Pakistan

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ISLAMABAD: JUI-F Chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman has announced that the party will hold protests all over the country on Wednesday and Friday against the “martyrdom” of prominent cleric Maulana Idrees. The renowned cleric and former Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) MPA was killed on Tuesday after unidentified assailants opened fire on him, police said. “Full and peaceful protests will be held tomorrow (Wednesday) and on Friday against the martyrdom of Sheikh Idrees”, said JUI-F spokesperson Aslam Ghouri in a statement. He said the provincial and district organisations would arrange protest demonstrations at all four provincial headquarters and across districts. Terming the death of Maulana Idrees an irreparable loss, Ghouri said they were exhausted by carrying the bodies of senior scholars. “How long will the state continue to test us?” Ghouri asked, alleging that the federal and provincial governments have failed to maintain law and order. He asked public to participate in the protests and register their protes...

The United States is “not looking for a fight” over the Strait of Hormuz, and its ceasefire with Iran still holds, but any attack on commercial shipping will be met with a “devastating” response, the Pentagon chief said on Tuesday. The warning from Pete Hegseth came on the second day of a US effort, dubbed ‘Project Freedom’, to facilitate the transit of commercial ships through the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran had closed in response to the US-Israeli war on the Islamic republic. “We’re not looking for a fight. But Iran also cannot be allowed to block innocent countries and their goods from an international waterway,” Hegseth told reporters. “If you attack American troops or innocent commercial shipping, you will face overwhelming and devastating American firepower.” US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen Dan Caine addresses reporters at the Pentagon on May 5, 2026. — AFP The Pentagon chief added that Washington is promising security for commercial vessels with a “red, white and blue dome” over the Strai...

CHARSADDA: Renowned cleric and former Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) MPA Maulana Muhammad Idrees was killed on Tuesday after unidentified assailants opened fire on him, police said. Police Personal Relations Officer Safiullah told Dawn that Idrees left for Darul Uloom Noumania from his home in Tarangzai. He said that shortly before he arrived at his destination, armed assailants fired at the vehicle in the Tariqabad Utmanzai area. He said that two officials were also injured in the incident, adding that police had obtained CCTV footage of the incident. The cleric’s body was subsequently shifted to the District Headquarter Hospital. His funeral prayers were offered later in the day in his native Tarangzai area of Charsadda, with strict security arrangements in place and a large number of attendees, including prominent JUI-F leaders. Idrees was the JUI-F district ameer and was considered one of Maulana Fazlur Rehman’s trusted advisers. The deceased’s father-in-law, Maulana Hassan Jan, who had defeated Awami ...

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s quest to attract over $8 billion in foreign direct investment (FDI) in Special Economic Zones (SEZs), and to generate 500,000 jobs between 2018 and 2024, remained well below the target, according to the investment minister. As of 2025, only four SEZs have advanced beyond the planning stage with partial implementation, Investment Minister Qaiser Ahmed Sheikh said on Tuesday. Speaking at the ‘Pakistan-China Industrialisation Dialogue’ in Islamabad, the minister explained that the four SEZs are located in Rashakai in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Allama Iqbal Industrial City in Punjab, Dhabeji in Sindh, and Bostan in Balochistan.” “Under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), nine SEZs were designated in the first phase, targeting sectors including food processing, ceramics, textiles, pharmaceuticals, and auto assembly, he added. Sheikh emphasised that Pakistan is now entering a decisive phase of CPEC, shifting focus towards industrialisation, export-led growth, and enhanced business-to-busines...

Police on Tuesday released seven Aurat March activists after briefly detaining them near Karachi Press Club (KPC), following orders from Sindh Home Minister Ziaul Hasan Lanjar. The activists were detained after they gathered at Karachi Press Club (KPC) for a press conference scheduled for 4pm to demand a no-objection certificate (NOC) for their upcoming annual march in Karachi. An Aurat March organiser confirmed to Dawn that seven people, including Sheema Kirmani and Shahzadi Rai, had been released. This came shortly after Lanjar ordered the metropolis’ south zone police to release the detained activists. In a post on X following the release, Aurat March Karachi said: “We will NOT back down from our politics, and we will continue to demand an NOC! “Scare tactics to suppress dissent are shameful!” it said, demanding that the Sindh government issue a statement explaining the reason for the arrests and for the “delay” in granting the NOC. Shortly before 4pm, the rights group said three of its organisers were “pi...

ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Health was informed by the health ministry on Tuesday that nearly 20,000 patients who initiated treatment at antiretroviral therapy (ART) centres for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and AIDS are now “missing”. The committee also rejected the health ministry’s request to hold an in-camera briefing over the issue of HIV. The NA committee, chaired by MNA Dr Mahesh Kumar Malani, had taken strong notice of the rising trend of HIV and AIDS cases in Pakistan and sought a briefing from the ministry. Pakistan has become one of the fastest-growing HIV epidemics in the WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region, with new infections rising by 200 per cent over the last 15 years — from 16,000 in 2010 to 48,000 in 2024. The ministry informed the committee that an estimated 369,000 people were living with HIV in Pakistan, while only 84,000 cases were currently registered, highlighting a significant detection gap. In 2025 alone, 14,000 new cases were reported. In a critical r...

The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has announced a province-wide pen-down strike starting tomorrow, protesting what it calls discriminatory treatment by the federal government.

An Israeli court on Tuesday extended the detention of two foreign activists taken from a Gaza-bound flotilla by six days, a lawyer representing them said. Spanish national Saif Abu Keshek and Brazilian Thiago Avila appeared before a court in the southern city of Ashkelon for their second hearing, after being brought to Israel for questioning last week. The extension is to allow police more time to interrogate them, the pair’s lawyer said. The two, held in a prison in Ashkelon, were among dozens of activists aboard a Gaza-bound flotilla intercepted by Israeli forces in international waters off the coast of Greece early on Thursday. The other detained activists were taken to the Greek island of Crete and released. The representatives of Avila and Abu Keshek have accused Israeli authorities of abusing the two men, who have been on hunger strike for the past six days. The flotilla’s vessels had set sail from France, Spain and Italy with the aim of breaking Israel’s blockade of Gaza and delivering humanitarian aid...

Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif has stated that corruption, negligence, and mismanagement in the Suthra Punjab programme will not be tolerated under any circumstances.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has reiterated that providing quality healthcare to citizens remains among the government’s top priorities, saying that “no effort or sacrifice will be spared to protect even a single precious life.

The chairman of the Board of Secondary Education Karachi (BSEK), Ghulam Hussain Soho, has stepped down after an inquiry exposed serious irregularities in the matriculation examinations.

KARACHI: Ghulam Hussain Soho resigned as chairman of the Board of Secondary Education Karachi (BSEK), it emerged on Tuesday, following reports of irregularities and mismanagement at the board. He handed in his resignation late on Monday to the Secretary of the Universities and Boards Department, Abbas Baloch, after learning that a committee report recommended his suspension as BSEK head.” A committee formed on the directives of Sindh Universities and Boards Minister Muhammad Ismail Rahoo has completed its report, revealing that BSEK’s administrator made changes to 170 examination centres during the ongoing matric examinations. The report also recommended that the BSEK chairman be suspended. Learning this, Soho resigned himself. According to sources, Soho, in his resignation, wrote that he had tried to reform the BSEK. This, he noted, included measures such as the complete automation of the system, online payments, grievance redressal system and training of examination staff, which he contended did not sit wel...

Last year’s military confrontation with India delighted us with something Pakistan rarely experiences: a unified national response. One voice and one direction from a collective will that held under pressure. We have the same reaction, at a smaller scale, during a cricket match against India. And then we watch as it dissolves. A pressing question lies behind this pattern. It is one I have asked for ten years on my podcast and in private conversations. I have asked people from the corridors of power, the circles of military brass, the layers of our Establishment, and the captains of industry. I have asked four Prime Ministers, Generals, CEOs. I have asked them all the same thing, on the record and off it: how do we fix Pakistan? Their answer is almost always the same. We know the problems. We often know the solutions. So why, after a decade of these conversations, does nothing change? We only unite when there is an enemy Pakistan’s capacity for collective action is not a myth. It exists and activates reliably ...

Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has said that war is not the answer to rising tensions in the region, stressing that diplomacy remains the only viable path to peace between Iran and the United States.