Pakistan

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Petition says man, sister were allegedly detained for three days without warrants

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ISLAMABAD: The government on Thursday decided in principle to start weekly revisions for petroleum prices effective from March 8 and to implement measures such as distance learning and work-from-home for the conservation of fuel amid possible oil supply disruptions due to the ongoing conflict in the Middle East. The national action plan was crystallised in consultation with the provinces at a meeting of the cabinet committee formed by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif for monitoring petrol prices due to the regional situation. The action plan will be presented to PM Shehbaz on Friday. Subject to his clearance and fine-tuning, it will then be taken up by the federal cabinet’s Economic Coordination Committee for formal approval and implementation. Back-to-back meetings of the three forums are scheduled for Friday, in that order, given the urgency of the matter. According to informed sources, the contingency measures had also been discussed with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). During the meeting of the cabine...

Turmoil in the Middle East has sent investors scrambling for safety once more, reigniting a debate over which assets truly offer protection in times of stress. The choice is complicated, as traditional refuges behave unpredictably. Gold has swung sharply, and the dollar — which has been out of favour in the past year — has bounced back. Here’s a look at how some of the favourites stack up: Greenback passes a test The dollar has arguably performed the best among safe havens this week. The dollar index, which tracks the US currency against six others, is up 1.5 per cent. The dollar has even gained against the Swiss franc and yen, which both typically outperform at times of market stress. That’s particularly notable as the dollar weakened when stocks fell following last April’s tariff turmoil, raising questions about its safe haven status. It’s short-term dollar cash that’s in demand, not other dollar assets, flow data shows. Of course, the US is a net energy exporter, so a crisis like this that sends benchmark ...

The Government of Punjab has appointed grade-20 officer Dr Shehanshah Faisal Azeem as Director General of the Social Welfare and Bait-ul-Mal Department.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif held separate telephone discussions with Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim and Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto amid rising tensions in the Middle East following Israeli strikes on Iran and other Gulf nations.

The Capital Development Authority (CDA) on Thursday reviewed preparedness measures to prevent forest fires in the Margalla Hills ahead of the upcoming fire season, with officials emphasising improved monitoring, coordination, and staffing.

Pakistani security officials have disclosed that at least 56 targeted strikes have been launched against militant hideouts inside Afghanistan in response to escalating cross-border attacks.

Pakistan has voiced reservations over a newly announced long-term uranium supply agreement between Canada and India, along with their prospective collaboration on small modular reactors and advanced nuclear technologies.

PESHAWAR: A senior security official has said that the Afghan Taliban were well aware of Pakistan’s concerns and demands, adding that the regime needed to take “verifiable steps” if it wanted a ceasefire or a dialogue. Relations between Pakistan and the Afghan Taliban are at their lowest point in the four years since the group came to power. On Feb 22, Pakistan targeted terrorist camps and hideouts overnight in the Nangarhar and Paktika provinces of Afghanistan, which led to the Afghan Taliban launching unprovoked attacks along the border last week. In response, Pakistan on Feb 26 initiated Operation Ghazab lil-Haq. Briefing Khyber Pakhtunkhwa-based journalists at the Inter-Services Public Relations headquarters, the senior security official said that the Afghan Taliban regime was “well aware of Pakistan’s concerns”, adding that the “decision was now theirs”. “If they want dialogue or a ceasefire, they must take verifiable steps,” the official said. “Pakistan does not wish to attack anyone; our priority remai...

ISLAMABAD: A meeting with incarcerated PTI founder Imran Khan remained out of reach for the party on Thursday, while jailed party leaders called on the government to reconsider its approach toward the former premier. On Wednesday, PTI Secretary General Salman Akram Raja had issued a list of six people for a meeting with Imran. The list had included MNAs Shahid Khattak, Shabbir Ali Qureshi, Javed Waraich, Adil Bazai, Sohail Sultan, and also Major (Retd) Fayyaz Ahmed. The list was sent to the jail authorities as per the direction of the apex court. However, on Thursday, Qureshi told Dawn that when he, alongside other PTI leaders, reached Adiala jail, they were not allowed to meet Imran. “We had arrived at 1:30pm and informed the jail administration that, as per the directions of the court, we should be allowed to meet Khan sahib. They told us that names have been forwarded for approval, and suggested we wait,” he said. Qureshi said that they waited till 3pm, which was the cut-off time for jail meetings during R...

By the sixth day of the war, the conflict that Israel and the United States had initially framed as a concentrated campaign against Iran’s strategic infrastructure had started to assume a different character. The airspace over Iran continued to be dominated by the US and Israel, and both sides were still trading missiles. But noticeably, the battlefield was quietly widening, and the war’s logic was shifting from decisive blows to cumulative pressure. If the first five days were about shock and counter-shock, the sixth day looked increasingly like the deepening of an attrition contest. Events over the past 24 hours illustrated that shift with unusual clarity. The lateral spread The most visible sign of geographic expansion came not inside Iran or Israel but in the South Caucasus. Two kamikaze drones struck separate locations at the airport in Nakhchivan, the Azerbaijani exclave wedged between Iran, Armenia and Turkiye. Videos circulating on regional channels showed the distinctive engine tone associated with t...

UK police on Thursday said they had released three people arrested on suspicion of spying for China, including the husband of a lawmaker from Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s ruling Labour Party. The trio, aged 39, 43 and 68, were arrested on Wednesday by counter-terrorism officers in London and Wales on suspicion of assisting a foreign intelligence service. All three had “subsequently been released on bail to a date in May”, London’s Metropolitan Police said in a statement. Chinese espionage is a politically sensitive subject in Britain and the case could become awkward for Starmer, who visited Beijing recently, aiming to reset relations with the Asian giant. The media reported that the husband of Labour lawmaker Joani Reid was among the three. Reid said on Wednesday that she had never “seen anything to make me suspect my husband has broken any law”. Her husband, David Taylor, 39, is listed as a “lobbyist” on her list of registered interests. According to his LinkedIn page, he works for Asia House, a think tank...

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Thursday initiated contempt proceedings against the federal interior secretary for failing to attend a hearing concerning the postponement of local government elections in Islamabad.

The government on Thursday refuted a “fabricated” notification claiming the Cabinet Division had ordered the “temporary suspension of all port entries in Pakistan” due to the security situation until March 10. “No such order has been issued by the Cabinet Division or the Ministry of Maritime Affairs,” the information ministry clarified in a fact check. The clarification comes amid the ongoing hostilities in the Middle East, which have disrupted sea traffic coming through the Strait of Hormuz off Iran’s coast. Pakistan has formally requested that Saudi Arabia provide an alternative oil supply route through its port city of Yanbu to maintain its fuel supply chain in the wake of the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. However, the fake notification, dated March 4, did not make any mention of the Iran war. It claimed that an emergency meeting had been convened by the maritime affairs ministry “in view of the prevailing security situation”, without expanding further on the security concerns. The fabricated notificati...

ISLAMABAD: The Centre on Thursday asked all the provincial governments to ensure physical inspection and monitoring of retail petrol stations through respective deputy commissioners to avoid hoarding of petroleum products for undue profiteering. The government also appointed Hamed Yaqoob Sheikh, a grade-22 officer of the Pakistan Administrative Service, as the Petroleum Division secretary — a post lying vacant for the past couple of months. Shaikh, a former secretary of finance and planning, was working as the national food security secretary. In an announcement, the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) said the government had assured the public that the country currently held sufficient stocks of petroleum products to meet national demand and there was no need for panic buying or hoarding. It should be noted that the government is currently mulling shifting the petrol pricing mechanism from the current fortnightly basis to a weekly basis. It is also considering providing full financial cover to oil market...

The Foreign Office (FO) said on Thursday that the agreement between India and Canada for uranium supply represented “yet another country-specific exception in the field of civil nuclear cooperation”. On Monday, India and Canada reached a string of agreements, including on critical mineral cooperation and a “landmark” uranium supply deal for nuclear power. “In civil nuclear energy, we have struck a landmark deal for long-term uranium supply,” Modi said, adding the countries would also work together on small modular reactors and advanced reactors. Responding to media queries on the matter, Ministry of Foreign Affairs Spokesperson Tahir Andrabi said, “Pakistan has noted with concern the long-term uranium supply agreement concluded between Canada and India and potential cooperation on small modular reactors and advanced reactor technologies between the two sides. “This arrangement represents yet another country-specific exception in the field of civil nuclear cooperation,” he said. He maintained that “it is parti...