Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan on Thursday again declared PPP’s Ali Hassan Zehri the winner of Balochistan’s PB-21 (Hub) constituency. The development comes more than two years after the 2024 general elections and a day after the electoral watchdog ordered a recounting of votes polled in the constituency’s 39 polling stations “as soon as possible but not later than 3 working days positively”. Subsequently, the ECP said in its notification issued on Thursday: “Pursuant to the order dated February 25, 2026 passed by the ECP […] and as a result of recounting at (39) polling stations conducted by the returning officer, PB-21 Hub, the notification dated December 19 2024, is hereby restored, whereby Ali Hassan Zehri was declared the returned candidate from PB-21 Hub.” Meanwhile, the Islamabad High Court also took up the matter and directed that the operation of the Feb 25 order shall remain suspended until the next date of hearing. The recounting saga Originally, Balochistan Awami Party’s (BAP) Muha...

Security forces have killed 10 terrorists during a follow-up sanitisation operation in Zhob district of Balochistan, the military’s media wing said on Thursday, as part of an intensified counter-terror campaign in the region.

The United States hopes talks with Iran in Geneva will produce an agreement to prevent Tehran from acquiring nuclear weapons, and President Donald Trump has amassed forces in the Middle East to increase pressure on Iran to reach a deal. What is at stake? Iran has, over decades, developed an advanced and large-scale uranium enrichment programme. While enriched uranium can be used as fuel in power plants at various purity levels, at high levels it can be used to make nuclear weapons. Until Israel and the US attacked its nuclear facilities last June, Iran was enriching uranium to up to 60 per cent purity, a short step from the roughly 90pc that is weapons grade. It had enough material enriched to that level, if enriched further, for 10 nuclear weapons, according to an International Atomic Energy Agency yardstick, and more at lower levels. The IAEA, the UN nuclear watchdog, has not, however, been able to verify how much of that uranium stock remains. Iran has yet to declare what happened to it or allow the agency...

India will soon give final shape to a mutually beneficial free trade agreement with Israel, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Thursday. The two countries will also pursue joint development, production, and transfer of technology in defence, Modi said at the end of his two-day trip aimed at strengthening ties with Israel. Modi said Tel Aviv and New Delhi agreed there was “no place for terrorism in the world”. “India and Israel are clear that there is no place for terrorism in the world, in any form… We will oppose it shoulder to shoulder. We will always oppose it in the future,” Modi said at a press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem. “Humanity must never become a victim of conflict,” he added. Following their meeting, Netanyahu’s office said the “two leaders will sign a series of agreements between Israel and India in economic, security, and diplomatic fields”. Separately, Modi said he and Israeli President Isaac Herzog held “extremely fruitful and wide-ranging” t...

Iran and the United States held talks in Switzerland on Thursday, in a last-ditch bid to avert war under the shadow of the biggest American military build-up in the Middle East in decades. The Oman-mediated discussions follow repeated threats from Donald Trump to strike Iran, with the US president last Thursday giving Tehran 15 days to reach a deal. The US and Iranian delegations arrived at the venue at the Omani ambassador’s residence amid tight security, following a protest by Iranian exiles at their talks last week who threw objects at the Iranian motorcade. Oman’s Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi confirmed that discussions had begun, saying the two sides expressed “unprecedented openness to new and creative ideas and solutions”. He later said the talks had been paused but would resume later in the day. Iran’s president insisted ahead of the talks that the Islamic republic was not “at all” seeking a nuclear weapon. “Our Supreme Leader has already stated that we will not have nuclear weapons at all,” Preside...

ISLAMABAD: Three European countries — Italy, Spain and Greece — and Pakistan reached a consensus on Thursday to promote legal pathways to “effectively combat illegal migration”, according to Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi. The consensus was reached at a four-nation conference in Rome, Naqvi said in a post on social media platform X, adding that ministers from Italy, Spain and Greece attended the meeting. “Productive meeting in Rome with my counterparts from Italy, Spain and Greece at the four-nation conference on curbing illegal migration. “Pakistan, Italy, Spain and Greece agreed on a coordinated strategy against illegal migration, human smuggling and narcotics, including a joint policy framework and rapid-response mechanism,” he said. The interior minister added that a consensus was also reached at the conference on “promoting legal pathways to effectively counter illegal migration [and] repatriation of criminals to face the law”. “European partners appreciated Pakistan’s strong actions, noting a 47 per cen...

South Africa captain Aiden Markram led from the front with an unbeaten 82 as South Africa all but secured a T20 World Cup semi-final berth with a brutal nine-wicket thrashing of the West Indies in Ahmedabad on Thursday. After the West Indies fought back from deep trouble at 83-7 to post 176-8, Markram and Quinton de Kock put on 95 for the first wicket to set the platform for a thumping victory. South Africa raced to their target with 23 balls to spare, scoring 177-1. Ryan Rickleton was not out on 45 at the end. They are the only unbeaten side in the tournament, having also dismantled pre-tournament favourite India by 76 runs in the Super Eights. An India win against Zimbabwe in Chennai later on Thursday will guarantee South Africa’s progress to the last four. It will also make India’s clash against the West Indies in Kolkata on Sunday a winner-takes-all decider for the final semi-final berth. Markram reached fifty off 27 balls and hit four sixes and seven fours. De Kock scored 47 off 24 balls, with four sixes...

In view of the prevailing national security situation, Maryam Nawaz Sharif, Chief Minister of Punjab, has directed authorities to further strengthen security arrangements across the province.

Pakistan on Thursday accused India of involvement in terrorism inside its territory and alleged that New Delhi is engaged in anti-Pakistan propaganda, while also warning that recent Israeli actions pose a serious threat to regional peace.

Breathe Pakistan, a flagship climate change awareness initiative by DawnMedia, has partnered with Alertli, a socially intelligent platform powered by voice and location-based artificial intelligence (AI), to strengthen citizen-led climate reporting and resilience efforts across Pakistan. According to a press release issued on Thursday, the collaboration will enable citizens to report climate-related incidents in real time, including urban flooding after heavy rainfall, heat-related emergencies, weather-induced road blockages, and climate-linked property damage. The statement said these reports will contribute to a broader national framework for climate awareness and preparedness “at a time when rising temperatures and increasingly extreme weather events are placing unprecedented strain on urban infrastructure, public health systems, and everyday mobility”. It added that under the partnership, Alertli will serve as an “official citizen-reporting tool across Breathe Pakistan’s platforms”. User-submitted reports...

Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz on Thursday launched an e-taxi scheme in the province, saying that the initiative was part of the government’s efforts to establish an “e-mobility ecosystem”. At a ceremony held for the scheme’s inauguration, the Punjab chief minister announced that around 1,100 e-taxies will be provided under the scheme at a subsidised rate, with a 30 per cent quota reserved for women. “Punjab has become the first province to launch an e-taxi scheme, the first of its kind, not only for the environment, but it will also open up employment opportunities,” the chief minister said while addressing the ceremony. “I am happy that over 30 pc of the scheme’s beneficiaries are women,” the chief minister added. CM Maryam maintained that the initiative was a part of the government’s efforts to establish an “e-mobility ecosystem”. “We have green buses as well — an example for the rest of the country,” she said, outlining plans to expand the service to “all 148 tehsils of Punjab”. Turning her attention ...

Have you ever come home from work feeling completely drained, even though you didn’t do anything physically exhausting? Surprisingly, this feeling is often less about the amount of work we do and more about the nature of the work and the structure of our jobs. In today’s world, most people spend nearly a third of their lives at work. Yet many jobs are structured in ways that leave people bored, stressed, or disconnected. It is understandable that jobs needn’t be fun, but they also don’t need to be frustrating. Even when people choose careers that they are passionate about, many gradually lose that passion and end up leaving the very jobs they once worked day and night for. This often happens because of how jobs are structured, how tasks are organised, and whether people feel they have control and meaning in their work. All of this affects employee productivity and happiness. Consider a job in which someone performs the same task every day, such as working in a print shop or performing desk work with minimal i...

The Peshawar High Court (PHC) has ruled that placing any citizen’s name on the Exit Control List (ECL) or any other travel ban list without prior notice or a show-cause notice is illegal and unconstitutional.

Detained leaders of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) have written a letter to Chief Justice Yahya Afridi, raising serious concerns over what they describe as repeated obstruction in providing medical and legal access to the party’s founder, Imran Khan.

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar on Thursday arrived in Saudi Arabia on a two-day visit to attend an extraordinary meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Council’s (OIC) Executive Committee. The Extraordinary Open-Ended Ministerial Meeting of the OIC Executive Committee is set to be held tonight in Jeddah. It will “consider the illegal decisions of the Israeli occupation authorities aimed at expanding settlements, pursuing annexation, and attempting to impose Israeli sovereignty over the Occupied West Bank”, according to the Foreign Office (FO). Dar was received at Jeddah’s King Abdulaziz International Airport by Pakistan’s Permanent Representative to the OIC Ambassador Fawad Sher, Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Ahmad Farooq, and Consul General in Jeddah Syed Mustafa Rabbani, FO said. The meeting is taking place against the backdrop of the Israeli government approving a proposal to register large areas of the occupied West Bank as “state property” for the first time since the occupation of the...

New Zealand’s “street-smart” cricketers can find a way to beat England and guarantee their semi-final place at the T20 World Cup, coach Rob Walters said on Thursday. A win for New Zealand in Friday’s Super Eights clash in Colombo will see them top Group 2 and join the already-qualified England in the final four. A defeat would leave the door ajar for Pakistan to beat eliminated Sri Lanka on Saturday with the second semi-final berth then being decided on net run rate. Mitchell Santner’s New Zealand were in trouble at 84-6 against Sri Lanka on Wednesday before the captain steered them to 168-7 and a thumping 61-run win which knocked out the co-hosts. “I think if you look historically at the Black Caps, you would probably say that they’re a team that have been great problem solvers,” Walters told reporters. “They are street smart; they find a way to understand the conditions quickly. “It’s certainly something that we pride ourselves on. We can adapt to conditions quickly and find a method.” England are the only ...

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) is set to hear former prime minister Imran Khan and his spouse Bushra Bibi’s petitions seeking the suspension of their sentences in the £190 million corruption case on March 11. A division bench comprising Chief Justice Sardar Muhammad Sarfraz Dogar and Justice Muhammad Azam Khan resumed the case proceedings on Thursday. During the hearing, the bench expressed displeasure as dozens of lawyers affiliated with PTI stood up and approached the rostrum simultaneously. “What is this? Are you trying to influence the court?” the IHC chief justice asked. Imran’s counsel, Barrister Salman Sardar, replied: “Not at all.” He argued that the matter had assumed greater urgency in view of the former premier’s sudden eye ailment. He further submitted that Bushra Bibi, despite being a woman, was serving a seven-year sentence and that her petition for suspension of sentence had been fixed after six months. “We request you to suspend the sentence. The last order was passed on November 9,...

The Pakistan Meteorological Department has announced that the year’s first total lunar eclipse will occur on March 3 and will be partially observable in several cities across Pakistan.

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar on Thursday departed here for a three-day visit to Saudi Arabia to attend the Open-Ended Extraordinary Ministerial Session of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation.

Pakistan’s benchmark equity index, the KSE-100, gained 4,266.79 points by market close on Thursday, signalling recovering sentiment after previous sessions saw a sustained sell-off. The advance placed the index 2.59 per cent above its previous close of 164,626.29 points. During trading, a total of 291 scrips advanced, 145 declined, and 131 remained unchanged from their previous close. A total of 355,320,144 shares were traded by market close. The index touched an intraday low of 162,953.63 and a high of 169,374.27. The range reflected the elevated volatility that has persisted from earlier in the week into today’s trading. According to Topline Securities, “as the session progressed, the tone changed”. The brokerage house noted that selling pressure eased, and buyers returned with renewed confidence, turning a tentative recovery into a broad-based rally. The strong close suggested some improvement in investor sentiment. On Wednesday, the index had also staged an early rebound, but ultimately closed in the red,...