Pakistan

LAHORE/PESHAWAR: Rain-related incidents claimed the lives of two men in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Thursday, while Punjab witnessed two deaths in the last 24 hours due to similar occurrences, authorities said. According to the Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD), a fresh monsoon spell across the country was set to begin from July 1 and continue till July 6. Two deaths from a roof collapse incident in Mansehra took the number of lives lost since July 1 to nine, data from the KP Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) showed. At around 2am, torrential rain in Mansehra caused the roof of a temporary mud-and-wood shelter to collapse, claiming the lives of two shepherds and injuring four others, PDMA said. Providing a breakdown of the total deaths since Wednesday, PDMA said they included four men, four children and a woman. Meanwhile, the 23 injured comprised 11 men, as many minors and a woman. Two lives were lost each in Khyber and Mansehra, while Buner, Haripur, Nowshera, Shangla and Upper Dir saw one de...

ISLAMABAD: Chief Justice of Pakistan Yahya Afridi on Thursday said protecting prisoners' rights is a fundamental component of the justice system, stressing that improving prison conditions is a constitutional responsibility of the provincial governments.

LAHORE: Two foreign women were rescued in Lahore after police conducted a swift operation following the intervention of Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif, authorities said on Thursday.

Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Attaullah Tarar on Thursday reaffirmed the government's commitment to the welfare of sports journalists, inviting the community to submit recommendations for the promotion and development of sports journalism.

South Asia teeters precariously upon a powder keg of existential volatility, ironically fuelled by water itself. This dangerous moment has been propelled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s flagitious and untenable proclamation that the waters of the Indus basin belong exclusively to India. One reaches this sombre conclusion after reading the incisive column by Ahmar Bilal Soofi, titled “Dams on Chenab — a target?”. A leading jurist, Soofi has consistently advocated rigorous legal remedies against Modi’s malevolent suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) of 1960 — an act tantamount to de facto abrogation, devoid of legitimacy under the principle of pacta sunt servanda. This assertion by New Delhi not only repudiates solemn treaty obligations but weaponises a vital shared resource, imperilling the agrarian lifelines of downstream Pakistan. India’s hypocrisy Indian policy discourse seeks to cloak accelerated projects on the Chenab, including the colossal Sawalkote endeavour, under the guise of legitimate uppe...

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) said on Thursday that an agreement had been signed with Saudi Arabia for the construction of a modern cricket stadium in Jeddah. In a post on X, the cricket board said the agreement was signed by PCB Chairman Mohsin Naqvi and Saudi Arabian Cricket Federation (SACF) chief Prince Saud bin Mishal bin Mohammad Al Saud. Naqvi is currently in Saudi Arabia on an official visit. “For the first time in history, a strategic agreement has been signed between the PCB and the SACF for the construction of a modern cricket stadium in Jeddah,” he said. “The PCB will build a cricket stadium as per international standards and with state-of-the-art facilities. All the facilities will be according to the standards of the International Cricket Council (ICC),” the statement said. It further said that the two boards would jointly work on infrastructure development, technical expertise, stadium planning and operational standards. It said the project would play a key role in enabling Saudi Arabia to h...

LAHORE: In a case pertaining to blasphemy, the Lahore High Court (LHC) on Thursday held that the “mere creation or administration of a WhatsApp group does not, by itself, make the creator or administrator criminally liable for every post made by its members”. The court issued the directives while denying post-arrest bail to a man accused of uploading and sharing blasphemous content through WhatsApp groups. Justice Tariq Saleem Sheikh passed a detailed judgment on Thursday, dismissing the bail petition filed by a man booked by the Federal Investigation Agency’s now defunct Cyber Crime Wing. The case was registered on April 5, 2024 under sections 295-A, 295-B, 295-C, 298-A (blasphemy offences) and 109 (abetment) of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) and Section 11 of the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (Peca). According to the prosecution, the petitioner was added to two WhatsApp groups where he allegedly noticed blasphemous and sacrilegious posts being shared by members. He took screenshots of some posts and ap...

The Knesset approved a bill on Wednesday that seeks to ban the broadcasting of the call to prayer in Israel on loudspeakers, according to media reports. The Israel Hayom newspaper reported that the Knesset approved the bill in its preliminary reading to tighten law enforcement against what it described as “mosque noise”. The bill passed 50-36 in the 120-member parliament, according to the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper. Introduced by the Otzma Yehudit party, led by National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, the bill was backed by the opposition Yisrael Beiteinu party of right-wing politician Avigdor Lieberman. Rawhi Fattouh, head of the Palestinian National Council, described the move as a “crime” and a “legislative terrorism”. It is “a blatant violation of freedom of worship and belief”, Fattouh said in a statement. The bill must pass three additional readings before becoming law. According to Israel’s Channel 14, the proposed legislation stipulates that no sound system may be installed or operated in any mosqu...

LAHORE: A sessions court extended on Thursday the interim pre-arrest bail of PML-N MPA Saqib Chadhar and his wife — both of whom have been facing legal proceedings for allegedly harassing television actress Momina Iqbal — till July 13. Additional District and Sessions Judge Nusrat Ali Siddiqi presided over the hearing, during which Chadhar appeared before the court along with his counsel, Mian Ali Ashfaq. However, Chadhar’s wife did not attend the hearing, citing health reasons. Judge Siddiqi, concluding the hearing, extended Chadhar’s and his wife’s bail, directed them to join the investigation initiated against them and instructed the prosecution to submit a progress report of the probe at the next hearing on July 13. Case origins The case garnered attention after a social media appeal by Momina Iqbal went viral in May and drew the attention of senior PML-N leadership, especially Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz. In her online post, tagged to the PML-N leadership, Iqbal alleged that she had been subjected to “on...

The Foreign Office (FO) said on Thursday that Qatari and Pakistani mediators had concluded separate meetings with negotiators from the United States and Iran in Doha. In a statement on the social media platform X, it said that “positive progress” was made on issues related to the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the two sides, building on the talks held in Switzerland earlier this month. “Parties have agreed to continue discussions over the coming period, with the next meeting to be set at the earliest possible time following the funeral processions of the former Iranian supreme leader,” it said. Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was assassinated on the first day of the US-Israel war on Iran, is due to be buried on July 9, The same statement was also posted by Qatar’s foreign ministry spokesperson hours earlier. Sources familiar with the discussions said negotiators for the two countries spent two days in Doha discussing maritime traffic in the Strait of Hormuz and unfreezin...

BAJAUR: Three people have been killed and 10 others injured in an incident that police suspect involved the use of a quadcopter drone to drop a bomb on a house in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Bajaur district. Police sources told Dawn that the incident took place late on Wednesday near the Dama Dola area of Bajaur’s War Mamund tehsil. According to the sources, the deceased include a five-year-old girl and a 15-year-old boy, and all 13 victims belonged to the same family. The bodies and the injured were taken to the District Headquarters Hospital in Khar, the sources said, adding that a police team was sent to the site of the incident to collect evidence and ascertain the circumstances of the incident. Mamund Circle Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Saidur Rehman, confirming the casualties, told the media that an investigation had been launched to determine who the perpetrators were. In the recent past, multiple incidents of suspected drone attacks have been reported in Bajaur, with one having taken place as recent...

The Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) has written to the Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) seeking “guidance” on whether Geo News’ response to the recent suspension is adequate or requires further action, it emerged on Thursday. On June 28, Pemra suspended with “immediate effect” Geo News’ licence for 15 days over airing a special transmission that the body said was “liable to hurt the religious sentiments of viewers”. Geo News has acknowledged its mistake in airing the transmission broadcast on Muharram 10 and has also taken action against two employees. The letter, dated July 1, and addressed to the CII chairman, Pemra requested guidance on the matter, with Council of Complaints (CoC) Chairperson Lubna Zaheer stating, “The CII is requested to guide whether the suspension order already passed and the public apology as well as actions so far rendered by Geo News constitute an adequate response and if not, to what extent any further action may be warranted in light of Islamic teachings and...

Torrential rains and flood-like conditions caused widespread devastation across Pakistan, claiming at least 14 lives and leaving dozens of others injured as severe weather battered several parts of the country.

BEIRUT - The death toll from the Israeli aggression on Lebanon since March 2 has risen to 4,297, with 12,196 others wounded, according to Lebanon’s Ministry of Public Health.

ISLAMABAD - The Supreme Court of Pakistan has set aside the judgments and decrees passed by the Trial Court, the Appellate Court and the Lahore High Court regarding inheritance rights.

UNITED NATIONS - The continued expansion of areas under Israeli control in Gaza since October’s ceasefire agreement is placing civilians at greater risk and severely constraining humanitarian operations, the UN and humanitarian partners warned on Wednesday.

ISLAMABAD - Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif, Wednesday, directed the relevant authorities to expedite completion of Danish Schools across Pakistan and announced that a technology (Tech) campus of Danish University would be established in Muzaffarabad, describing the education initiatives as a major investment in the country’s future.

DUBAI - One US service member is missing, and three others are wounded, but in stable condition after their MH-60S Seahawk helicopter made an emergency landing in the Arabian Sea, the US military says, adding that there is no indication the crash was caused by hostile action.

ISLAMABAD - Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar on Wednesday chaired the 6th meeting of the High-Level Committee for the 9th OIC Ministerial Conference on Women which will be hosted by Pakistan from July 12–13, 2026.

ISLAMABAD - Despite several high-profile attacks, Pakistan witnessed a decline in overall anti-state violence and related security incidents during June 2026 as compared to the preceding month, said a security report issued on Wednesday.