Pakistan

Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director General, Lieutenant General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry, held a special interactive session with students and faculty at The Millennium Universal College and Future World School, focusing on national security, internal stability, and the vital role of youth in shaping Pakistan’s future.

Five militants were killed in a joint operation conducted by the police and the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) in the bordering areas of Bannu and Lakki Marwat districts in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Disgraced sex offender Jeffrey Epstein termed former prime minister Imran Khan a major “threat to peace” in 2018, days after his PTI won Pakistan’s general elections. Epstein mentioned the now-incarcerated PTI founder in his email conversations with an unidentified individual on July 31, 2018, according to the latest batch of emails released by the US Democrats on the House Oversight Committee on Wednesday. In 2019, the United States Justice Department charged Epstein in Manhattan with sex trafficking of minors. Epstein pleaded not guilty, but died by suicide the same year before the trial at age 66. In an email exchange encompassing various topics, Epstein wrote at 4:04am that Russian President Vladimir Putin had been “kind so far” and quipped, “how the US involves itself in others’ elections”. Minutes later, Epstein mentioned both Imran and Putin in the same message: “[Putin] hasn’t pointed out assassinations to overthrow [governments] … coup funding … Imran [Khan] in Pakistan, a much greater threat to peac...

More than half of Sudan’s population is in need of humanitarian aid, the head of the Danish Refugee Council told AFP, as fighting ravages the northeast African nation. Since breaking out in April 2023, the war between Sudan’s army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has killed tens of thousands of people, displaced nearly 12 million and triggered one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises. “We see a situation where more than 30m people are in need of humanitarian assistance. That is half of the population of Sudan,” Danish Refugee Council Secretary General Charlotte Slente told AFP by phone this week after a visit to a border region in neighbouring Chad. “The suffering we see is unimaginable.” Sudan had a population of around 50m people in 2024, according to the World Bank. The aid official’s comments came after a field visit to an area in Chad that borders Sudan’s western Darfur region, which has seen fierce fighting of late. Violence has escalated dramatically in recent weeks, with the RSF sei...

President Asif Ali Zardari on Saturday approved three major amendment bills concerning Pakistan’s armed forces, officially making them part of the Constitution.

At least nine people were killed and 32 injured in an “accidental explosion” at the Nowgam police station in India-occupied Kashmir’s Srinagar when confiscated explosives detonated late last night, authorities said on Saturday. Most of those killed were policemen and forensic team officials who were extracting samples from a large cache of explosives seized earlier this week in Haryana state, the Press Trust of India (PTI) said. The Ministry of Home Affairs confirmed the casualties, PTI reported. The ministry’s joint secretary, Prashant Lokhande, said the cause of the incident was being investigated and any other speculation into the cause of the blast was unnecessary. Both Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha and Director General of Police Nalin Prabhat termed the incident “accidental”. The governor said he has ordered a “probe to ascertain the cause of the accidental explosion”, while the police chief also stressed that “any other speculation into the cause of this incident is unnecessary”. “Due to the sensitive...

President Asif Ali Zardari on Saturday gave his assent to three bills, including one for resetting the tenure of Chief of the Army Staff (COAS) Field Marshal Asim Munir after his appointment as the chief of the defence forces (CDF). The president gave his assent to the Pakistan Army (Amendment) Bill 2025, the Pakistan Air Force (Amendment) Bill 2025, and the Pakistan Navy (Amendment) Bill 2025. Notifications of the same were also shared by the PPP on social media platform X. With his assent, the bills have now become part of the Constitution. As explained by Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar in the National Assembly (NA) earlier this week, it now means that the five-year tenure of the CDF will commence from the date of his notification of the appointment. All three pieces of legislation, which were hurriedly passed by Parliament without any debate earlier this week, pertain to the contentious 27th Amendment. The amendment, which has paved the way for the establishment of a Federal Constitutional Court (FCC) and ...

Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi on Saturday paid a visit to the Cadet College in Wana, where an attack was thwarted earlier this week, saying that elements from “across the border” were responsible for terrorist incidents. In remarks which were televised, Naqvi told tribal elders gathered at the college during his visit that several officials from Pakistan — including himself, Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar and Defence Minister Asif Khawaja — had spoken to Afghanistan about the issue of terrorism. “We repeatedly told them one thing: terrorism should be stopped. Do not destroy the peace in our country,” he said. The minister further said that Pakistan’s economic indicators and its relations with other countries were headed in the right direction. However, elements from “across the border” came to the country to carry out attacks, he said. He also referred to the suicide blast in Islamabad on Tuesday, saying that elements from “across the border” were involved. Naqvi has previously said that both the Wana and I...

Justice Shams Mehmood Mirza of the Lahore High Court has resigned in the wake of the contentious 27th Constitutional Amendment, becoming the latest senior member of the judiciary to protest the changes.

Former Prime Minister and PML-N President Nawaz Sharif departed for London once again on Saturday.

Federal Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi visited Cadet College Wana on Saturday to acknowledge the efforts of Pakistan Army and Frontier Corps (FC) personnel who successfully foiled a recent terrorist plot.

Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif, Saturday, congratulated the national cricket team on winning the tri-One Day International (ODI) series against the visiting Sri Lankan team.

The UN Security Council (UNSC) will vote on the US-sponsored draft resolution authorising an International Stabilisation Force (ISF) for Gaza on November 17 (Monday), diplomatic sources told Dawn on Saturday. The vote comes as Washington presses members to endorse US President Donald Trump’s Gaza plan, while Russia has formally placed a rival text before the UNSC, arguing that the American draft falls short of established international legal principles. Pakistan had joined other key Muslim and Arab states on Friday in expressing support for the US resolution. In a post on X, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the administration’s plan “is the best path to peace in the Middle East”, noting that the resolution “enjoys broad international and regional support”. “We are grateful to Qatar, Egypt, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Pakistan, Jordan, and Turkiye for their endorsement,” he wrote, adding that the Middle East has “never been this close to a real and lasting peace”. Soon after the US circulated its d...

United States President Donald Trump said on Friday that he is considering agreeing to a deal to supply Saudi Arabia with F-35 stealth fighter jets, which are made by Lockheed Martin. “They wanna buy a lot of jets,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One. “I’m looking at that. They’ve asked me to look at it. They want to buy a lot of ‘35’ — but they want to buy actually more than that, fighter jets.” The potential sale comes as Trump plans to host Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman at the White House next week, when they are expected to sign economic and defence agreements. Asked about the talks, Trump told reporters it was “more than meeting, we’re honouring” Saudi Arabia. He repeated that he hoped Saudi Arabia would soon join the Abraham Accords, which have normalised relations between Israel and Muslim-majority nations. Riyadh has resisted such a step absent agreement on a roadmap to Palestinian statehood. A Pentagon intelligence report has raised concerns over the potential F-35 deal, warning that ...

US President Donald Trump said on Friday he would likely sue the BBC next week for as much as $5 billion after the British broadcaster admitted it wrongly edited a video of a speech he gave but insisted there was no legal basis for his claim. The British Broadcasting Corporation has been plunged into its biggest crisis in decades after two senior leaders resigned following accusations of bias, including over the editing of Trump’s speech on January 6, 2021, when his supporters stormed the Capitol. Trump’s lawyers had initially set a Friday deadline for the BBC to retract its documentary or face a lawsuit for “no less” than $1bn. They also demanded an apology and compensation for what they called “overwhelming reputational and financial harm,” according to a letter seen by Reuters. The BBC, which has admitted its editing of Trump’s remarks was an “error of judgement,” sent a personal apology to Trump on Thursday but said it would not rebroadcast the documentary and rejected the defamation claim. “We’ll sue the...

KARACHI: The city commissioner on Friday announced a ‘zero tolerance’ policy for placing chairs and tables on walkways and pavements along the roads that are 100 feet wide or more and strictly prohibited restaurants and eateries from encroaching on these areas. As per the new standard operating procedures, no outdoor placement of chairs and tables or any obstruction on footpaths, service lanes or road shoulders along the major arteries (100 feet or more) would be allowed. However, eateries on 60-100 feet commercial roads and below 60 feet neighbourhood streets can use the space with a prior no-objection certificate (NOC) from the town office and deputy commissioner concerned without obstructing movement of pedestrians or vehicles. As per the mechanism of obtaining the NOC, the proprietor of an eatery will submit an application to the town municipal office with a trade licence, rental agreement and an undertaking. Commissioner announces ‘zero tolerance’ against encroachments by roadside food outlets, tea shops...

Justice Aminuddin takes oath as Chief Justice of FCC Three of six judges including Justice Rizvi, Justice Farooq, Justice Najafi also sworn in Full Court unanimously updates Supreme Court rules 2025.

RAWALPINDI: After observing poor police performance, the Rawalpindi police have formed a special task force capable of detaining Afghan nationals illegally residing in the district and shifting them to the holding centres on a daily basis for their repatriation. According to official sources, the task force comprises 13 special teams each having four personnel, one detective foot constable and one official each from the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD), security branch and the Special Branch field staff. Mohammad Saifullah will be heading the Pirwadhai police station team, Waqar Haider Ratta Amral, Shafiqul Hasnain will be heading the Taxila police team, Gulzar Hussain police station Wah Cantt, Omer Farooq police station Saddar Wah Cantt, Azhar police station Mandra, Shahid Jamil police station Jatli, Shahid Mehmood Rawat police station and Mohammad Tasleem police station Saddar Barooni. Likewise, Mohammad Faizan will be heading the team of police station Dhamial, Yasir Iqbal Chontra team, Naeem Raj Wali po...

A petition has been submitted to the Lahore High Court (LHC) challenging the recently approved 27th Constitutional Amendment, with petitioners arguing that it clashes with the foundational principles of the 1973 Constitution.

Punjab remained engulfed in dense, toxic smog on Saturday, with Lahore continuing to face dangerously high air pollution levels and holding its position as the world’s second most polluted city.