Pakistan

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Essential services, including fuel stations, exempted from restrictions

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GILGIT: Seven people went missing after a tourist jeep on its way to Fairy Meadows in the Diamer district of Gilgit-Baltistan fell into a ravine and was swept away in Tattu Nullah on Monday. According to the spokesperson for the GB police, the accident occurred at around 3pm on Tattu Raikot Road. According to initial reports, all six tourists in the vehicle, as well as its driver, are still missing. The spokesperson said that two tourists in the jeep were from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and four from Punjab. The driver was identified as a resident of Diamer’s Dareel area. The spokesperson added that police and rescue teams were present at the scene and a rescue operation was underway to search for the missing persons. Fatal accidents are common on roads in the mountainous regions of the country due to traffic rule violations, treacherous terrain and poor infrastructure. Last month, a tragic road accident in Neelum Valley claimed the lives of four people, including two women, and left two others injured after a passen...

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Monday met the European Union’s (EU) top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, at the PM House, where he reaffirmed Pakistan’s commitment to cooperation with the EU and thanked EU leadership for its strong support for Pakistan’s peace efforts in the Gulf region. Kallas, who serves as vice-president of the Euro­pean Commission and the EU high representative for foreign affairs and security policy (HR/VP), is visiting Pakistan at the invitation of Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar. According to a statement by the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), the premier said that Pakistan was keen to further strengthen its multifaceted partnership with the EU. Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar, Attorney General of Pakistan (AGP) Mansoor Usman Awan, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (SAPM) Tariq Fatemi and other senior officials were also present, the statement said. PM Shehbaz expressed satisfaction at the 8th round of the EU-Pakista...

Almost 50 per cent of young adults in six major economies think AI romantic companionship will improve human happiness through emotional support in the next decade, the results of a large survey suggested on Monday. The percentage dropped progressively across older age categories to just a quarter of people aged 55 and over, according to the research shared exclusively with AFP. Leaps in AI development have seen people turn to chatbots as confidants and lovers, while advancements in robotics are helping produce more sophisticated sex dolls — raising questions over the impact on human relationships. The survey of nearly 10,000 people across the United States, Japan, Germany, Britain, Indonesia and Hong Kong provides a snapshot of this “rapidly changing moral landscape”, pollsters YouGov said. It also shows “a profound ideological split between Western and Asian markets”, with the latter seemingly more accepting of technologically enabled sex and romance. In terms of emotional support, 48pc of all respondents a...

ISLAMABAD: Having missed the growth target by half a percentage point, recording growth of 3.7pc this year, the government has set an economic growth target of 4pc and inflation at 8.2pc for the next fiscal year. The macroeconomic framework for FY2026-27 was cleared here on Monday at a meeting of the Annual Plan Coordination Committee (APCC) for formal approval by the National Economic Council (NEC) on June 3. The NEC — considered as the country’s highest national economic policy making body — is led by the prime minister and represented by all four provincial chief ministers besides as many federal ministers. The daylong APCC meeting is being presided over by Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal and is being attended by provincial development ministers, along with senior federal and provincial bureaucrats. “For FY2026–27, Pakistan’s economy is targeted to grow by 4pc, signalling a continued growth trajectory,” the APCC working paper noted, while stating that GDP growth stood at 3.7pc in FY2025–26 against a target o...

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has issued a no-objection certificate (NOC) permitting Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) president Nawaz Sharif to visit Gilgit-Baltistan for election campaign activities.

Governor Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Faisal Karim Kundi has emphasized the need for effective coordination between the federal and provincial governments to ensure continuity of development and public welfare initiatives across the country.

The Punjab government has announced the restoration of earlier business timings across the province, making it mandatory for all markets, shops, malls and commercial centres to close by 8:00 pm starting from tomorrow.

PPP Chairperson Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari said on Monday that any new constitutional amendment should provide protection to the rights of Gilgit-Baltistan (GB). “If any constitutional amendment has to be made anywhere, it is very important that the rights of GB are protected under it,” Bilawal said while addressing a rally in GB’s Shigar ahead of the June 7 elections in the region. In this connection, he said, “We can take forward their struggle for their right of rule (haq-i-hakimiyat)”. For this, the first step would be to hold elections in GB and the rest of Pakistan at the same time, he said. “When elections are held in Gilgit-Baltistan and the rest of Pakistan at the same time, progress in GB’s struggle for right of rule will be made in the true sense,” he added. “If we want to ensure the right of rule [for GB], demands or aims should be to hold elections in GB at the same time as general elections in Pakistan.” Bilawal also said the PPP would work towards getting the “same rights and resources for GB as ot...

India gave a red-carpet welcome on Monday to Myanmar’s junta leader-turned President Min Aung Hlaing — his first trip abroad since becoming civilian leader — with talks focusing on security and trade. The former military chief met with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday, where they shook hands outside New Delhi’s sprawling Hyderabad House. Modi told the Myanmar leader that “India remains Myanmar’s trusted neighbour, a reliable partner and steadfast first responder in times of crisis”, Indian foreign ministry spokesman Randhir Jaiswal said. Min Aung Hlaing was sworn in as Myanmar’s president in April, continuing his rule from a civilian post five years after snatching power in a military coup. Modi also “reaffirmed India’s readiness to support peace and dialogue in Myanmar”, Jaiswal added. New Delhi’s top career diplomat, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri, told reporters after the meeting that discussions included border security and the impact of the civil war in Myanmar, which borders India’s northeastern s...

The Election Commission of Gilgit-Baltistan has issued a no-objection certificate (NOC) allowing Nawaz Sharif to visit Gilgit-Baltistan for election campaign activities ahead of the upcoming regional polls.

The upper parts of the country are expected to experience dust storms and thunderstorms from June 2, which are likely to persist until June 5, the Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) said on Monday. “A westerly wave is likely to approach the upper parts of the country” during the forecast period, PMD said in an advisory. In Punjab and Islamabad, scattered dust storms and thunderstorms with rain are expected, with isolated heavy falls and hailstorms at a few places, in Islamabad/Rawalpindi, Murree, Galliyat, Attock, Chakwal, Jhelum, Mandi Bahauddin, Gujrat, Gujranwala, Hafizabad, Wazirabad, Lahore, Sheikhupura, Sialkot, Narowal, Sahiwal, Jhang, Toba Tek Singh, Nankana Sahib, Chiniot, Faisalabad, Okara, Kasur, Khushab, Sargodha, Bhakkar, Mianwali, Bahawalpur, Bahawalnagar, D.G. Khan, Multan, Khanewal, Lodhran, Muzaffargarh, Rajanpur, Rahim Yar Khan and Layyah. In Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan (GB), the PMD forecast scattered rain, windstorms and thunderstorms, with isolated heavy falls and hailstorms, in Ne...

ISLAMABAD: The National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA) on Monday challenged before the Supreme Court its May 12 order that required the Islamabad High Court (IHC) to decide in two weeks the sentence suspension pleas of lawyers Imaan Zainab Mazari-Hazir and Hadi Ali Chattha in the controversial social media posts case. Meanwhile, despite the SC’s May 26 deadline having passed already, the IHC today, on the request of the prosecution, adjourned the hearing of Imaan and Hadi’s pleas seeking suspension of their sentences. The husband-wife duo were sentenced in the case on January 24, with subsequent petitions being filed against their conviction in early February. On May 12, more than three months after the pleas were filed, the SC gave the IHC two weeks to decide on the lawyer couple’s petitions. On Monday, the NCCIA requested the SC to recall and withdraw that order to help preserve the “sanctity and independence of the judiciary, maintaining equality among citizens and avoiding discriminatory treatme...

The Pakistan Meteorological Department has forecast rain, dust storms, and thunderstorms in several districts of Sindh as intense heat, high humidity, and a western weather system influence conditions across parts of the province.

The Punjab School Education Department has allowed government and private schools across the province to hold summer camps during the summer break from June 1 to June 30.

In 2018, Pakistan produced the widest survey in its history on how much nutrition its people were getting. The NNS or National Nutrition Survey was the fifth such epic exercise to be undertaken since 1965, and the first ever to show us the numbers from the districts. It was the most comprehensive data-gathering effort in Pakistan’s history and is regularly cited today in policymaking. The NNS results painted such an alarming picture at the time that the government should have declared a national emergency. Instead, I find myself writing this seven years on with a question as Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb tables an estimated Rs17.1 trillion federal budget for fiscal year 2026-27: What did Pakistan’s budget-makers do with the population nutrition evidence? No prizes for guessing the answer was scant little. What we got instead is a story of policy documents without funding to see through on the ground, bodies meant to coordinate without the mandate or teeth, and a government that continues to treat nutrit...