Pakistan

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NEW DELHI:  Responding to renewed US sanctions, India transferred approximately $120 million to Iran to fully liquidate its financial commitment for developing Chabahar port, a key gateway to landlocked Afghanistan, The Economic Times said on Friday. A government source stated that India now has “no liability” in its commitment and that Iran is free to use the funds independently. In October last year, India was granted a six-month exemption from US sanctions on the port. New Delhi and Tehran signed a contract to develop and equip the long-stalled Chabahar project in 2024, giving India 10 years of access. Following the reimposition of sanctions, the state-owned entity India Ports Global Ltd (IPGL) effectively exited the project. Government directors resigned en masse, and its website was taken down to “insulate everybody associated with the port from potential sanctions”. A government source concluded, “India has no choice but to exit the Chabahar port”. The collapse followed US President Donald Trump’s Janua...

The Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) on Friday warned that Pakistan’s industrial sector was facing a severe crisis due to high energy tariffs and heavy taxation, leading to widespread factory closures and job losses. In December, it was reported that over 100 spinning mills and over 400 ginning factories had become non-operational, triggered by unprecedented taxes, high power tariffs, and a surge in under-invoiced cotton yarn and fabric imports from China and other countries. Speaking at a press conference in Islamabad, President FPCCI Atif Ikram Sheikh said, “Costly electricity has crippled industrial activity, particularly in the textile sector.” “Around 150 large textile units had shut down over the past two years,” he stated. Sheikh urged the government to immediately abolish cross-subsidies imposed on the industrial sector and reduce the policy rate to single digits. He proposed that interest rates be cut first to nine per cent and subsequently to seven per cent to revive ...

The US government has said that it decided to pause immigrant visa processing until it ensures new applicants are “vetted to the maximum degree to ensure their eligibility”, according to a Friday statement shared by the US Embassy in Islamabad on the X platform. On Wednesday, the US announced a suspension of immigrant visa processing for Pakistan, along with 74 other countries, effective from January 21, citing concerns that immigrants from these nations often rely on public welfare programmes. “The Trump Administration is focused on protecting the American people by upholding the highest standards of screening and vetting of visa applicants,” the statement said. “Effective January 21,” the statement added, “the Department of State is pausing issuance to all immigrant visa applicants from selected countries, including Pakistan.” The statement said that US State Secretary Marco Rubio had instituted this pause until his government could “ensure that new immigrants have been vetted to the maximum degree to ensur...

Security forces have killed 12 terrorists and effectively thwarted their attempt to create a hostage situation in Balochistan’s Kharan district during multiple operations, the military’s media wing said in a statement. According to the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), on January 15, “approximately fifteen to twenty Indian-sponsored terrorists of Fitna Al Hindustan carried out multiple terrorist activities in Kharan City, District Kharan.” The state has designated Balochistan-based terrorist groups as Fitna al Hindustan to highlight India’s alleged role in terrorism and destabilisation across Pakistan. It said that during the operations, “terrorists attacked [the] City Police Station, National Bank of Pakistan and Habib Bank Limited.” They also looted Rs3.4 million from the banks. “Security forces effectively responded and engaged the terrorists, prompting them to retreat. During the ensuing clearance operation, twelve terrorists were sent to hell in three different engagements,” the ISPR said. “Terrori...

X, formerly known as Twitter, on Friday faced a global outage, the second in a week, as users from across the world reported having difficulties accessing the platform. According to a report by The Independent, the website and its app failed to load for users across the globe, with many visitors saying they saw a blank screen. “Some users also saw Cloudflare error pages – though the issue was at X itself, and the problem did not seem to be a repeat of recent Cloudflare technical issues that did take X offline,” the report said. Staffers at Dawn also saw a Cloudflare error page when they tried accessing the website, while the app did not load at all and showed posts from hours ago. Screenshot of a Cloudflare error a staffer at Dawn saw when they tried accessing the website at 8:52pm PKT. Tracking website Downdetector showed a massive uptick in reports of problems at X at 8:15pm, with 315 complaints, before they fell to 245 at 8:45pm. Screenshot showing as spike in reports of problems at X at around 8:15pm in P...

CTO penalises another 214 for negligence and poor performance

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Authorities track residents and travellers in real time to ensure women's safety

Police say victim abducted, killed over suspected affair with married woman

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Reception for about 350 guests was arranged, with the Sharif family hosting a traditional feast featuring local dishes

Sindh Governor Kamran Tessori on Friday criticised Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi for “inciting acts of vandalism and road blockades” during his recent visit to Karachi, which he said led to “losses worth billions of rupees”. Afridi visited Karachi and other cities of Sindh last week as part of the PTI’s renewed anti-government agitation campaign called the “street movement”. The chief minister decried the treatment meted out to him by the Sindh government during his visit, alleging that the police tried to stop his motorcade and PTI supporters from staging a peaceful protest at Mazar-i-Quaid. The Sindh government denied the allegations, stating that the Jinnah Ground was under the control of the Centre, so it was not entitled to issue a no-objection certificate to the party. Speaking to reporters in Karachi, Governor Tessori said that the PTI had “turned the whole country upside down, but the agitation was confined to social media and had no value on the ground.” Referring to KP CM’s Karachi...

Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that his country’s relations with Pakistan are “genuinely mutually beneficial” and that Moscow maintains close relations with Islamabad. “We maintain close cooperation with Pakistan, a full member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, the largest regional organisation in terms of economic, technological, and human potential. Russia-Pakistan relations are genuinely mutually beneficial,” the Embassy of Russia in Pakistan quoted President Putin as saying on X. The statement came as Pakistan’s Ambassador to Russia, Faisal Niaz Tirmizi, formally presented his credentials to President Putin during a ceremony held on Thursday at Moscow’s Grand Kremlin Palace, according to the Pakistani Embassy in Russia. In recent years, Pakistan and Russia have significantly strengthened their economic ties, driven by mutual necessity. Following Western sanctions related to the Ukraine conflict, Moscow turned toward new energy outlets, while Islamabad simultaneously sought more affordab...

PTI Vice-Chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Friday refused to support former party leader Fawad Chaudhry’s National Dialogue Committee, saying he cannot “deviate from PTI’s policies”. The senior PTI leader, incarcerated at Lahore’s Kot Lakhpat Jail since 2023 in cases related to the May 9 riots, made the remarks during an informal discussion with a journalist in a courtroom. In response to a question on “consensual” meeting with Chaudhry, the PTI leader said, “While I was in the hospital, he visited to inquire about my health. We both remained in a political party. How could I ask a guest why he came to meet me?” Last year in November, Fawad Chaudhry, Imran Ismail, and Maulvi Mahmood tried to gain access to Qureshi, who was hospitalised, when he was alone in his room, ostensibly to convince the senior PTI leader to join their ‘release Imran Khan campaign’ — a move rebuffed by him. Speaking on the current political situation, he said a solution needed to be found as “the country could only move forward with dial...

A high-level European Union delegation on Friday visited the Sialkot International Airport to monitor the immigration processes and measures to prevent irregular migration, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) spokesperson said in a statement. The move comes after around 66,154 passengers were offloaded last year despite holding valid documents, particularly at Lahore and Karachi airports, amid a post-2024 Greece boat tragedy crackdown on migrant smuggling, which claimed several Pakistani lives. According to the spokesperson, the delegation was given a comprehensive briefing on the “working, performance, and achievements of the FIA Immigration at the Sialkot airport, with particular emphasis on the progress made over the last five months.” The delegation comprised the Frontex officer to Pakistan, an official from the European Border and Coast Guard Agency, a representative from the Embassy of Hungary in Pakistan, and the International Centre for Migration Policy Development’s official. “The briefing was foc...

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Friday reintroduced the state-run health insurance programme — popularly known as the Sehat Card Programme — in the federal capital, Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), and Gilgit-Baltistan. Speaking at the launch ceremony of the facility in Islamabad, PM Shehbaz said, “Access to health facilities is the right of every citizen, and such facilities should be delivered to their doorsteps.” The prime minister added that through the launch of the Sehat Card, his government had taken yet another swift step to serve the nation. “This step is the revival of the same scheme that my leader, Nawaz Sharif, had initiated in 2016 for the first time,” he said. The scheme was originally introduced in 2016 when the PML-N government was in power. It was made available to citizens in Punjab, Balochistan, and the then Federally Administered Tribal Areas (present-day Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) and the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT), with expansion plans. In 2019, the PTI-led government relaunched the progr...

ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Friday suspended the membership of 159 lawmakers of the National Assembly, Senate, and provincial assemblies who failed to submit a statement of their assets and liabilities by the due date. The commission directed that “they shall cease to function as members with immediate effect until such statements are submitted by them,” according to a statement issued by the ECP. On Thursday, the ECP reminded lawmakers to submit the details of their assets and liabilities, including those of their spouse and dependent children, for the financial year 2024-25, warning of suspension if they fail to do so by January 15. Syed Ali Musa Gilani, Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui and Muhammad Akhtar Mengal are among 32 members of the National Assembly whose membership has been suspended, while Musadik Malik is among nine Senators also suspended by the election regulator. Out of the suspended MPAs, 50 are members of the Punjab Assembly, 33 of the Sindh Assembly, 28 of the Khyber Pak...

Acting President Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani on Friday held a meeting with newly elected Senator Abid Sher Ali at the Parliament House and discussed the overall political situation of the country, and matters relating to the functioning of the Upper House were discussed in detail.