investigation is underway to apprehend the assailants. On Wednesday, two people were killed and one was injured during a shooting incident in Karachi’s Ittehad Town due to personal enmity between the two sides. Last month, a man and his two sons were shot dead by unknown armed men in KP’s Mardan district. While in a separate incident in May, six people, including three women, lost their lives in an exchange of fire over a family feud in the Khatko Pul area...
    Tags: Kohat
  • Govt launches crackdown on sugar hoarders
    The Nation - National - 09:38 Jun 19, 2025
    The federal government has decided to launch a strict crackdown on sugar hoarders and market manipulators in an effort to control the artificial surge in prices.
  • Trump, COAS Munir talk counterterrorism and trade in ‘cordial’ meeting: ISPR
    Dawn - 08:55 Jun 19, 2025
    US President Donald Trump and Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir discussed joint counterterrorism efforts and expanding bilateral trade during their “cordial” meeting in Washington, the military’s media wing said on Thursday. Gen Munir met with Trump at the White House yesterday, becoming the first serving chief of army staff to have a face-to-face meeting with a sitting US president. The occasion also marked the first time a serving Pakistani army chief had been formally received at this level, without holding political office or governing under martial law. The high-level engagement was scheduled at the Cabinet Room over luncheon, followed by a visit to the Oval Office. Secretary of State Senator Marco Rubio and Special Representative for Middle Eastern Affairs Steve Witkoff were present during the meeting from the US side, while National Security Advisor Lt Gen Muhammad Asim Malik — also the intelligence chief — accompanied the COAS. “Although initially scheduled for one hour, the mee...
    Tags: Trump
  • Homeland insecurity: expelled Afghans seek swift return to Pakistan
    Dawn - 08:31 Jun 19, 2025
    Pakistan says it has expelled more than a million Afghans in the past two years, yet many have quickly attempted to return — preferring to take their chances dodging the law than struggle for existence in a homeland some had never even seen before. “Going back there would be sentencing my family to death,” said Hayatullah, a 46-year-old Afghan deported via the Torkham border crossing in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in early 2024. Since April and a renewed deportation drive, some 200,000 Afghans have spilled over the two main border crossings from Pakistan, entering on trucks loaded with hastily packed belongings. But they carry little hope of starting over in the impoverished country, where girls are banned from school after the primary level. Hayatullah, a pseudonym, returned to Pakistan a month after being deported, travelling around 800 kilometres (500 miles) south to the Chaman border crossing in Balochistan, because for him, life in Afghanistan “had come to a standstill”. He paid a bribe to cross the Chaman fronti...
  • Dar, Uzbek FM discuss OIC agenda and regional cooperation
    The Nation - National - 07:15 Jun 19, 2025
    Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Senator Ishaq Dar held separate telephone conversations with his counterparts from Uzbekistan and the United Kingdom to discuss regional and bilateral issues, according to official statements.
  • Budget 2025-26: Senate panel seeks to ease tax rules for buying property
    Dawn - 07:14 Jun 19, 2025
    • Proposes raising purchase limit for filers from 130pc to 400pc of declared wealth • Tax approved on previously exempt luxury private clubs • Proposed e-commerce tax rejected; tax on online academies approved ISLAMABAD: A parliamentary committee has recommended raising the threshold limit for purchases made by “eligible individuals” — a new term for people who file their tax returns — and approved a measure to tax luxury clubs nationwide. The development came as the Senate and National Assembly Standing Com­mittees on Finance and Revenue held simultaneous sessions at Parliament House to conduct a clause-by-clause review of the Finance Bill 2025-26. Chaired by Senator Saleem Man­dviwalla and MNA Naveed Qamar respectively, both panels proposed several amendments and rejected some measures outright. The Senate standing committee expressed concern over the newly inserted clause in the Finance Bill, which restricts the “eligible person” from making any purchase exceeding 130 per cent of the wealth reflected in th...
    Tags: Senate
  • PML-N lawmaker reveals 2,500 bureaucrats hold dual nationality
    Dawn - 06:55 Jun 19, 2025
    https://www.dawn.com/news/1918017#:~:text=PML%2DN%20lawmaker%20Afnan%20Ullah%20Khan%20revealed%20that%202%2C500%20bureaucrats%20of%20the%20country%20including%20four%20federal%20secretaries%20were%20holding%20dual%20nationality
  • Pakistan calls for 'immediate' ceasefire between Israel, Iran
    The Nation - National - 06:37 Jun 19, 2025
    Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Wednesday called on the international community to act to bring about an "immediate" ceasefire between Iran and Israel, warning that further escalations would be detrimental not only to the region but also to global peace.
  • PIA resumes Lahore-Paris flight after five years
    Dawn - 06:18 Jun 19, 2025
    LAHORE: The PIA has resumed Lahore-Paris flight five years after the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) lifted ban on its operations in Europe. The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and UK authorities had suspended permission for PIA to operate in the region in June 2020 after Pakistan began investigating the validity of pilots’ licences following a deadly plane crash in Karachi that killed 97 people. Following the ban lift on PIA by the EASA in November last year, the national flag carrier had resumed Islamabad-Paris flights early this year. “We can operate for any destination in Europe now (except the UK) after the lifting of ban by the EASA. However, it depends upon traffic on specific routes in Europe,” a senior official of PIA told Dawn on Wednesday. He said the PIA was also hopeful that its operation for the UK would resume in a couple of months as well. “Talks with the UK authorities concerned are underway and hopefully the PIA will be operating flights there in a couple of months,” he said. A...
  • Pakistanis among 60 migrants feared dead after two shipwrecks: IOM
    Dawn - 05:09 Jun 19, 2025
    TRIPOLI/BERLIN: At least 60 migrants are feared dead after a pair of shipwrecks off the coast of Libya over the past week, according to the International Organisation for Migration (IOM). The first ship went down on June 12 near a Libyan port in Tripoli, with 21 people, including women and children, reported missing and only five survivors found, the IOM said in a statement on Tuesday. Those lost at sea included Eritrean, Pakistani, Egyptian and Sudanese nationals. The second wreck took place about 35 kilometres off the port city of Tobruk, with the sole survivor reporting 39 people lost at sea, according to the UN body. “With dozens feared dead and entire families left in anguish, IOM is once again urging the international community to scale up search and rescue operations and guarantee safe, predictable disembarkation for survivors,” said Othman Belbeisi, the IOM’s regional director for the Middle East and North Africa. According to the statement, at least 743 people have died so far this year trying to cro...
  • Four bogies derail as bomb rips through Jaffer Express in Jacobabad
    Dawn - 04:56 Jun 19, 2025
    SUKKUR: A powerful explosion of a remotely-controlled explosive device fitted to rail tracks caused four bogies of the Jaffer Express to derail near cattle market in Jacobabad on Wednesday. Luckily, no one was hurt in the incident. The responsibility of the terror act was claimed reportedly by the banned Baloch Repu­blican Guards (BRG) through a statement, which started circulating on social media soon after the blast. Witnesses said that the bomb ripped through the train, when it was en route to Quetta, leading to shouts and cries of passengers. The blast caused floor of a bogie to crumble to pieces, left a three to four foot crater at the site and damaged 20-30 feet of the rail track, said officials. Jacobabad SSP Saddam Hussain Khaskheli, accompanied by officials of police and Pakistan Railway, reached the site and gathered details of the incident. The Bomb Disposal Squad (BDS) officials had begun probe to determine the type of the bomb and the amount of explosive material used in the blast, he said. He sa...
  • Regional situation very alarming, PM tells cabinet
    The Nation - National - 04:45 Jun 19, 2025
    ISLAMABAD - Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Wednesday termed the regional situation very alarming due to escalated armed conflict between Iran and Israel and said it posed threat not only to the regional but also to the global peace.
  • President for boosting country’s defence capabilities
    The Nation - National - 04:44 Jun 19, 2025
    ISLAMABAD - President Asif Ali Zardari, visited Pakistan Ordnance Factories (POF) Wah on Wednesday.
  • Govt to cut proposed sales tax on solar panels to 10pc, NA told
    The Nation - National - 04:43 Jun 19, 2025
    ISLAMABAD - Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar yesterday informed the National Assembly that it has been decided to reduce 18 percent Sales Tax proposed in the federal budget on imported components of solar panels to 10 per cent.
  • CM Maryam calls for global accountability for hate speech
    The Nation - National - 04:39 Jun 19, 2025
    LAHORE - Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif has called on the international community to hold accountable those who spread hatred under the guise of freedom of expression.
  • PSPA VC highlights structural challenges impeding effective social protection delivery
    The Nation - National - 04:38 Jun 19, 2025
    ISLAMABAD - Vice Chairperson, Punjab Social Protection Authority (PSPA), Jahan Ara Manzoor Wattoo, attended the National Kick-Off Workshop of the “Lead the Change for Social Protection” initiative, organized in collaboration with GIZ in Islamabad.
    Tags: PSPA
  • Open auction of NHA toll plazas today
    The Nation - National - 04:37 Jun 19, 2025
    ISLAMABAD - On the special directives of Federal Minister for Communications, Abdul Aleem Khan the National Highway Authority (NHA) for the first time will conduct an open auction of its toll plazas on Thursday (today).
  • OIC has condemned Israeli aggression against Iran: DPM
    The Nation - National - 04:32 Jun 19, 2025
    ISLAMABAD - Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar yesterday said that nearly two dozen member nations of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) have strongly condemned the recent Israeli aggression against Iran in a joint statement issued last day.