Pakistan

Authorities in Punjab have continued the process of deporting illegal foreign residents, officials said on Friday, adding that tens of thousands have been repatriated so far.

The National Disaster Management Authority on Monday issued a countrywide weather alert, warning of rain, thunderstorms and strong winds in multiple regions over the next 12 to 24 hours.

South Korea’s spy agency now believes North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s teenage daughter has been positioned as his successor, lawmakers said on Monday, citing a recent public display of her driving a tank that was likely intended to dispel any doubts. The National Intelligence Service (NIS) told lawmakers its assessment was not based on circumstantial inference but on what it described as “credible intelligence” collected by the agency, according to briefings by ruling and opposition party members after a closed-door parliamentary meeting. The NIS said the imagery of the daughter driving a tank was intended to highlight her supposed military aptitude and dispel doubts over a female heir, lawmakers said. North Korea’s state-run media KCNA last month published photos of Kim and his daughter driving a new tank, following earlier images showing her firing a rifle at a shooting range and using a handgun. Such scenes are intended to pay “homage” to Kim’s own public military appearances during the early 2010s when ...

Sardar Saleem Haider Khan has said that every moment of his tenure is dedicated to the people of Punjab, as he chaired a meeting to review progress on the establishment of a new Nara Tehsil in Attock.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Monday directed authorities to accelerate reforms in Pakistan Railways, emphasising the need to transform it into a modern, safe and reliable transport system.

ISLAMABAD: The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has asked Pakistan to eliminate distortions in petroleum pricing at the earliest, even though it had tacitly accepted the Rs152 billion subsidy cap extended by the federal government to consumers amid a historic global price surge following the US-Israel attacks on Iran and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. Senior officials told Dawn that the staff-level agreement (SLA) announced by the IMF on March 29 remains intact, and that the Rs152 billion federal petroleum subsidy had been introduced with the Fund’s prior knowledge. Sources said Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb and his team will update IMF management on provincial contributions to the petroleum subsidy during the upcoming spring meetings of the IMF and the World Bank next week. However, the IMF continues to oppose across-the-board subsidies on major petroleum products. Initially, the government attempted to balance finances by adjusting the petroleum development levy (PDL) between petrol and diesel....

A meeting chaired by Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi in Islamabad has decided to transform the existing Safe City project into a Capital Smart City initiative.

The Lahore High Court Bar Association and Lahore Bar Association have announced a judicial boycott in protest against the recent increase in petroleum product prices.

Pakistan is witnessing a sharp rise in WhatsApp hacking incidents, with many users falling victim to fraud and blackmail schemes.

Efforts by Pakistan, Türkiye and Egypt to mediate between Iran and the United States have yet to produce tangible results, according to U.

LAHORE: In a bid to keep the current fares and freight charges unchanged for three months to facilitate passengers and goods transport customers, the federal government will pay around Rs6 billion to Pakistan Railways (PR) for the increase in operational costs due to the recent increase in diesel prices. “The increase due to the massive surge in diesel price amounts to around Rs1.9 billion per month and the total difference for three months, till June 30, jumps to about Rs6 billion as calculated by the finance ministry for PR operations,” PR Chief Executive Officer Amir Ali Baloch explained while talking to Dawn on Sunday. According to him, as soon as the petroleum prices increased, the PR administration was left with no option but to increase fares and freight charges by 30pc. However, he said the prime minister sought a report from the finance and railways ministries regarding the likely increase in passenger and freight charges. “On this, we worked out the total amount, around Rs6 billion, the PR will have...

SIALKOT - Federal Minister for Defence, Khawaja Muhammad Asif on Sunday inaugurated mega development projects worth of billions of rupees across the district.

ISLAMABAD, April 3: The Supr­eme Court will resume, on April 7, the hearing of a review petition filed by PTI founder Imran Khan against the closure of his right to defence in the Rs10 billion defamation case. Headed by Justice Ayesha A. Malik, a three-judge bench will take up the review petition, in which the court had earlier stayed proceedings pending before a trial court in Lahore in the Rs10 billion defamation suit filed by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif against Imran Khan. Earlier, on March 31, a different Supreme Court bench, headed by Justice Muhammad Hashim Khan Kakar, had adjourned further proceedings in a set of appeals also filed by former prime minister Imran Khan against the April 23, 2025 Lahore High Court (LHC) rejection of his plea to implicate the Punjab government in the Rs10 billion defamation suit brought by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. The case was then postponed until a final decision on the present review petition pending before the bench presided over by Justice Ayesha A. Malik. Just...

LONDON: Three Pakistani-origin British members of parliament attended promotional events for a Dubai property, scheme own­ed by Pakistani real estate tycoon Malik Riaz Hussain and his son Ali Riaz Malik, both of whom cannot enter the United Kingdom and are being investigated by authorities in Pakistan, according to an investigation by The Sunday Times. The MPs including Labour’s Naz Shah and Afzal Khan along with independent Ayoub Khan spoke at roadshow events in June 2024 promoting the Waada project, a proposed 14m-sq-foot development in south Dubai that will feature luxury apartments, mansions, a five-star hotel and a replica Eiffel Tower. At one event, the property tyc­oon and his son appeared via large screens, with Riaz Malik saying “The true measure of success is not what we build, but who we uplift.” Mr Riaz, 72, is the founder and chairman of Bahria Town, while his 48-year-old son serves as chief executive. In 2019, the pair agreed to forfeit £190m to Britain’s National Crime Agency following an unexp...

HYDERABAD: The Sindh government has expressed grave concern over ‘persistent delays’ in Tarbela Dam infrastructure works by Wapda, which have been causing severe operational constraints for Sindh and posing an imminent threat to the kharif crop season. Sindh Irrigation Minister Jam Khan Shoro wrote to federal Minister for Water Resources Mian Mohammad Mueen Wattoo that Wapda had failed to complete projects within the 33-month timeline approved by Irsa in 2022. The deadline expired in June 2025, but work remains unfinished. Indus River System Authority (Irsa), whose advisory committee is scheduled to discuss water availability and shortages for the upcoming kharif season under the Water Apportionment Accord, 1991, on April 7. The minister noted that outflows from Tarbela have already been restricted to 150,000 cusecs due to constraints in Tunnel-4 and Tunnel-5, curtailing Sindh’s irrigation supplies despite adequate reservoir levels. The situation may worsen as testing of Tunnel-4’s low-level outlet (LLO) has ...

• Trump warns power plants, bridges to be attacked on Tuesday, hopeful for Hormuz deal; Iran wants world to ‘act now’ to prevent ‘war crime’ • Iranian official says Hormuz strait will be opened only after payment of war damages • China, Russia call for ceasefire; Lavrov tells Washington to abandon ‘language of ultimatums’ • IRGC bombs petrochemical facility in Israel as US strikes target Ahvaz airport WASHINGTON: The US-Israel war with Iran raged on Sunday amid no signs of a ceasefire despite threats by US President Donald Trump, who warned that the US would target power plants and bridges in the besieged country if the Strait of Hormuz was not opened up by Monday. Iran said the statement, which was also denounced in the US, made by the US president was a “clear evidence of intent to commit war crime” and asked the inte­rnational community to prevent this atrocious act from happening. For almost six weeks, the US and Israeli jets have bombed the length and breadth of Iran, targeting civilian and military infr...

Information Minister Attaullah Tarar on Sunday said security forces had foiled an attempt by the Afghan Taliban and terrorists to attack a border post in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Ghulam Khan Sector, in which 37 of the attackers were killed and more than 80 were injured. According to the minister, the incident took place on the night between April 2 and April 3 during the ongoing Operation Ghazab lil-Haq. Operation Ghazab lil-Haq was launched on the night of Feb 26 following cross-border firing by the Afghan Taliban. After a temporary pause in the on March 18 at the request of “brotherly Islamic countries,” Pakistan had announced the operation’s resumption on March 26, saying it would continue “until its objectives are achieved”. In an X post, the information minister said, ”As part of these [Ghazab Lil Haq] operations on the night of April 2/3, an attempt to physically attack a border post in Ghulam Khan Sector by Afghan Taliban/ Fitna al Khawarij was comprehensively foiled, in which they suffered heavy casualtie...

QUETTA/ PESHAWAR: Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa governments announced energy conservation measures on Sunday, setting timings for the closure of markets, eateries and wedding halls. According to a notification issued by the Balochistan Home Department, all markets and shopping centres are to be closed by 8pm. However, pharmacies, tandoors and bakeries have been exempted from the restriction. The notification also stated that all events being held in wedding halls, banquet halls and hotels must end by 10pm, and that restaurants should also close by 10pm. It said the provincial government had directed district administration and law enforcement agencies to ensure strict implementation of the orders and violators would face action under relevant laws. Divisional commissioners, deputy commissioners and police officials have also been instructed to ensure immediate enforcement of the new directives. Closure timings in KP Similarly, a public notice issued by the office of the KP chief secretary said all market...

US President Donald Trump did not take a break from his polarising rhetoric on Easter Sunday, delivering an expletive-laden attack on Iran that sparked criticism on Capitol Hill and beyond. In his message, he warned Iran that “you’ll be living in hell” if the Strait of Hormuz was not opened. He renewed his threat to unleash heavy bombing on Iranian power plants and bridges if Tehran refused to unblock the strategic Strait of Hormuz. While the Republican president is well known for his straight talk, the post on his Truth Social network raised eyebrows, especially on a Christian holiday. “Happy Easter, America. As you head off to church and celebrate with friends and family, the president of the United States is ranting like an unhinged madman on social media,” Democratic Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said on X. “He’s threatening possible war crimes and alienating allies. This is who he is, but this is not who we are. Our country deserves so much better.” For Democratic Senator Chris Murphy of Connectic...

The Board of Secondary Education Karachi (BSEK) on Sunday announced that Secondary School Certificate (SSC) exams in Karachi were being rescheduled and would now commence on April 10. The BSEK had earlier announced that SSC annual examinations would be held from April 7 to May 2 in the Karachi Division. A press release issued by the BSEK on Sunday said citing the board’s controller of examinations that the board was currently transitioning from a manual to a digital system. “Therefore, the software application was overloaded and faced temporary disruption. The IT team is working to resolve the issue,” the press release said. In view of the situation, the SSC examinations were being rescheduled to begin on April 10, 2026 to ensure that they were conducted in an “organised … and transparent manner,” the press release said. It further said that a revised examination schedule would be issued soon, while students were to sit their exams at centres already allotted to them.