Pakistan

Plantation to be shifted before construction of three underpasses

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Saudi Arabia said it hoped to have “strong, positive” ties with the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the kingdom’s foreign minister said on Monday, but stressed that future relations were contingent on Abu Dhabi’s complete withdrawal from Yemen. During a press conference in Warsaw, Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan said Riyadh was “always keen” to have a “strong, positive relationship with the UAE”. “The UAE has now decided to leave Yemen, and I think if that indeed is the case and the UAE has completely left the issue of Yemen, the kingdom of Saudi Arabia will take responsibility,” he added. “I think that will be the building block for making sure that the relationship with the UAE continues strong and continues to serve the interests not just of both countries but the region,” he said. A public row had erupted between the two countries over Yemen after UAE-backed separatists seized swathes of land late last year, including areas along the Saudi border, infuriating Riyadh. Last month, the UAE had ...

CM orders stalls of flour, poultry, grocery and ghee mill associations

LHC orders authorities to ensure precautionary measures

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Wife, sister-inlaw shot dead; suspect's in-laws also held for alleged cover-up

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The Tehreek Tahafuz Ayeen-i-Pakistan (TTAP) on Monday condemned the prison sentences of lawyers Imaan Zainab Mazari-Hazir and her spouse Hadi Ali Chatta, lamenting that “dictatorship has been imposed in Pakistan”. The remarks came as a TTAP delegation called on Imaan’s mother Shireen Mazari to “express solidarity” with the jailed couple, according to post by the party on X. The video accompanying the post showed TTAP chief Mahmood Khan Achakzai, Vice Chairman Mustafa Nawaz Khokar and the PTI’s Barrister Gohar Ali Khan included in the delegation. Speaking to the media after the meeting, PTI’s Gohar condemned the couple’s arrest, their trial and how “due process was violated”. “We have always been and will always remain opponents of the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (Peca). Voices cannot be suppressed. Nations cannot be suppressed by suppressing voices,” he said, “We condemn this judgment. We met her family and mother. They said that they have no contact with her (Imaan),” Gohar said, drawing a parallel b...

ISLAMABAD: Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) MNA Noor Alam Khan on Monday called for barring bureaucrats from holding dual nationality. Presently, Article 63 (1)(c) of the Constitution states: “A person shall be disqualified from being elected or chosen as, and from being, a member of the Majlis-i-Shoora (Parliament), if he ceases to be a citizen of Pakistan, or acquires the citizenship of a foreign state.” On the other hand, bureaucrats can be dual nationals. But, amendments have been proposed to the Civil Servants Act for a restriction on bureaucrats’ dual nationality. The matter came under discussion on Monday during a meeting of the National Assembly Standing Committee on Cabinet Secretariat, where the Civil Servants (Amendment) Bill, 2024 — which was moved by Khan — was taken up. The bill, seen by Dawn, says: “This private bill seeks amendment in Section 5 of the Civil Servants Act, 1973 with a view to lay down an enabling provision so that a civil servant holding dual nationality or citizenship of any f...

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E-commerce giant Daraz on Monday announced an initiative to help sellers affected by the Gul Plaza inferno, saying it would launch a dedicated section on its website to sell their products and goods. The deadly inferno, which erupted on the night of January 17 at the mall and took nearly two days to be fully extinguished, claimed at least 73 lives and left over 1,100 shops in ruins. Efforts to scour through the debris for the remains of the dead are still underway. In a press release, Daraz said it was mobilising platform and ecosystem support for the affected traders by providing “onboarding, storage solutions, marketing enablement, and dedicated incubation over the next three months”. “Daraz Pakistan, under its Daraz Cares arm, has announced a dedicated support initiative for sellers impacted by the recent fire at Gul Plaza in Karachi, aimed at helping affected businesses regain stability and continue serving customers across Pakistan,” the press release said. “Through this initiative, Daraz Pakistan will l...

Indonesia has received three Rafale fighter jets from France in the first deliveries from a multi-billion dollar defence deal between the two countries, a defence ministry official told Reuters on Monday, marking a major upgrade to the country’s ageing military hardware. Jakarta, France’s main arms client in Southeast Asia, has placed orders for as many as 42 Rafales, built by Dassault Aviation, as well as French frigates and submarines, as the archipelago steps up defence spending under President Prabowo Subianto, a former special forces commander. “The aircraft have been handed over and are ready for use by the Indonesian Air Force, Defence Ministry spokesperson Rico Ricardo Sirait said in a message in response to a Reuters query — the first confirmation that Indonesia has possession of the advanced military aircraft after striking an $8 billion deal with France in 2022 and expanding it last year. Sirait said the three aircraft arrived on Friday and were stationed at Roesmin Nurjadin Air Base in Pekanbaru, ...

In many South Asian households, the instruction comes early and often. A boy falls, scrapes his knee, and starts to cry. Before the pain is addressed, the correction arrives: “Boys don’t cry.” Sometimes it’s said gently, sometimes sharply, often jokingly. Rarely is it questioned. Yet, according to child and adolescent psychiatrists, this single sentence can quietly shape a child’s emotional, cognitive, and social development in ways that last a lifetime. Dr Helal Uddin Ahmed, Professor of Child, Adolescent and Family Psychiatry at Faridpur Medical College, explains that childhood development is never just physical. “We usually give importance to physical growth,” he says, “But emotional, cognitive, and social development are equally important.” When one is disrupted, the others do not remain untouched. Emotional suppression starts early From a psychiatric perspective, emotional development depends on one simple but crucial skill: recognising emotions and responding to them appropriately. “A child needs to und...

Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar and his Burmese counterpart Than Swe held “very productive and comprehensive” discussions in Islamabad on Monday, as both Pakistan and Myanmar seek to revitalise ties. FM Than Swe arrived in Islamabad on a four-day official visit on the night of January 24. The Foreign Office (FO) had said the visit “aims to strengthen bilateral relations between the two countries”. Addressing a joint press conference alongside Than Swe, Dar said, “Our discussions were very productive and comprehensive.” He highlighted that the Burmese FM’s visit reflected the “importance that both countries attach to revitalising and strengthening Pakistan-Myanmar relationship”. Noting that their meeting went for over an hour, Dar said the discussions covered the “full spectrum of bilateral relations”. “We also exchanged views on regional peace and security and agreed that all […] issues should be resolved through dialogue and diplomacy,” the deputy prime minister added. He stressed that both countries had historic...

Pakistan’s benchmark index, the KSe-100, closed in red at 188,587.66, down 579.16 points (-0.31 per cent) from the previous close. The total volume was 449.8 million shares at a value of Rs43.56 billion. The market fell to its lowest point at 3:28pm PKT, hitting an intraday low of 188,268.38 points. This rally was on account of investors positioning for a further cut in the policy rate based on easing inflation, rising foreign exchange reserves, and a stable rupee. After the markets closed, State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) maintained its key policy rate at 10.5 per cent on Monday during its Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting. Brokerage house Topline Securities noted that this “came as a surprise” as a majority of their participants were expecting a rate cut.