Pakistan

A lady health worker, part of a vaccination team for the Human Papillomavirus (HPV) immunisation campaign for girls, was beaten up by local women in Mandi Bahauddin on Thursday, police said. Speaking to Dawn.com, Kuthiala Sheikhan Police Station House Officer (SHO) Sabir Hussain Sindhu said that the incident took place in Chak No 38. “LHW Ghulam Sughra was beaten up by local women while the vaccination campaign was being carried out at a school,” he said, adding that the health worker was also thrown to the ground during the assault. He said that a first information report (FIR) had been registered on the complaint of the health worker but no arrests have been made so far. The FIR of the incident, a copy of which is available with Dawn.com, was registered at the Kuthiala Sheikhan Police Station under Sections 186 (obstructing public servant in discharge of public functions) and 506 (punishment for criminal intimidation) of the Pakistan Penal Code. In the FIR, Sughra stated that she was present along with the ...

Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz reaffirmed her commitment to inclusive governance, stressing that equal development opportunities are being provided across all regions of the province.

The Supreme Court of Pakistan on Thursday issued its detailed 55-page verdict in the high-profile case concerning judges’ transfer and seniority, authored by Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar.

The National Youth Summit 2025 was held on Thursday at the Pakistan National Council of the Arts (PNCA) in Islamabad.

Chairman of the Senate and Founding Chairman of the Interparliamentary Speakers’ Conference (ISC), Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani, held a cordial telephonic conversation with Sahiba Gafarova, Speaker of the Milli Majlis (Parliament) of the Republic of Azerbaijan.

An Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) in Karachi has sentenced an Indian spy, Saleem, to 114 years in prison on charges of possessing explosives and illegal weapons.

Six journalists, including Lahore Press Club President Muhammad Arshad Ansari, approached the Lahore High Court (LHC) on Thursday to challenge notices issued by the National Cybercrime Investigation Agency (NCCIA). The petition, a copy of which is available with Dawn.com, named the NCCIA director, deputy director and inspector from Lahore as well as the director general from Islamabad as respondents in the case. The petitioners were named as Ansari, Sheikh Mujahid Latif, Sheraz Nisar, Ahmed Faraz, Yasir Shamoon and Waseem Sabir. According to the petition, the journalists’ professional duty was to cover criminal cases and highlight issues and defects in the police administration. Further, it said that the petitioners had criticised the formation of the Crime Control Department, the appointment of Lahore Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) Faisal Kamran without merit and the increasing crime rate in Lahore. The journalists contended that this prompted DIG Kamran to “launch malicious social media campaigns ...

Chief Minister Balochistan Sarfraz Ahmed Bugti has reiterated the government's firm commitment to eliminate terrorism from the province.

Islamabad’s District and Sessions Court has formally indicted former Azad Jammu and Kashmir Prime Minister, Sardar Tanveer Ilyas, in a case concerning the alleged misuse of a diplomatic passport.

The federal government has begun shaping a new National Resilience Plan 2025–2026 to better prepare Pakistan for the next monsoon season, aiming to reduce the destruction caused by floods and other natural disasters.

Deputy Prime Minister/Foreign Minister (DPM/FM), Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar, on Thursday, met with his Belgian counterpart, DPM/FM, Maxime Prévot, here on the sidelines of the 80th UN General Assembly.

Federal Minister for Power Sardar Awais Ahmad Khan Leghari on Thursday announced a major breakthrough in tackling the power sector’s financial challenges, saying the government has signed a Rs 1.

Meta is expanding ‘teen accounts’ to Facebook and Messenger in Pakistan starting this week, placing both new and existing teen users into “safer, more protected experiences,” the organisation said on Thursday. “Teen accounts are already rolled out globally on Instagram, and now Meta is extending the same protections to teens worldwide on Facebook and Messenger,” Meta said in a statement. Teen accounts were introduced by Meta a year ago, which, according to the statement, was “a significant step to keep teens safe across Meta’s apps”. “Since then, hundreds of millions of teens have already been placed into Teen Accounts across Instagram, Facebook and Messenger.” The statement added: “Teen Account protections were designed to address parents’ top concerns with automatic safeguards that limit who teens can interact with, filter the content they see, and ensure their time online is well spent.” While there’s always more work to be done, Meta says it is “encouraged to see that Teen Accounts are bringing parents mo...

Pakistan has finalized preparations to launch a state-of-the-art hyperspectral satellite into space this October, marking a significant milestone in the country’s space program.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif reaffirmed polio eradication as a top national priority, stressing the importance of continued partnership with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to achieve this goal.

Indian police patrolled the northern city of Leh on Thursday, a day after protests demanding greater autonomy for India-held Ladakh turned deadly when security forces opened fire. At least five people were killed, 30 police officers were injured and several more protesters wounded. The city — usually bustling with tourists — appeared deserted, with most main roads blocked by coils of razor wire and guarded by police in riot gear, an AFP reporter said. Protests erupted on Wednesday, with crowds demanding greater autonomy in the sparsely populated, high-altitude desert region that is home to some 300,000 people and which borders China and Pakistan. India’s Ministry of Home Affairs said that an “unruly mob” had attacked police, reporting in a statement issued late on Wednesday that “more than 30” officers were injured. Protesters torched a police vehicle and the offices of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), while officers fired tear gas and used batons to disperse crow...

Traders in Gilgit-Baltistan have decided to continue their sit-in despite the government agreeing to conditionally exempt imports routed through the Sost Dry Port from key federal taxes, trade leader Javed Hussain — who has been leading the protest — told Dawn.com on Thursday. Local traders in GB have been staging a protest sit-in, blocking the port since July. The protest was launched against the government’s taxation policies and suspension of customs clearance at the port. Yesterday, the government agreed to tax exemptions on imports coming through the port — provided that the goods were for local consumption and meet strict eligibility conditions. The total annual value of tax exemptions was capped at Rs4 billion. This was announced after talks between the federal government, GB government and local business leaders in Islamabad. But, Hussain said traders were not satisfied with this agreement. “After the agreement and its announcement in Islamabad, it was suggested to us to end the protest. But we don’t ...

Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb has hailed the Rs1.2 trillion bank loan secured to settle Pakistan’s circular debt as the “largest financing and largest restructuring transaction” in the country’s history. On Wednesday, the government signed loan facilities worth approximately Rs1.225tr with 18 banks to settle the outstanding dues of Independent Power Producers (IPPs) parked in circular debt. These dues will be serviced through a Rs3.23 per unit surcharge on consumers for a period of six years. The signing ceremony was held at the PM Office, witnessed virtually by the prime minister from New York. No official announcement was made, although ministers confirmed the signing of the agreement. Under the agreement, the government will have 30 days to request disbursements from banks for prompt utilisation to avoid penalties. Today, the ceremony was aired on television, with both the premier and the finance minister addressing the gathering. In his remarks, Aurangzeb said that facility “resolves the structural ...

A police constable was shot dead by unknown assailants in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Bannu district on Thursday morning, police said. Bannu’s District Police Officer (DPO) Saleem Abbas Kulachi told Dawn.com that the incident occurred in the Bacha Khan Chowk area of the district’s Domel tehsil. “The police constable was on his way to arrive for duty when unknown armed motorcyclists opened fire on him,” Kulachi said. The DPO added that the constable, Qadus Khan, was critically injured and taken to the Khaleefa Gul Nawaz (KGN) hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries. The spokesperson for the Bannu regional police, Khanzala Quraishi, told Dawn.com that the constable was the guard of the Wazir sub-divisional police officer. “After the incident, the station house officer of the Domel area went to the crime scene along with a team to investigate the incident,” Qureshi said. DPO Kulachi, meanwhile, said that an operation against the ‘terrorists’ was underway in various locations of the district to eliminate the threat...

Pakistan has called for the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to be regulated by the United Nations charter, particularly its military use, warning that “AI must not become a tool of coercion.” As artificial intelligence advances without meaningful checks, Pakistan’s call at the UN reflects wider concerns voiced by developing nations that powerful states will shape the rules to their advantage. Earlier this year, the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) adopted a resolution urging inclusive and equitable AI governance that bridges the digital divide, while countries in the Global South, from Indonesia to Brazil, have warned that unchecked deployment risks deepening inequalities. Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif, while speaking at a high-level debate on AI under the agenda item ‘Maintenance of international peace and security’ during the sidelines of the 80th UNGA session in New York, highlighted AI’s potential for misuse and called for the UN Charter and international law to “fully govern the develo...