Pakistan

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Chamber says research fails to reach practical application due to lack of direct coordination

Awaam Pakistan President Shahid Khaqan Abbasi on Saturday called on the government to deregulate petroleum prices and promote electric vehicles (EVs) to absorb the economic impact of rising oil prices amid the US-Israel war on Iran. Since the February 28 strikes by the US and Israel on Iran triggered the war and pushed up global oil prices, fuel prices in Pakistan have reached record highs. In two major hikes, petrol prices have risen from Rs266.17 to Rs378 — after a partial reduction in a recent hike — while those of high-speed diesel have surged from Rs280.86 to Rs520.35. Addressing a press conference in Islamabad, Abbasi said: “I would like to say two things: deregulate the petroleum prices — the government is not capable of handling it — and pay attention to electric vehicles (EVs), especially on motorcycles.” “This amount keeps on increasing […] your system will function only if you incentivise EVs,” he added, citing China as an example of having policies to promote EVs. The former prime minister also ra...

The Pakistan Navy on Saturday inducted the second Milgem-class corvette into its fleet, said a statement from the service’s public relations department. The warship is the second of four Milgem class corvettes, the contract for which was signed with ASFAT Inc, a Turkish state-owned defence contractor firm in 2018. Under this contract, two ships were to be constructed in Turkiye and the remaining two ships in Pakistan. At the induction ceremony of the warship PNS Khaibar, Chief of the Naval Staff Admiral Naveed Ashraf highlighted that Pakistan’s strategic location along vital maritime trade and energy corridors demands a potent naval force to safeguard national interests and ensure secure sea lines of communication (SLOCs). The naval chief maintained that during last year’s war with India, the navy was “poised to sink” the Indian Navy’s aircraft carrier, which forced the warship and its escorts to retreat to their “perceived safe havens”. “The mastery and conduct of naval operations during Marka-i-Haq delivers...

Artemis 2 astronaut Jeremy Hansen felt like he was “falling out of the sky” as his spacecraft followed its complex flight path to the Moon, the Canadian said in a Saturday video call. The four Artemis astronauts have passed the halfway point between Earth and the Moon on Saturday morning — more than 150,000 miles (241,000 kilometres) from home — as they zipped toward the first crewed lunar flyby in more than half a century. Hansen, a 50-year-old former fighter pilot on his maiden voyage into space, said he saw “some extraordinary things” during the first hours aboard the Orion. “By the time we had a bit of a nap and got up, the Earth was just so far away,” Hansen, flanked by American crewmates Victor Glover and Reid Wiseman, told a question-and-answer session hosted by the Canadian Space Agency (CSA). ‘Like falling out of the sky’ Hansen then described the translunar injection burn — a maneuver that brought Orion within 200 kilometres of Earth before swinging around onto a new course for the Moon. “It just fe...

Defence Minister Khawaja Asif on Saturday said India was planning a “false-flag operation” to blame Pakistan, warning New Delhi of a strong reaction if it conducted such a “drama”. Speaking to the media in Sialkot, Asif said: “They [plan] some kind of false-flag operation through their own men or through the Pakistanis in their detention by laying down some bodies somewhere and saying they were terrorists and had done so and so. “The kind of insult they faced around a year ago […] the entire world, in fact, their own public, taunts them that they are five times larger than Pakistan in every aspect — population, resources, military, airforce,” he added. The minister asserted that the Indian leadership would keep facing such backlash “till the end of the world”, recalling the Pakistan Air Force’s performance during the conflict with India last year. “If they try to enact such a drama this time, then God-willingly, we will take them to Kolkata,” he added, referring to the eastern Indian city near the border with...

The recent decrease in fuel prices has been attributed to the intervention of Nawaz Sharif, who reportedly played a central role in pushing for public relief.

Admiral Naveed Ashraf, Chief of the Naval Staff of the Pakistan Navy, underscored the need for a capable, well-balanced, and technologically advanced naval force during the induction ceremony of the second PN MILGEM Class Corvette, PNS Khaibar.

Federal Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi visited the site designated for the headquarters of the National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency and inspected ongoing construction work at the Parliament Lodges.

A legal petition has been filed in the Lahore High Court, raising objections to the recent revision in fuel prices across the country.

Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz has introduced a wide-ranging support package to ease the financial strain on motorcycle owners across the province.

The four Artemis astronauts have passed the halfway point between Earth and the Moon on the way to their planned lunar flyby, Nasa said on Friday evening. “You are now closer to the moon than you are to us on Earth,” mission control told the astronauts at around 11pm (4am GMT), according to the space agency’s official live broadcast. his screengrab from a NASA live broadcast video shows (L-R) NASA astronaut and Artemis II pilot Victor Glover, Canadian Space Agency astronaut Artemis II Mission Specialist Jeremy Hansen and NASA astronaut and Artemis II Commander Reid Wiseman during a press call as they travel to the Moon in the Orion spacecraft, on April 3, 2026. —AFP “We all kind of had a collective, I guess, expression of joy at that… We can see the Moon out of the docking hatch right now, it is a beautiful sight,” said astronaut Christina Koch replied. The milestone was hit around two days, five hours and 24 minutes after liftoff, according to the Nasa official broadcast. The US space agency’s online dashboa...

President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Saturday paid tribute to former premier Zulfikar Ali Bhutto on his 47th death anniversary, emphasising his lasting impact on Pakistan’s constitution and the need to uphold law, due process, and justice. “Today we observe the 47th anniversary of the martyrdom of Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, whose life was brought to an end unfairly on April 4, 1979. Zulfikar Bhutto occupies a central place in Pakistan’s political history,” said a statement from the president. The statement added that “nearly half a century after his unlawful and unconstitutional execution, the Supreme Court, in its opinion delivered on March 6, 2024, held that Zulfikar Bhutto had been denied a free trial and due process. The Court observed that the legal proceedings destroyed any semblance of fair trial and revealed that an innocent man was ‘rushed to the gallows.’” The president, in his statement, said that the day is a “reminder that justice and due process are not abstract prin...

GILGIT: The PPP has demanded that the election schedule for the Gilgit-Baltistan Assembly be issued immediately, as the election commission has yet to announce a timeline, four months after the legislature completed its tenure. General elections for the assembly were scheduled for Jan 24, 2026, while local government (LG) polls — announced after a gap of 20 years — were set for Feb 14, 2026. However, days after the announcements, both were postponed indefinitely due to harsh weather conditions in the region. When contacted on Saturday, GB Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Raja Shehbaz Khan said the electoral watchdog was preparing to conduct the elections but had not yet decided on a date. The CEC said the commission would inform the public of the dates when it had decided. The GB caretaker government had planned to convene a multiparty conference on March 24 to consult political parties about the polls and a new schedule was expected to be issued towards the end of March. However, no development has taken pl...

Iran’s forces were hunting on Saturday for a missing United States pilot from one of two warplanes downed over Iran and the Gulf, officials from both sides said, while two airmen were rescued. The incidents show the risks still facing US and Israeli aircraft over Iran as the war entered its sixth week, despite assertions by President Donald Trump and his Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth that US forces had total control of the skies. The prospect of a US service person alive and on the run in Iran raises the stakes for Washington in a conflict with low public support among Americans and no sign of an imminent end. Tehran mocks Trump’s war aims Iranian fire brought down a two-seat US F-15E jet, officials in both countries said, while two US officials said the pilot ejected from an A-10 Warthog fighter aircraft that crashed in Kuwait after being hit by Iranian fire. Two Black Hawk helicopters engaged in the search for the missing pilot were hit by Iranian fire but made it out of Iranian airspace, the two US offici...

The Supreme Court has fixed the hearing of Zahir Jaffer’s review plea in the Noor Mukadam murder case for Wednesday, April 8. Noor, aged 27 years, was found murdered at Zahir’s Islamabad residence in July 2021, with the probe revealing she was tortured by him before being beheaded. Zahir’s death sentence by the trial court had already been upheld by the Islamabad High Court (IHC), but he had sought a review of the verdict in July of last year. The convict, Zahir, seeks a review of his conviction in the 2021 murder case. In a cause list published online by the SC on Saturday, the date for Zahir’s hearing was fixed for April 8. The 47-page review petition was filed by Advocate Khawaja Haris on behalf of Zahir under Article 188 of the Constitution (review of judgments or orders by SC). The state and Noor’s father, Shaukat Ali Muqadam, were made the respondents. The petition contended that the issue of Zahir’s alleged “unsoundness of mind or mental capacity” that was raised before the SC in an application had not...

On March 30, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) slapped a Rs20 million fine on fast bowler Naseem Shah for a post that was promptly deleted from his X account, and for which he publicly apologised. The tweet, posted from Shah’s official X account, had quote-tweeted the PCB’s post, which featured Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz being welcomed by the interior minister and the cricket board’s chairman, Mohsin Naqvi, at the opening ceremony of the Pakistan Super League. Those who follow Shah on the social media platform saw the tweet and instantly knew trouble would follow. Within a short span of time, they saw the tweet disappear, followed by a new post clarifying that the account had been hacked. Quick recovery of a hacked account, they thought. The cricketer subsequently fired his social media manager and even tendered an apology via X. However, for a post that was probably up for all of 10 minutes and was followed by a disclaimer, the PCB issued a show-cause notice to Shah along with disciplinary proceedings...

The National Emergencies Operation Centre (NEOC) of the National Disaster Management Authority has issued a countrywide weather alert, warning of rain, snowfall, thunderstorms and strong winds expected over the next 12 to 24 hours due to a westerly weather system affecting the region.

Flight operations from Pakistan faced significant disruption on Saturday as escalating tensions in the Middle East led to the cancellation of dozens of flights to regional destinations.

The Foreign Office categorically rejected media reports citing purported official government sources on the ongoing regional conflict and Pakistan’s peace diplomacy, terming them “baseless and a figment of imagination.