Pakistan

PESHAWAR: Newly-elected Chief Minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Mohammad Sohail Afridi on Monday said he believed in the supremacy of the law and would confront the Centre’s every unlawful and unconstitutional step. “A narrative is being built that I will go for confrontation with the federal government. Yes, I will, if anything is done by it against the Constitution. I will continue to speak for the supremacy of the Constitution,” he told a provincial assembly session chaired by Speaker Babar Saleem Swati here. The chief minister said that he wrote letters to the chief justice of Pakistan and federal and provincial governments and even petitioned the Islamabad High Court for ensuring his meeting with detained founder of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf Imran Khan but to no avail. He said he would challenge the federal government over the continued denial of his meeting with Imran and would boycott meetings called by it. Informs assembly that there won’t be any political arrests under MPO in province Mr Afridi said ...

RAWALPINDI: After receiving approval to re­­start flights to the United Kingdom, Pakistan is now preparing to resume direct air links with the United States, Aviation Minister Khawaja Asif said on Monday. Speaking to a private TV channel, Mr Asif indicated progress in discus­­s­i­ons with American aviation authorities. “Hopefully, permission will be granted soon,” he said, adding that the government is working on meeting international standards and enhancing safety protocols, which could lead to expanded global routes. A Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) spokesman highlighted the significance of US routes for PIA, emphasising the strong demand for non-stop flights from Pakistanis living in North America. National flag carrier, Etihad enter into codeshare agreement According to an aviation expert, a team from the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) had recently visited Pakistan to conduct a safety audit. A positive outcome from these audits could result in PIA achieving Category 1 status from the FAA,...

DERA ISMAIL KHAN: At least eight alleged terrorists were gunned down by security forces in an operation on Monday, after a team from Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) came under attack near the Kot Lalu area in Daraban, Dera Ismail Khan. The action came in an apparent response to an attack on the SNGPL team, in which security forces reportedly also suffered casualties. However, there was no official word from Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) or other security agencies about their losses until going to press. Sources said the militants were killed after intelligence reports were received about their presence in a nearby jungle, prompting the security forces to launch an offensive in which eight suspects were gunned down. Following the action, the forces cordoned off the area and initiated wide-ranging search-and-clearance operations in the surrounding terrain. Reinforcements were dispatched to secure the site and to pursue the fleeing suspects. Two suspects killed in Swabi encounter; attack on B...

• A Tando Adam ginner is found mixing cotton waste into high-grade lint • Stakeholders say malpractice has pushed textile mills towards costly imports, deepening financial woes • Investigators allege armed men assault PCGA team LAHORE: A startling case of large-scale cotton adulteration has surfaced in Sindh, where a ginning factory in Tando Adam was allegedly found mixing cotton waste into high-grade lint to produce what industry insiders are calling “burger cotton.” According to reports, a four-member monitoring team of the Pakistan Cotton Ginners Association (PCGA) — formed to curb such malpractice — raided the factory after receiving credible complaints. However, the operation turned violent when the factory owner allegedly summoned nearly a hundred armed men who assaulted and detained the visiting committee members for several hours on Sunday. The incident has sent shockwaves through the cotton ginning industry nationwide. In protest, an emergency meeting of the PCGA’s monitoring committee and Sindh-base...

Fast bowler Shaheen Shah Afridi has been named the Pakistan men’s One-day International (ODI) team captain, the country’s cricket board announced on Monday. The national side’s pace spearhead will lead Pakistan in the upcoming three-match series against South Africa. Shaheen replaces Mohammad Rizwan as the Pakistan ODI skipper after the wicket-keeper led the team during a disastrous ICC Champions Trophy campaign before series losses in New Zealand and the West Indies. Rizwan, handed captaincy in 2024, had led the team to series wins in South Africa, Australia and Zimbabwe in his early days as captain, however. But the recent failures apparently were a decisive enough factor for the Pakistan Cricket Board to sack Rizwan. For Shaheen, it’s going to be a second stint as the Pakistan captain, the left-armer having been snubbed after a short spell — five T20Is against New Zealand — at the helm after replacing Babar Azam in late 2023 following Pakistan’s dismal World Cup campaign. The 25-year-old, who has been capt...

ISLAMABAD - The Islamabad High Court (IHC) Monday removed the registrar office’s objections on Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi’s peti­tion seeking permission to meet PTI founder Imran Khan in Adiala Jail.

ISLAMABAD - The Islamabad High Court (IHC) Mon­day gave police three days to recover the deputy director of the National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA), who was allegedly abducted from the federal capital last week.

LAHORE - The Election Commis­sion of Pakistan (ECP) has released a revised schedule for by-elec­tions in Punjab, with polling set to take place on November 23, 2025.

ISLAMABAD - Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) chief Bilawal Bhutto Zardari yesterday extended warm greetings to the Hindu commu­nity in Pakistan and around the world on the joyous occasion of Diwali — the festival of lights, hope, and renewal.

ISLAMABAD - Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) on Monday is­sued non-bailable arrest warrants against sever­al leaders of PTI includ­ing Zartar Gul, Omar Ayub, Zain Qureshi and Ali Bokha­ri in protest and riots case.

ISLAMABAD - The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Monday announced a ban on the post­ing and transfer of govern­ment officers in Faisalabad and Sahiwal districts, aiming to ensure free, fair, and trans­parent by-elections in the re­spective constituencies.

ISLAMABAD - Minister for Interior Mohsin Naqvi called on Pa­kistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari at Bilawal House in Karachi.

LAHORE - The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Monday acquit­ted a death row inmate, Maqbool Hussain, who was convicted of killing a man over a financial dis­pute.

LAHORE - An anti-terrorism court on Monday granted a fur­ther 10-day physical remand of Pir Zaheerul Has­san Shah, the deputy chief of Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) , in a case pertaining to an inflam­matory speech against a senior judicial figure.

ISLAMABAD - The Constitutional Bench of the Supreme Court of Pakistan on Monday adjourned the hearing of multiple petitions challenging the imposition of super tax until Tuesday.

ISLAMABAD - The federal government on Monday dismissed the claim of newly elected Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi that the bullet proof ve­hicles recently gifted by the Centre to the provincial police were defective and outdated.

DEPALPUR /LAHORE - Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif on Monday announced Rs100 billion pack-age for the rehabilitation of flood victims across the province, pledging complete transpar-ency and swift assistance to every affected family.

PM PM calls for promotion of cottage SMEs to achieve industrial developmentcalls for promotion of cottage SMEs to achieve industrial development.

Amazon’s cloud services unit AWS was struggling to recover on Monday from a widespread outage that knocked out thousands of websites along with some of the world’s most popular apps — Snapchat and Reddit — and disrupted businesses globally. The turmoil marked the largest internet disruption since last year’s CrowdStrike malfunction hobbled technology systems in hospitals, banks and airports, and highlights the vulnerability of the world’s interconnected technologies. After more than nine hours of disruptions, some applications were gradually coming back online as of 1pm ET (10pm PKT). But AWS acknowledged that elevated errors were still affecting several AWS services and that it was working on recovering connectivity. AWS was down for more than 9,300 users as of 1pm ET, according to outage tracking website Downdetector. That figure is higher than the earlier peak of about 5,800 reports at 3:48am ET (12:48pm PKT). Lambda, one of AWS’s computing services, was experiencing errors due to issues with an internal s...

Veteran Bollywood comedy actor Govardhan Asrani died after a prolonged illness on Monday at the age of 84, Indian media outlets reported. A post on his Instagram account confirmed his demise, saying: “The news of the demise of Asrani ji, the king of laughter, ruling over millions of hearts has immersed us all in deep sorrow. He gave a new identity to Indian cinema with his unique acting, simplicity and humor. The life they put into every character, will live in our memories forever. Their departure is not just for the film industry, but the loss of everyone who ever smiled at their acting.” View this post on Instagram Indian wire agency ANI reported that his last rites were performed at Santacruz Crematorium in the presence of his family. His manager, Babu Bhai Thiba, told the outlet that Asrani died at 3pm at Arogya Nidhi Hospital, Mumbai, Maharashtra. “He is survived by his wife, sister, and nephew,” the manager added. The outlet added that over his long and successful career, Asrani became one of Hindi cin...