Pakistan

Policy steps remain confined to bridging revenue gaps by raising taxes while neglecting market distortions

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen won a gripping Emilia Romagna Grand Prix at Imola on Sunday, holding off the McLarens of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri. The Dutch driver overtook pole-sitter Piastri on the opening lap and the four-time defending world champion fought off the McLarens for the full 63 laps to claim his fourth win at Imola. Seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton produced a rousing display for the Italian fans, taking his Ferrari from 12th on the grid to finish in fourth with teammate Charles Leclerc adding further cheer for the tifosi as he brought home the second Ferrari in sixth. Alexander Albon, who started on the fourth fow of the grid, followed his fifth place in Miami with another fifth in Imola, his Williams teammate Carlos Sainz coming home eighth. Piastri heads the championship with 146 points, 13 clear of Norris and 22 ahead of Verstappen.

Three people were killed on Sunday in two separate shooting incidents in Balochistan’s Panjgur district, police said. Speaking to Dawn.com, Panjgur Deputy Commissioner Zahid Lango said, “Two people were shot dead in the Gomazin area of Panjgur, while another one was killed in a shooting incident in the Zandian Daz area of Panjgur.” The bodies were moved to the Teaching Hospital Panjgur and were consequently handed over to the heirs, he said. The deputy commissioner added that an investigation into the killings was underway and action was being taken to arrest the suspects. The development comes amid a tense security situation prevailing in the province. In Kalat on Friday, unknown armed men shot dead two people, including a woman, in the Killi Mulki area. One person was killed and 10 others injured when a blast struck the convoy of PPP MPA Ali Madad Jattak in Quetta on Wednesday. Last week, at least six people died and seven others were injured in separate incidents in Quetta, Kharan, Surab and Uthal.

A Saudi airline has resumed flights for Iranian Haj pilgrims to the kingdom for the first time in a decade, the latest sign of the warming ties between the countries. “Flynas resumed Iranian pilgrims flights from Imam Khomeini (airport) in Tehran on Saturday,” a Saudi civil aviation authority official told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity. The official said flights would also be added from Mashhad in Iran, allowing more than 35,000 pilgrims to travel to Saudi Arabia on the airline. Flynas is a budget airline based in Saudi Arabia, which operates domestic and international routes. The official stressed that the flights were not commercial and were only for the Haj pilgrimage. The Haj is due to begin during the first week of June, and pilgrims from across the globe have already begun pouring into Saudi Arabia. Screengrab of the flight from Jeddah to Tehran. — FlightRadar24 Shiite-dominated Iran and Sunni-majority Saudi Arabia resumed relations in March 2023 under a surprise China-brokered deal after a se...

Adviser to the Prime Minister on Political Affairs Rana Sanaullah said on Sunday that the country has achieved economic revival under the leadership of PM Shehaz Sharif, assuring the provision of relief to the public in the upcoming budget. The government will present the federal budget for the fiscal year 2025-26 on June 2. PM Shehbaz has assured that providing relief to the common man in the upcoming budget was the government’s priority, and all-out resources will be utilised to reduce the financial difficulties of the poor and middle class. A delegation comprising the PML-N leader, Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb, and Energy Minister Awais Leghari called on Governor Sindh Kamran Tessori in Karachi today, while MQM leaders Farooq Sattar, Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui, Faisal Sabwari, and Nasrin Jalil were also present on the occasion. Addressing the media after the meeting, Sanaullah said that Pakistan had emerged out of an economic crisis due to the untiring efforts of the economic team comprising the financ...

A peace committee member lost his life during an exchange with militants in the Begukhel area of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Lakki Marwat district, police said on Sunday. The incident reflects the escalating militant presence in Lakki Marwat, where attacks have become more frequent in recent months despite ongoing efforts by local peace committees to maintain order and resist terrorist influence. According to a police statement, “Around 50 militants attacked the Begukhel village with small and heavy weapons on Saturday night in an apparent revenge act.” The peace committee and local people responded vigorously, according to the statement. “During the two-hour-long encounter, a volunteer of the peace committee was killed,” it said. A search operation is underway in the area by the police and security forces, the statement added. On Thursday, the police and Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) commandos launched a joint operation against terrorists in rural areas of the district. Last month, local elders announced that ...

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammad Ishaq Dar will undertake a three-day official visit to China from Monday.

Minister for Information and Broadcasting Attaullah Tarar has praised the bravery and valour of Pakistan's armed forces, highlighting their successful efforts in thwarting the enemy's malicious intentions.

Poles were voting on Sunday in a presidential election that will decide whether Warsaw follows the pro-European path set by Prime Minister Donald Tusk, or shifts in the direction of nationalist admirers of US President Donald Trump. Trump’s return to power has energised eurosceptics across Europe, and Sunday’s ballot will be the biggest test of Tusk’s pro-European vision since he came to power in 2023, ousting the nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) party. The election pits Warsaw Mayor Rafal Trzaskowski, from Tusk’s Civic Coalition, against conservative historian Karol Nawrocki, who is backed by PiS. Trzaskowski has been cast as the frontrunner, likely to face Nawrocki in a run-off, due on June 1, if no candidate wins over 50 per cent. Voting ends on Sunday at 9pm (12am Pakistan Standard Time), with exit polls expected soon afterwards and results trickling in overnight and on Monday. Also competing are far-right candidate Slawomir Mentzen from the Confederation party, Parliament Speaker Szymon Holownia of the ...

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Sunday decided to send a “high-level diplomatic delegation to important world capitals to expose Indian propaganda” in the aftermath of the recent military escalation with India, state-run Radio Pakistan reported. The military confrontation between New Delhi and Islamabad came as tensions over last month’s Pahalgam attack continued to build up, as India —without evidence — blamed Pakistan for the attack. On the night of May 6-7, India launched a series of air strikes in Punjab and Azad Kashmir, resulting in civilian casualties. Islamabad responded by downing five Indian jets. After intercepting drones sent by India and tit-for-tat strikes on each other’s airbases, it took American intervention on May 10 for both sides to finally drop their guns and declare a ceasefire. India has since continued its aggressive posturing even as Pakistan has warned against any further military aggression and offered talks. In light of the situation, PM Shehbaz decided to send a high-level diplom...

Indian police have arrested multiple people in Haryana, Punjab and Delhi —including a travel vlogger and a university professor — over their alleged connections to Pakistan or comments related to the recent escalation between the two countries, Indian media reported on Sunday. The development follows a military confrontation between India and Pakistan over New Delhi’s allegations against Islamabad about a deadly attack in occupied Kashmir’s Pahalgam. On the night of May 6-7, New Delhi launched a series of air strikes in Pakistan, resulting in civilian casualties. Islamabad responded by downing five Indian jets. After intercepting drones sent by India and tit-for-tat strikes on each other’s airbases, it took American intervention on May 10 for both sides to finally drop their guns as a ceasefire was reached. Ali Khan Mahmudabad, an associate professor at Haryana’s Ashoka University, was picked up from his home in Delhi for his comments about the Indian army’s press briefings on its actions targeting Pakistan, ...

Peshawar - Paying rich tributes to the armed forces for bravely defending the country in the face of blatant Indian aggression, Qaumi Watan Party (QWP) Chairman Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao on Saturday said that the armed forces had defeated India during the recent escalation between the two nuclear-armed states.

Renowned Pakistani climber Sirbaz Khan on Sunday successfully summited Mount Kangchenjunga (8,586 metres), the third highest peak in the world situated in Nepal this morning without supplemental oxygen. With this latest accomplishment, he becomes the first Pakistani in history to complete all 14 of the world’s 8,000-metre peaks — commonly referred to as the eight-thousanders — without any oxygen support, a feat achieved by only a handful of elite mountaineers globally. Sirbaz had earlier become the first Pakistani climber to have summited all 14 mountains with the height of over 8,000m in the world in October last year. Imagine Nepal, the tour organisers of Sirbaz in a statement congratulated the climber, saying, “ We extend our heartfelt congratulations to Mr Sirbaz Khan — our dear friend, client, and partner from Pakistan — on his incredible achievement of summiting Kanchenjunga (8,586m), the world’s third-highest mountain, without supplemental oxygen this morning, May 18, 2025. Alpine Club of Pakistan Secr...

The Punjab Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) on Sunday issued a public advisory, warning of an intensifying heatwave expected to grip major cities and plains of Punjab by May 19.

A day-long curfew was enforced in South Waziristan district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Sunday due to heightened security concerns, local authorities confirmed.

Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi has said that the whole nation stands shoulder to shoulder with brave armed forces of Pakistan.

Minister for Communications Abdul Aleem Khan has said that Pakistan aims to emerge as a key transit hub, bridging the economies of South Asia and Central Asia, state-run Radio Pakistan reported on Sunday. A high-level delegation from Pakistan, led by the federal minister, participated in the Kazan Forum organised under the auspices of the Russian Federation in the capital of Tatarstan. “Gwadar Port has already started shipment and cargo services, while Pakistan intends to facilitate Central Asia’s access to warm waters,” Radio Pakistan quoted the minister as saying while addressing the closing session. Aleem said the Mazar-i-Sharif to Kohat Railway Project is expected to cost around $633 million. He spoke about Pakistan’s strategic plans to connect Karachi, Quetta and Gwadar cities with Central Asia and Europe through road networks. The minister welcomed the holding of the Kazan Forum and reaffirmed Pakistan’s strong commitment to playing an active role in regional development. On the opening day on Friday, w...

Pope Leo XIV formally began his reign on Sunday by reaching out to conservatives who felt orphaned under his predecessor, calling for unity, vowing to preserve the Catholic Church’s heritage and not rule like “an autocrat”. After a first ride in the popemobile before tens of thousands of people in St. Peter’s Square, Leo was formally installed as the 267th pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church and sovereign monarch of Vatican City at an outdoor Mass. Well-wishers in the crowd waved US and Peruvian flags, with people from both countries claiming him as the first pope from their nations. Born in Chicago, the 69-year-old pontiff spent many years as a missionary in Peru and also has Peruvian citizenship. Crowds chanted “Viva il Papa” (Long Live the Pope) and “Papa Leone”, his name in Italian, as his distinctive, open-topped popemobile weaved around St. Peter’s Square. Robert Prevost, a relative unknown on the world stage who only became a cardinal two years ago, was elected pope on May 8 after a short conclave of ...

Tremors shook Swat city and nearby areas on Sunday, causing fear among residents who rushed out of their homes seeking safety.

A grand Jirga of tribal elders was held in Wana, South Waziristan, to commemorate the success of Operation Bunyan-um-Marsoos and honor the sacrifices made by the security forces.