Pakistan

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A teenager opened fire at a Turkish school on Wednesday, killing nine people and wounding 13, with students jumping from windows to escape the second school shooting in the country in as many days, officials said. Wednesday’s attack unfolded in the Kahramanmaras province in the south of the country, where such mass shootings are usually rare. “We regret to report nine deaths (…) and 13 wounded. Six of them are currently in intensive care, three of whom are in critical condition,” Interior Minister Mustafa Ciftci said in a statement, upping the previous toll of four dead and 20 wounded. “A student came to school with guns that we believe belonged to his father in his backpack. He entered two classrooms and opened fire randomly, causing injuries and deaths,” Kahramanmaras province governor Mukerrem Unluer told reporters earlier in the day. The attacker, an eighth-grade student, was the son of a former police officer, Unluer said, adding that the suspect was carrying five guns and seven magazines. He died during...

ISLAMABAD: Projecting Pakistan’s fiscal deficit at around 3.2 per cent of the gross domestic product (GDP) and a slightly declining primary surplus from 2.5pc, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has advised phasing out fiscally draining fuel subsidies, addressing contingent liabilities and broadening the tax base for credible medium-term sustainability. In its twice-a-year Fiscal Monitor 2026, the IMF projected Pakistan’s revenue to have already peaked with a downward but stable outlook in the medium-term ending 2031. This would thus lower public debt, yet was significantly higher than required under the Fiscal Responsibility and Debt Limitation Act (FRDLA) 2005, the IMF indicated as it anticipated government expenditures to remain stubborn. The Fund projected Pakistan’s fiscal deficit at 3.2pc of GDP during the current fiscal year and next year — down from 5.4pc in FY2025 — and then declining to 3pc and 2.8pc for FY2028 and FY2029, respectively. It forecast the fiscal deficit rising again to 3.6pc in FY20...

K-Electric’s (KE) stated in a disclosure to the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Wednesday that Shaheryar Chishti had been appointed as the new chairman of the power utility’s board of directors. “We are pleased to notify you that following the election of directors during the extraordinary general meeting held on April 2, 2026, the board of directors, in its meeting held on April 15, 2026, has appointed Shaheryar Chishty as the chairman of the board,” the disclosure, seen by Dawn, read. It added, “You may please inform the TRE Certificate holders of the exchange accordingly.” According to Chishti’s profile on KE’s website, he has had a long career in investment banking and also served as a board member in various power distribution companies on a pro bono basis. Earlier in March, K-Electric had appointed Syed Taha as its new chief executive officer (CEO), replacing interim head Adeeb Ahmad. Ahmad was appointed as the interim CEO on February 13 after KE’s previous CEO, Moonis Alvi, stepped down, days after ge...

ISLAMABAD - The government of Pakistan slashes another Rs63 billion from Public Sector Development Programme, taking total cut to Rs 163 billion reducing the federal development outlay to 837 billion from the original Rs 1 trillion.

Islamabad: The federal government on Tuesday announced 2.

Body buried in cattle pen in December

Urban experts urge shift to smart growth and public transport to curb environmental damage

Call for innovation and global standards to sustain industry growth

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ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad Bar Association (IBA) on Wednesday called a meeting of its general body — scheduled for April 21 — after around 400 signed a resolution calling for an urgent hearing of sentence suspension pleas filed by human rights lawyer Imaan Zainab Mazari-Hazir and her husband, Hadi Ali Chattha, over their conviction in the controversial social media posts case. The IBA said the meeting was being called to discuss the sentencing and detention of Imaan and Hadi, and it would be held at the District Courts Complex in Islamabad. On January 24, Imaan and Hadi were handed a total of 17 years in jail on multiple charges under the Prevention of Electr­onic Crimes Act (Peca) by a sessions court in Islamabad, sparking outrage among rights groups, opposition parties, and other segments of society. The lawyer duo was sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment under Peca’s Section 10 (cyberterrorism), five years’ jail under Section 9 (glorification of an offence) and two years in prison under Section 26-A (false an...

WHILE the world breathed a collective sigh of relief as the US-Iran ceasefire took hold on April 8, that sense of calm may prove fleeting. The ceasefire is not conflict resolution. It carries a warning that in the absence of a sound legal architecture underpinning the talks, it risks becoming nothing more than an intermission between escalations. The talks between the US and Iran must be anchored in international law as the central organising principle for a durable and lasting settlement. Looking back at the debris of past truces, one thing is certain: ceasefires that lack a legal framework collapse under the weight of mistrust and competing narratives. Conversely, those grou­n­d­­ed in established legal principles possess the ca­­pacity to stabilise even the most entrenched rivalries. The starting point must be the United Nations Charter. Both Iran and the US have, at various points, justified their actions within the UN framework. The immediate task, therefore, is not to relitigate those claims in the abst...

An international media association on Wednesday accused the Israeli military of discrediting a Lebanese journalist it killed last month by circulating an AI-generated image of him in Hezbollah fatigues. Three Lebanese journalists, including Ali Shoeib — a prominent correspondent for the Al-Manar channel — were killed in an Israeli strike in Lebanon on March 28. The Israeli military claimed responsibility for Shoeib’s killing, saying he “operated within the Hezbollah terrorist organisation under the guise of a journalist”. It provided no evidence to support the allegation, but posted an image on X of Shoeib wearing a press vest, which is partially overlayed with a photoshopped version of the same picture in which he is wearing a Hezbollah uniform. It captioned the image: “Turns out the ‘press vest’ was just a cover for terror.” A day later, military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani posted another grainy image on X purporting to show Shoeib in fatigues standing by a tank, writing: “We post this unedi...

ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Wednesday said that it was necessary to conduct the local government elections of cantonment boards by August 8. According to a statement, Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja chaired a meeting for consultations over the upcoming local government elections of the cantonment boards. It added that the consultation with the federal government and legal requirements would be completed in a timely manner so that the ECP could ensure the announcement of the election schedule and conduct of elections. In his opening remarks, Raja highlighted the importance of establishing local governments and stated that local governments existed in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Sindh, and Balochistan, while under Article 140(A) of the Constitution of Pakistan, conducting local government elections was the ECP’s responsibility, the statement said. “However, these elections are conducted under laws framed by the provincial governments,” Raja said in an apparent attempt to jus...

For more than a month and a half, the world has been watching a war that was never meant to last this long and certainly not at this level of strategic uncertainty.

The Pakistan Stock Exchange’s (PSX) benchmark KSE-100 index gained almost 2,900 points on Wednesday, sustaining its bullish momentum for a second consecutive day. The positive trend came amid hopes that peace talks between the United States and Iran will proceed to a second round, with US President Donald Trump saying they are more likely to be held in Islamabad. The KSE-100 index surged by 2,885.10 points, or 1.74 per cent, to close at 168,519.94 points, up from the previous close of 165,634.84. Opening on a positive note, the market reached an intraday high of 170,640.26 points at around 9:45am. It then fluctuated to drop to an intraday low of 168,182.98 points at 3:11pm, before regaining some ground to stand at 168,519.94. Topline Securities Ltd noted that the benchmark index surged to an “impressive intraday high of 5,005 points”. “However, mid-session volatility emerged, eroding a portion of the early gains and pulling the index down to an intraday low of 2,548 points — while notably remaining in positiv...

In the jagged Hindu Kush in eastern Afghanistan, hundreds of men dug into the rocky bed of the Kunar River searching for a few grams of gold dust as an alternative source of income. At the foot of imposing peaks, some still covered in snow in April, they toiled near the border with Pakistan to find the valuable glinting specks in a country where wages are low. This photograph taken on April 13, 2026 shows Afghan men pouring water over a seive as they sift through mountainside stones in search of gold nuggets along the Kunar river in the Song area of Ghaziabad district, Kunar province. — AFP Below a village of mud-brick houses and small terraced wheat plots in Kharwalu, Kunar province, they dug into a dry section of the riverbed before sifting through their piles of rocks using river water. This photograph taken on April 13, 2026 shows an Afghan man pouring water over a seive as he sifts through mountainside stones in search of gold nuggets along the Kunar river in the Song area of Ghaziabad district, Kunar pr...

KARACHI: The subcontinent might witness a subdued monsoon this summer as the warming El Niño wea­t­her phenomenon is expected to form later this year, according to a weather expert. “We are expecting El Niño in the coming summer and it is expected to become ‘super El Niño’ by the end of August to September,” Pakistan Meteorological Department’s (PMD) spokesperson Anjum Nazir Zaigham told Dawn. He noted that El Niño suppresses the summer monsoon in the subcontinent. “If super El Niño forms, then 2027 might be the warmest year in records,” Zaigham added. El Niño and its cooler sister La Niña are climate patterns in the Pacific Ocean that can affect weather worldwide. El Niño and La Niña events occur every two to seven years, on average, but they do not occur on a regular schedule, according to the United States’ National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). In a report published yesterday, The Guardian noted, “A strong El Niño would put 2027 in the running to break global heat records, and could produ...

DERA MURAD JAMALI: A police constable was martyred on Wednesday after unknown armed men opened fire on a polio team in Dera Murad Jamali town of Balochistan’s Nasirabad district, police said. According to police officials, the polio team was on its way home on a lunch break when armed men on motorcycles opened fire on the police personnel accompanying them. As a result, Constable Farhan Bashir was martyred. “A constable was martyred after armed men opened fire on police personnel. However, the other members of the team remained unhurt in the firing,” Nasirabad Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Asad Nasar told Dawn. The assailants fired ten 9mm bullets at the constable, resulting in his death on the spot, the SSP said, adding that the assailants fled from the scene. So far, no one has claimed responsibility for the attack, Nasar said, adding that a search operation had been launched to find out the miscreants involved in the incident. Nasirabad Deputy Commissioner Zulfiqar Ali Karrar said the anti-polio ca...