Pakistan

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KHYBER: Pakistan and Afghanistan border forces on Thursday agreed on a brief pause amid ongoing clashes to identify and collect a dead body lying at Zero Point at Torkham for the last few days. However, the body, identified by Afghan authorities as a national, could not be retrieved from the location due to delayed consultation among the Afghan authorities and the time for the pause in fighting lapsing, sources told Dawn. They said that local residents had spotted the body and reported it to the security officials, while videos and pictures of the dead body were also shared on social media. Sources said that soon after, security officials from both countries agreed to constitute delegations of local influentials to identify and remove the dead body from the border crossing. The Pakistan side comprised eight persons, including Malak Tajuddin, Shah Khalid, Murad Hussain, Mufti Ejaz, Saeed Khan, Qari Nazeemgul, Mulana Aaqib and Qari Jihad Shah. From the Afghan side, the delegation comprised 11 persons, including...

ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari approved on Thursday the appointment of PML-N’s Nehal Hashmi as Sindh governor, hours after it was announced that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif recommended his appointment to the post previously held by MQM’s Kamran Tessori. “President Zardari has approved the appointment of Mr Nihal Hashmi as Sindh governor, acting on the advice of PM under Articles 48 and 101 of Pakistan’s Constitution,” a post on the Presidency’s X account said. It added, “The Commission of Appointment has been signed. He (Hashmi) will take [his] oath before the chief justice of the Sindh High Court.” Earlier, a statement by the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) said PM Shehbaz had decided to appoint Hashmi as Sindh governor — a move which came as a surprise. According to the PMO, PM Shehbaz met Hashmi at PM House on Tuesday and decided to nominate him as the governor of Sindh. The premier the forwarded a summary in this regard to President Asif Ali Zardari for the final nod. A video of the PM’s meeting wi...

Approves creation of Zakat Banks; imposes ban on teachers' mobile phone use

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With just eight days to Eidul Fitr, Pindi's markets are crowded but sales remain slow

Report exposes massive financial irregularities in health authority's Covid-era purchases

Six stolen mobile phones seized from suspect who is linked to 11 snatching cases

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Division bench hears intra-court appeal challenging travel restrictions

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Provincial Action Plan to cost Rs4 trillion, focus on security, employment, sustainable progress

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ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Thursday directed the formation of a medical board in its verdict on a plea seeking the transfer of PTI founder Imran Khan to Shifa International Hospital for medical treatment. A division bench, comprising Justice Arbab Muhammad Tahir and Justice Khadim Hussain Soomro, presided over the hearing. IHC directed Islamabad Chief Commissioner Muhammad Ali Randhawa to constitute a medical board and ordered that Dr Muhammad Arif and Dr Nadeem Qureshi be included. Dr Qureshi, who is a retina specialist from Rawalpindi’s Al-Shifa Trust Eye Hospital, is also part of the medical board constituted on the orders of the Supreme Court. Dr Arif is the head of the ophthalmology department at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) in Islamabad. In its order, the court also directed the authorities to ensure Imran’s meetings with his lawyers and family. Dr Qureshi was instructed to remain in contact with Imran’s family over his medical treatment. The written verdict, a cop...

Accurate GPS is a mainstay of modern life, but because of the Iran war, people in the UAE are finding that their phones think they are out at sea or in cities hundreds of kilometres away. Jamming and spoofing, used as a defensive tactic against missiles and drones, are to blame, experts say, but it’s not just enemy projectiles finding themselves lost in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). “I was using the maps while driving until it started taking me through weird roads,” said Hind, a French resident of Dubai who gave only her first name. Instead, she was forced to head back to a main road and “relied on the road signs to figure out where I was”. Despite the occasional inconvenience, the bizarre information given by GPS services, such as delivery drivers floating somewhere in the middle of the Gulf, has become the subject of jokes on social media. Andrew, a delivery driver in Dubai originally from Uganda, said it had become a frequent problem. “For example, a delivery that should have taken 10 to 15 minutes ended...

Iran will ​avenge the blood of its martyrs, keep the Strait of Hormuz closed and attack US bases, new Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba ‌Khamenei said on Thursday in a statement read out on state television, his first remarks since succeeding his father following his assassination. In the defiant address, Khamenei said the United States must close all its bases in the region. The strait, which runs past Iran’s coast and supplies a fifth of the world’s oil, should remain shut to put ​pressure on the enemy, he said. “The lever of blocking the Strait of Hormuz must definitely be used,” Khamenei said of the waterway. Ayatollah Mojtaba vowed to avenge the deaths since the start of the war, saying it would remain among his top priorities. “A limited amount of this revenge has so far taken concrete form, but until it is fully achieved, this case will remain among our priorities,” Khamenei said in a statement read on state television. “We will seek compensation from the enemy, and if they refuse, we will take as much ...

Foreign Office (FO) spokesperson Tahir Andrabi said on Thursday that Pakistan was playing the role of a “bridge builder” during the ongoing US-Israeli war on Iran. The war began as the US and Israel launched strikes on Tehran on February 28, which also resulted in the assassination of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. In retaliatory strikes, Iran has targeted US assets and bases in Gulf countries, against which a resolution was adopted in the United Nations Security Council on Wednesday. Meanwhile, Pakistan has been calling for de-escalation, with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar holding phone calls with dignitaries from relevant countries over the past few days. On Thursday, Andrabi gave a round-up of the phone calls during his weekly press briefing. During the question-answer bit, a reporter mentioned that Dar had previously spoken about Islamabad “shuttling communications between Tehran and Riyadh to try to ease tensions”. “Has that been Pa...

Leg-spinner Abrar Ahmed was snapped up by Sunrisers Leeds — a Hundred franchise with links to the Indian Premier League — on Thursday despite fears Pakistani players would be frozen out due to political tensions. The England and Wales Cricket Board last month issued a statement saying all eight of the city-based franchises in the 100-ball-a-side competition were committed to selection based solely on performances. A longstanding political stand-off between India and Pakistan means the two nations only play each other in major global cricket events. Cricketers from Pakistan have not featured in the Indian Premier League (IPL) since 2009 because of diplomatic tensions. The only two Pakistan players in Wednesday’s women’s auction, Fatima Sana and Sadia Iqbal, went unsold. Fast bowler Shaheen Shah Afridi withdrew from the men’s sale and fellow paceman Haris Rauf failed to attract an offer when put up for his reserve price of £100,000 at the auction in London on Thursday. But Sunrisers bought 27-year-old Ahmed for...

On the 13th day of the US-Israel war against Iran, the conflict appeared to be entering a more volatile phase in which the battlefield could gradually extend beyond conventional air and missile exchanges into attempts to weaken Iran from within; the maritime confrontation in the Gulf continued to tighten pressure on global energy markets and reinforce the centrality of oil flows in shaping the strategic calculations of the belligerents. Reports circulating among Iranian observers and security analysts suggested that Washington and Tel Aviv may now be testing a strategy aimed at fomenting internal dissent while maintaining external military pressure, with recent drone strikes on Basij security infrastructure inside Tehran. This was widely interpreted as an attempt to erode the regime’s internal control mechanisms and probe whether domestic instability could complement the ongoing military campaign. Rescue workers rest next to a damaged residential building in Tehran on March 12, 2026. — AFP The approach bears ...