Pakistan

• Insiders say Washington asked Pakistan to host negotiations; groundwork laid in weeks of ‘hectic diplomacy’ • Witkoff expected to lead engagement; no indication yet of who Iran may send • Trump claims engagement on ‘15 points’ • Tehran implies existence of backchannel; spox says messages from US ‘received and responded to’ • Qatar, Turkiye support swift efforts to end war • German president calls US-Israeli war on Iran ‘violation of international law’ ISLAMABAD: A day after a proposal was floated to hold Iran-US talks in the nation’s capital, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif formally pitched Islamabad as a potential venue for negotiations between Iranian and US officials. “Subject to concurrence by the US and Iran, Pakistan stands ready and honoured to be the host to facilitate meaningful and conclusive talks for a comprehensive settlement of the ongoing conflict,” he wrote on X, tagging US President Donald Trump, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff. The move followed rep...

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LAHORE: Several people were injured when a Karachi-bound train derailed near Punjab’s Lodhran on Tuesday night, officials said. Lodhran District Emergency Officer Engineer Shakeel Ahmed told Dawn that, according to initial reports, 17 of the injured were provided first aid at the spot while eight others were taken to the district headquarters hospital. Pakistan Railways (PR) spokesperson Babar Ali told Dawn that no loss of life was reported in the incident and that the cause of the accident was yet to be determined. He said the federal minister for railways had ordered a “high-level inquiry” to determine the cause. The spokesperson also stated that the affected track would soon be open for traffic, and Rescue 1122 and PR medical teams had conducted relief and rescue operations at the site. A relief train and a relief truck were also sent to the site, he added. Further details about the incident involving Tezgam Express are not yet clear. The train’s driver, Tariq Khan, earlier told Dawn he could not explain h...

ISLAMABAD: A group of clerics from Pakistan and Afghanistan on Tuesday appealed to the authorities on both sides to extend the pause in hostilities — which was announced for Eidul Fitr — to Eidul Azha. In Pakistan, the announcement was made by Information Minister Attaullah Tarar on March 18, three days before Eidul Fitr. “In view of the upcoming Islamic festival of Eidul Fitr, upon its own initiative as well as on the request from the brotherly Islamic countries of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the State of Qatar and the Republic of Turkiye, the government of Pakistan has decided to announce a temporary pause amidst ongoing Operation Ghazab lil-Haq against terrorists and their support infrastructure in Afghanistan,” Tarar had posted on X. The minister said the pause would be applicable from midnight March 18-19 to midnight March 23-24. Pakistan had launched Operation Ghazab lil-Haq on the night of Feb 26 following cross-border firing by the Afghan Taliban. Eleven Pakistani and as many Afghan clerics signed a ...

LAHORE - Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif has announced that free medicines are being delivered to tuberculosis (TB) patients at their doorsteps across the province as part of intensified efforts to eliminate the disease.

ISLAMABAD - Pakistan has emerged as a ‘mutual friend’ and ‘potential mediator’ who might soon be hosting American and Iranian officials to finally end the war in the Middle East.

ISLAMABAD - An Indian court has sentenced prominent Kashmiri separatist leader Asiya Andrabi to life imprisonment under the country’s stringent anti-terror legislation, in a move critics say reflects New Delhi’s continued crackdown on dissent in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK).

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