Pakistan

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The International Cricket Council (ICC) on Wednesday announced that it would not be making any changes to the Men’s T20 World Cup schedule or groups, days after Bangladesh requested that its matches be moved to Sri Lanka after refusing to play in India. Bangladesh announced on Jan 4 that it would not play its T20 World Cup matches in India after its player Mustafizur Rahman was released by his Indian Premier League (IPL) team amid growing tensions between the two countries. Subsequently, Bangladesh had “formally requested” the ICC to shift their games to Sri Lanka. The T20 World Cup begins on February 7 with Bangladesh in England’s Group C. The team is scheduled to play all of their group matches in Kolkata and Mumbai. In a statement issued on Wednesday, the ICC said the decision was reached after “considering all security assessments conducted, including independent reviews, all of which indicated there was no threat to Bangladesh players, media persons, officials and fans at any tournament venues in the cou...

As Karachi reels from the devastating Gul Plaza fire that has claimed the lives of at least 20 people as of Wednesday, civil society has once again come together to help those affected by the inferno. The fire had erupted at the iconic mall, located on MA Jinnah Road, on Saturday night, but it was said to be doused after more than 24 hours on Sunday. Firefighting efforts had to resume on Monday as flames reignited from the smouldering debris. The plaza, parts of which collapsed due to the blaze, was a ground-plus-three-storey building with 1,200 shops spread over 8,000 square yards. BVS, Mama Parsi schools offer 100pc fee concession The Bai Virbaijee Soparivala (BVS) Parsi High School offered 100 per cent concession in school fees to students whose parents or guardians suffered financial losses in the Gul Plaza blaze. “This measure has been introduced to provide temporary relief to families facing hardship as a result of this unforeseen incident,” read a statement from BVS dated January 20. “The school stands...

The name and logo of the new Pakistan Super League (PSL) franchise, acquired by OZ Developers earlier this month and allocated to Sialkot, were finally unveiled on Wednesday. Sialkot team owner Kamil Khan unveiled ‘Sialkot Stallionz’ as his franchise’s name today in a social media post. “Excited to be part of the Pakistan Super League journey,” he wrote on X. Khan had announced on Tuesday that the name of his franchise would be unveiled at 2 pm today. In a separate social media post today, the team announced, “The wait is over. A new force rises — Sialkot Stallionz.” In a letter to its fans, the team said that the name “carries legacy and pride”. “This journey is not ours alone; it belongs to every fan who stands with us, cheers for us, and believes in the spirit of Sialkot,” it said on X. Earlier this month, a historic Rs1.85 billion bid from OZ Developers at the PSL franchise auction secured Sialkot as one of the two new teams. OZ Developers had been in a bidding war with software company i2c before outbidd...

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Wednesday granted activist and lawyer Imaan Zainab Mazari-Hazir and her husband Hadi Ali Chattha pre-arrest bail in a case pertaining to a protest by the Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC) that dates back to July 2025 and resurfaced a day earlier. The two had filed pre-arrest bail applications in the case. However, their bail pleas could not be taken up on an urgent basis on Tuesday while the couple struggled to avoid arrest. The couple took refuge in the IHCBA president’s office, where they spent the whole night, while a large number of police officials remained outside the premises. During the hearing on Wednesday, Justice Muhammad Azam Khan of the IHC took up the pre-arrest application and approved Mazari and Chattha’s bail against surety bonds of Rs10,000 each. Advocate Kamran Murtaza appeared on behalf of the petitioners, and a large number of lawyers and officials from the IHCBA were present in the courtroom in solidarity with the applicants. Addressing the cour...

US President Donald Trump has invited countries to pay $1 billion in exchange for a permanent seat on a newly proposed initiative known as the “Board of Peace”. The body was initially envisioned as a mechanism to address Israel’s war on Gaza, though its charter does not restrict its mandate solely to the occupied Palestinian territory. Several states have been approached by the US to join the initiative. Pakistan also received an invitation on Sunday. Today, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif accepted the proposal to participate in the initiative with the aim of “achieving lasting peace in Gaza”, according to a statement issued by the Foreign Office (FO). What is the board meant to do? According to AFP, the Board of Peace will be led by Trump under the terms outlined in its founding charter. The document describes it as “an international organisation that seeks to promote stability, restore dependable and lawful governance, and secure enduring peace in areas affected or threatened by conflict”. It further states t...

SWAT: Unidentified assailants hurled a hand grenade on the residence of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Minister for Housing Dr Amjad Ali in Swat district on Wednesday morning, police said. According to Swat District Police Officer (DPO) Muhammad Omar Khan, the incident occurred in the Shamozai area of Barikot tehsil, where unidentified suspects hurled a hand grenade at the minister’s house. “At the time of the attack, the provincial minister was not present at his residence,” the DPO told Dawn. “The explosion caused minor damage to the house’s boundary wall,” he said, adding that the minister’s family members remained safe. Following the attack, police cordoned off the area and launched an investigation to identify and arrest those responsible, DPO Khan added. He further said that security around the residence and nearby areas had been tightened as a precautionary measure and that all possible angles were being examined. Last month, at least one person was injured after unknown assailants opened fire on PTI Senator Khurr...

Police in India-occupied Kashmir asked at least three journalists working in the region to sign a pledge vowing not to “disturb peace” in the region, two of them told Reuters on Wednesday. A third journalist, an assistant editor with the Indian Express newspaper, was summoned to a police station in Srinagar, the capital of the federal territory, but did not sign the pledge, the newspaper said in a report published on Wednesday. India has imposed several restrictions in the region after revoking its constitutional autonomy in 2019, laying out rules for how the region is covered and reported. A spokesperson for Srinagar police did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Reuters. The Indian Express, one of India’s most respected dailies, said its journalist was summoned four times between January 15 and 19 and asked to sign the pledge on January 16. “He has not signed the bond as asked by the police. The Indian Express is committed to doing what is necessary to uphold and protect the rights and dig...

The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) has cautioned that a powerful western weather system is likely to trigger flash floods in parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) between January 21 and 24.

Gul Plaza only announced its importance after it was gone. As I’m writing this, I realise that the lamp on my bedside table is from there. So is the wall clock ticking opposite me, the plant sitting just within my line of sight, the bedsheet folded at the foot of my bed, and the ceramic tray holding loose change on my desk. I hadn’t noticed how much of my living space traces back to that same address in Karachi’s historic centre — until it burned. Each object carries its own small origin story: a practical purchase the first time we moved houses, an impulsive buy after a long walk through crowded aisles, or something my mother spotted on her trips there, sent to me on WhatsApp, and I approved from afar. At the time, none of it felt consequential. These were low-stakes decisions made between bargaining and staircases, between “let’s check one more shop” and “we’ll just take this one.” Everything we ever bought from Gul Plaza (and there is a lot) will eventually break, fade, or quietly disappear into storage. O...

ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly (NA) passed on Wednesday the Elections Amendment Bill, 2026, seeking secrecy of parliamentarians’ assets, amid opposition by the PTI. Under Section 137 of the Elections Act, all members of the NA, Senate, and provincial assemblies are required to submit to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), on or before Dec 31 each year, a statement of their assets and liabilities, including those of their spouses and dependent children. Section 138 of the Elections Act requires the ECP to publish these declarations in the official gazette. The bill passed by the NA today proposes an amendment to Section 138 of the Elections Act, seeking to insert a proviso stating: “Provided that the speaker of the assembly concerned or, as the case may be, the chairman of the Senate may, on an application made by a member for reasons to be recorded in writing, by a ruling delivered in the chamber, determine that the statement of assets and liabilities of that member shall not be published publicly by...

At least 31 people have lost their lives in the deadly fire at Gul Plaza on MA Jinnah Road in Karachi, while 86 individuals are still missing as search and rescue operations continue for the fifth consecutive day, officials confirmed on Wednesday.

The world’s biggest nuclear power plant was restarted on Wednesday for the first time since the 2011 Fukushima disaster, its Japanese operator said, despite persistent safety concerns among residents. The plant was “started at 19:02”, Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) spokesman Tatsuya Matoba told AFP of the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant in Niigata prefecture. The regional governor approved the resumption last month, although public opinion remains sharply divided. On Tuesday, a few dozen protesters — mostly elderly — braved freezing temperatures to demonstrate in the snow near the plant’s entrance, whose buildings line the Sea of Japan coast. “It’s Tokyo’s electricity that is produced in Kashiwazaki, so why should the people here be put at risk? That makes no sense,” Yumiko Abe, a 73-year-old resident, told AFP. Around 60 per cent of residents oppose the restart, while 37pc support it, according to a survey conducted in September. TEPCO said on Wednesday it would “proceed with careful verification of each plan...

An Indian Air Force (IAF) training aircraft crashed in India’s northern Uttar Pradesh state, with both pilots emerging unharmed, police said. On a routine sortie from Bamrauli air force station near Prayagraj, a Microlight aircraft faced a technical malfunction and was “safely force landed in an uninhabited area, ensuring no damage to civil life or property”, the Indian Air Force said on social media platform X. “Both the pilots on board are safe,” it said, adding that a probe into the cause of the accident is underway. Manish Shandilya, a local police officer, said the training aircraft “crashed after its engine developed a sudden technical snag,” reported The Press Trust of India. “In Prayagraj, Deputy Commissioner of Police (City) Manish Shandilya said the aircraft was on a sortie towards Phaphamau and the Sangam area when its engine developed a technical snag,” The Hindu reported. The report quoted him as saying that the pilots had executed a “controlled and safe landing in a pond”. In November last year,...

Pakistan has extended the ban on Indian-registered aircraft from using its airspace for another month, with the restriction now in place until February 24, 2026, according to a Notice to Airmen (Notam) issued by the Pakistan Airports Authority (PAA) on Tuesday.

Chairman of the Pakistan Ulema Council Hafiz Tahir Mahmood Ashrafi has said that promoting peace, love and tolerance across the country remains the collective mission of religious leadership.

Modern security arrangements have been completed on the Jaffar Express to ensure safe travel for passengers in Balochistan, the government said.

WASHINGTON: A Pakistani parliamentary delegation, led by Senator Babar Siraj Khan Nasir, arrived in Washington on Tuesday evening for a series of high-level engagements with US lawmakers and officials as part of a renewed push to strengthen bilateral ties. The delegation, which includes members of both the Senate and the National Assembly of Pakistan, will also engage with the members of the Pakistani diaspora to emphasise the significance of their participation in promoting national causes in the United States. The delegation will participate in multiple forums, beginning with an Inter-Parliamentary Group (IPG) session at the Rayburn House Office Building on Wednesday, followed by a press conference at the National Press Club (NPC) and a diplomatic reception in New Jersey. According to Dr Gholam Mujtaba, chairman of the Pakistan Policy Institute USA (PPI-USA), who has been instrumental in organising the visit, the engagements are designed to promote legislative-to-legislative dialogue, deepen institutional c...

The Met Office has forecast rainfall in Karachi and other districts of Sindh on Thursday, which is likely to increase the intensity of cold weather in the region from Friday.

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Wednesday questioned how proceedings in the case concerning PTI founder Imran Khan’s X account could continue if authorities were denying his counsel access to him. The remarks were made by Justice Arbab Muhammad Tahir, who was presiding over a hearing on a petition against the incarcerated former premier regarding “inflammatory posts” made from an X account operated in Imran’s name. During today’s hearing, PTI leader Salman Akram Raja, who is representing Imran in the case, told the court that he had not been able to meet his client for consultation. “The court has received responses from Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) and jail authorities,” Justice Tahir said. Addressing Raja, Justice Tahir said that “final arguments in the case will be presented on February 24 if you meet (Imran)”. The judge then directed Raja to submit a detailed response in court in connection with the contempt petition over the denial of meetings with the PTI founder. The court also issued i...