Pakistan

Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif on Sunday departed from London for New York to participate in the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA).

India men’s captain Suryakumar Yadav claimed matches against Pakistan can no longer be considered a real rivalry after his side extended their recent dominance over the Green Shirts with a six-wicket victory in their Asia Cup Super Four clash on Sunday. India’s second win over Pakistan at the T20 tournament padded their head-to-head record in the format to 11-3 against the Green Team, with one match tied. Pakistan still has a lead in the overall record against India across all three formats with 88 wins against India’s 79 victories. Played against the backdrop of lingering tensions between the two nations in the wake of their military conflict in May, there were no handshakes between the players once again. “According to me, if two teams play 15-20 matches and if it is 7-7 or 8-7, then that is called a rivalry,” Suryakumar told reporters. “But 13-0, 10-1. I don’t know what the stats are. But this is not a rivalry anymore.” Defending champions India dropped four catches during the match, and Suryakumar said th...

Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz on Monday inaugurated the electric bus service in Sahiwal, expanding the modern public transport initiative after its recent launch in Sargodha.

The 23rd relief consignment, comprising 100 tons of humanitarian aid, was dispatched to Gaza via a special flight from Allama Iqbal International Airport, with support from the Alkhidmat Foundation and the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA).

Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz on Sunday launched the second phase of the Green Tractor Scheme, bringing relief to thousands of farmers across the province.

China’s top internet regulator announced on Monday a sweeping two-month crackdown on social media, vowing to combat content containing “malicious incitement of conflict” and “negative outlooks on life such as world-weariness”. Beijing requires social media companies to moderate content on their platforms, with posts strictly controlled to avoid anything deemed to be too subversive, vulgar, pornographic or generally harmful. The notice from the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) follows announcements of penalties this month against three popular digital platforms, which it said had neglected content management duties. On Saturday, the CAC said it would carry out “disciplinary and punitive measures” against micro-blogging platform Weibo and short video platform Kuaishou, accusing them of highlighting celebrity news and “undesirable” content. The announcement followed similar action taken by the CAC on September 11 against the Instagram-like Xiaohongshu, known as Rednote in English. Authorities have not sp...

An anti-terrorism court (ATC) in Islamabad on Monday issued a bailable arrest warrant for PTI senior leader Asad Qaiser in a case related to the March 2023 clashes outside the Federal Judicial Complex (FJC). Hours-long clashes took place between PTI workers and the Islamabad police on March 18, 2023, when former prime minister Imran Khan arrived at the FJC to attend a hearing in the first Toshakhana case, in which he was later arrested in August that year and has been behind bars since then. The same day, the Punjab police personnel had entered Imran’s Zaman Park residence in Lahore, which had also been the venue of a chaotic stalemate between the cops and the PTI just days before. ATC Judge Tahir Abbas Sipra presided over today’s hearing. Advocate Sardar Masroof Khan, Amna Ali and others appeared as the legal team for the PTI leaders, while Advocate Sardar Muhammad Razzaq was present as former Punjab chief minister Parvez Elahi’s counsel. The judge issued a bailable arrest warrant for Qaiser, ordering that h...

The Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) Punjab has said that water levels remain normal across most areas of the province, though the Sutlej River continues to experience medium to low flood at various headworks.

Venture capital is starting to trickle back into Pakistan. In the latest round, mobility startup BusCaro raised $2 million last week, bringing its total funding to $3.5m. The round was led by UAE-based Daman Investments, with participation from US/Saudi Cartography Capital, New York’s Epic Angest, UK’s Wahed Ventures, the Aga Khan Development Network’s Accelerate Prosperity, and a mix of angel investors. BusCaro, which offers shared commute services, was born in late 2022 — a time that could not have been less propitious for mobility startups. The world was emerging from the pandemic, the Russia-Ukraine war had triggered a global crisis, Pakistan was reeling from floods, and the local mobility sector was collapsing. Airlift and Swvl had folded, and Uber had exited Pakistan. What was once the hottest space had suddenly become a no-go zone. That’s when Maha Shahzad, former general manager of Swvl, launched BusCaro — putting its first bus on the road just a day after Swvl shut down. The journey since then has be...

Punjab Governor Sardar Saleem Haider Khan visited Lahore Airport on Sunday to oversee the dispatch of a humanitarian aid consignment for the people of Gaza and Palestine, organized by the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA).

Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif on Sunday underscored the importance of unity and solidarity, terming them the foundation of Pakistan’s recent emphatic victory against Indian aggression and a prerequisite for lasting economic strength.

The federal government has decided to take political and religious parties into confidence regarding the ongoing nationwide cervical cancer vaccination campaign.

The Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) has arrested 89 terrorists in 940 intelligence-based operations (IBOs) launched across Punjab over the past three months, the department said in a statement on Monday. There has been a recent uptick in terror attacks in Pakistan over the past year. The CTD regularly carries out operations to prevent and investigate terrorism-related activities and gather intelligence. During the three months, 14 terrorists were arrested in Lahore, 14 in Rawalpindi, seven each in Faisalabad and Bahawalpur, six each in Jhang and Sargodha, five in Sahiwal, four from Gujranwala and three each from Bahawalnagar and Gujrat, the statement read. “Of the arrested terrorists, 55 belong to Fitna al Khawarij, five are from ISIS (Islamic State), and two each are from Al-Qaeda, Hizb-ut-Tahrir and Jeay Sindh,” the statement added. The state uses the term Fitna al Khawarij to refer to terrorists of the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). According to the CTD, items seized during the raids include 2...

An anti-terrorism court (ATC) in the federal capital has issued an arrest warrant for Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Asad Qaiser in connection with the judicial complex attack case.

A large-scale anti-narcotics campaign has been launched in Balochistan to eradicate poppy cultivation and dismantle drug networks across the province.

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Senator Ishaq Dar has arrived in New York to participate in the high-level segment of the 80th Session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), scheduled from September 22 to 26, 2025.

• Reservoirs hold more than 13.1MAF water, 99pc of peak capacity • Tarbela reaches full conservation level of 1,550 feet; Mangla nearly filled to brim • Chashma Barrage also attains record storage level of 649 feet; officials expect minimal water shortage in Rabi season; wheat to benefit most ISLAMABAD: After many years, Pakistan will begin the upcoming Rabi season with healthy carryover water storage of more than 13 million acre feet (MAF) in reservoirs, which may partially offset agriculture output losses caused by floods in the outgoing Kharif season. “We expect water situation in Rabi season to be normal after many years”, said an official, adding that any shortage “will be minimal, bearable and manageable”. He noted that, after many years, we are also hopeful of having a reasonable carryover into the next Kharif season. While Tarbela Dam reached its peak conservation level of 1,550 feet last month and has remained there, Mangla Dam is struggling at 1,239.6 feet as of Sunday night against its maximum cons...

The 46th death anniversary of Maulana Syed Abul Ala Maududi, founder of Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan and renowned Islamic scholar, is being observed today.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is exploring proposals to abolish some visa fees for top global talent at a time when the US has taken a tougher stance on immigration, the Financial Times reported on Monday. Starmer’s “global talent task force” is working on ideas to attract the world’s best scientists, academics and digital experts to the UK in a bid to drive economic growth, the report said, citing people briefed on the discussions inside Number 10 and the Treasury. The idea of cutting visa costs to zero is for people who have attended the world’s top five universities or have won prestigious prizes, an official told the newspaper. According to the report, the reforms were being discussed in Number 10 and the Treasury before the Trump administration announced its decision to impose a $100,000 fee for new H-1B visas, which are widely used by US tech companies, from Sunday. The US decision, however, has put “wind in the sails” to those pushing for changes to Britain’s high-end visa system, aiming to spur ...

BAJAUR: A worker of Awami National Party was killed in an attack by unknown assailants in Khar tehsil here on Sunday. Residents and Rescue 1122 officials said the incident occurred on the main Khar-Nawagai Road in the Khazana area within the jurisdiction of Lowi Sam police station. They told Dawn that Mir Azam Khan, 45, was heading to his home in Khazana Dag area when unknown assailants opened fire on him, leaving him critically injured. Amjad Khan, district emergency officer of Rescue 1122, said the injured was shifted to the District Headquarters Hospital, Khar, where the doctors pronounced him dead upon arrival at the hospital’s emergency. No one claimed responsibility for the incident. Soon after the murder, several ANP leaders and workers also took to the social media to condemn the killing. ANP local chapter president Gul Afzal Khan, deputy general secretary Sadiq Akbar Jan, provincial joint secretary Shah Naseer Khan, Sheikh Jan Zada, and party’s local MPA Mohammad Nisar Khan condemned the killing of A...