Dawn
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Dawn - 05:30 Oct 25, 2025
LAHORE: Lahore was declared the world’s most polluted city on Friday as a hazardous blanket of smog enveloped the metropolis, prompting authorities to issue a severe public health warning. The crisis was quantified by alarming data, with the city’s overall Air Quality Index (AQI) reaching a “hazardous” level of 362. The situation was even worse in specific neighbourhoods, with the Shalimar area recording a staggering AQI of 690, followed by Shadman at 611 and Syed Maratib Ali Road at 609. Other areas, including Iqbal Town, Lower Mall, and the Civil Secretariat also registered levels falling in the “emergency range”, posing serious health risks to the residents. The Pakistan Meteorological Department has forecast no immediate respite, warning that a thick layer of smog is likely to persist over eastern Punjab, with a further increase expected in the coming days. Met Office sees no immediate respite The department explicitly identified industrial pollution and vehicle emissions as the primary drivers of smog an... -
Dawn - 04:00 Oct 25, 2025
QUETTA: Unknown armed men abducted 18 labourers at gunpoint and set fire to numerous vehicles in an attack on Thursday night at a construction company camp and its crushing plant in Naal area of Khuzdar district, officials said. The incident marks the second kidnapping of labourers in the region in four days. The first incident took place three days earlier, although it was only made public by the officials yesterday. Levies officials said over two dozen armed men stormed the camp and crushing plant of a private construction company late on Thursday in the Naal area, about 80 km from the district headquarters of Khuzdar. “They set at least eight vehicles and other machinery on fire and took away workers with them [to an] unknown destination,” a senior Levies force official in Naal said. Assailants also set ablaze many vehicles; incident comes days after gunmen abducted nine labourers in Mastung The company manager, Zulfiqar Ahmed, said the attackers initially took 20 people. “The armed men kidnapped 20 labour... -
Dawn - 03:53 Oct 25, 2025
NEW DELHI: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has backtracked from his proposed visit to Malaysia at the weekend to attend an Asean-related summit, joining the discussions “virtually” instead, it was officially announced on Friday. The opposition Congress party blamed the change of plan on Mr Modi’s fear of meeting President Donald Trump. The annual summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, a 10-nation grouping, as well as associated meetings, will be held from Oct 26 to 28 in Kuala Lumpur. The Hindu said the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) had not provided any reason for Mr Modi’s decision, though the paper quoted Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim as saying that Mr Modi had cited the “ongoing Deepavali celebrations” as the reason for the change in plans. The MEA announced that External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar will represent Mr Modi and lead the Indian delegation at the East Asia Summit in Kuala Lumpur on October 27. Asean is a key pillar of India’s Act East Policy and Asia-Pacific... -
Dawn - 02:56 Oct 25, 2025
• Adequate water availability anticipated in Punjab, Sindh • Sugarcane output estimated at 84.7m tonnes, rice at 9.4m tonnes ISLAMABAD: The federal government has set a wheat production target of around 30 million tonnes for the Rabi season 2025-26, banking on adequate water availability in Punjab and Sindh — the two main wheat-producing provinces. The wheat production target for the Rabi season 2024-25 was set at 27.92m tonnes, but the government exceeded it by achieving 28.42m tonnes. The target for 2025-26 was approved at a meeting of the Federal Committee on Agriculture (FCA), which also finalised the wheat policy to ensure farmers receive fair support prices, enabling them to cover production costs and earn reasonable profit margins, according to a statement issued by the Ministry of National Food Security and Research on Friday. In light of recent floods, the FCA recommended launching a campaign for early wheat sowing, ensuring the availability of quality certified seed of improved varieties through a t... -
Dawn - 02:34 Oct 25, 2025
QUETTA/ ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan-Afghanistan border continued to remain closed for all kinds of trade activities on Friday, due to persistent security concerns amid tensions with neighbouring Afghanistan. Officials denied reports that Islamabad had partially opened the border crossing at Chaman for Afghan transit trade. Even pedestrians are not allowed to cross the border from both sides, they added. “The border has been closed for the last 12 days and not opened for any commercial activities so far, including transit trade,” a senior customs official told Dawn. The official added that there were very few transit trade trucks parked at the Chaman crossing. The district administration officials also said that they have not yet received any instructions from the authorities from Islamabad about the opening of the border. The border opens for a very limited time for Afghan refugees, who were reaching Chaman from different areas of Balochistan and Karachi, to return to their home country. Officials said only vehic... -
Dawn - 02:29 Oct 25, 2025
• Punjab Governor Saleem Haider Khan says alliance serves country’s interests • Calls for allowing KP CM Afridi’s meeting with Imran Khan • KP’s Kundi says his office will play role of bridge between Centre and province PESHAWAR: Punjab Governor Sardar Saleem Haider Khan on Friday said the alliance between his PPP and the PML-N was a political “compulsion” rather than an act of affection, aimed at maintaining political stability after the 2024 general elections. “At least two parties had to join forces for the formation of the government,” he added while addressing a press conference with his Khyber Pakhtunkhwa counterpart Faisal Karim Kundi at the Governor’s House in Peshawar. The Punjab governor noted that the alliance serves the country’s interests. “Pakistan is our top priority,” he added. Mr Khan conceded that party workers from both sides were finding it difficult to accept the alliance. “The PPP’s inclusion in the government was borne out of necessity, not choice, and it has come at a political cost ... -
Dawn - 02:22 Oct 25, 2025
• Interior ministry notifies fresh ban on group • First Barelvi group to be declared proscribed • Rana Sana claims TLP was created to ‘steal PML-N votes’, rules out negotiations • Tanzeemat Ahl-i-Sunnat raises concerns over mosque takeovers • SIC chief rejects ‘politics of violence’ under Barelvi banner ISLAMABAD: With the government’s ban on Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) now in force, the once-influential religio-political group finds itself increasingly isolated as, unlike after the previous ban in 2021, no major religious or political party has come forward in its defence this time around. The Ministry of Interior on Friday formally notified the ban on TLP, a day after the Punjab government’s proposal was ratified by the federal cabinet. The notification, SRO 2011(1) of 2025, highlighted that the TLP has been declared a proscribed organisation under Section 11B(1)(a) of the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) 1997 and placed on the Act’s First Schedule. The party may appeal to a review committee comprising officer... -
Dawn - 00:30 Oct 25, 2025
A Rawalpindi anti-terrorism court (ATC) on Friday directed the relevant authorities to block the national identity card (CNIC) and passport of PTI founder Imran Khan’s sister, Aleema Khan, over her failure to attend the hearing despite the execution of a non-bailable arrest warrant against her. The development came in a case pertaining to a protest staged by the PTI in November last year, in which the court has issued arrest warrants for her multiple times. The last non-bailable arrest warrant for Aleema in the case was issued on October 22 over her persistent absences from the hearings. It was executed yesterday as Punjab Sub-Divisional Police Officer Azhar Shah presented the warrant before an Islamabad High Court bench and obtained Aleema’s signature on the spot. During today’s hearing, ATC Judge Amjad Ali Shah observed that Aleema “is present everywhere but doesn’t appear before the court”. Her attendance at the court would be ensured, he remarked. The judge directed the National Database and Registration ... -
Dawn - 19:01 Oct 24, 2025
Three separate controversies involving leaked text messages from private online group chats have rocked US political circles this month, revealing racist, anti-semitic and violent statements from figures across the ideological spectrum. The messages — sent privately but now public — include racial slurs, praise for Nazis, and threats of political violence, raising questions about why those involved felt comfortable expressing such views despite the risk of exposure and censure. The online posts have also deepened concern among civil society groups and political language experts that violent rhetoric and racist hate speech are becoming normalised in America, particularly after decades of hard-fought civil rights victories that sought to dismantle such ideologies. People have long expressed violent or racist views in private settings, but experts say the leaks of the text messages are noteworthy because they surfaced the unfiltered — and to many shocking — views of political figures. A Politico report on Octobe... -
Dawn - 18:55 Oct 24, 2025
Adviser to the Prime Minister on Political Affairs Rana Sanaullah said on Friday that the now-banned religious party Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) was “created in a bid to cut into PMLN’s vote bank”. Yesterday, the religiopolitical party was banned by the federal cabinet. In the 2018 general elections, the TLP was estimated by political analysts to have cost the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) at least 15 closely contested national seats across Pakistan. The party secured nearly 2.2 million votes, mostly from Punjab and Karachi, during the elections. Earlier today, the interior ministry notified a ban on the TLP, saying that the federal government had “reasonable grounds” to believe the religiopolitical party was connected to terrorism, after nationwide TLP protests over Gaza claimed the lives of several protesters and police officers and paralysed major highways and city roads from Karachi to Islamabad. Speaking on Geo News programme ‘Naya Pakistan’, Rana Sanaullah, in response to a question regardin... -
Dawn - 18:48 Oct 24, 2025
Supreme Court judge Justice Athar Minallah on Friday termed extra-judicial killings, custodial torture and the excessive use of force as the most “intolerable crimes” in a democratic society, calling them the “worst form of violation” of the Constitution. In his dissenting note on the court’s judgement issued in a case pertaining to the killing of Mohammad Hayat Mirza, a Karachi University student, in Turbat, Justice Minallah said that there can be “no tolerance” for such acts and conduct by law enforcement agencies and its member. In 2020, police arrested a soldier of the Frontier Corps (FC), Shadiullah, on charges of killing Mirza and started an investigation after registering a case against him. The case was registered against the suspect on the complaint of Mohammad Murad Baloch, the brother of the deceased. The convicted had appealed to the SC following his sentencing by a trial court. The trial court, in a judgment on January 20, 2021, convicted the appellant under Section 302(b) (premeditated murder) o... -
Dawn - 18:23 Oct 24, 2025
Foreign Office Spokesperson Tahir Hussain Andrabi on Friday said that transit trade with Afghanistan would remain suspended for the foreseeable future till the current security situation was evaluated. Questioned about the status of trade with Afghanistan during his maiden weekly press briefing, Andrabi said: “Afghan transit trade is closed, is not taking place. It is not taking place because of the factors that you were aware of. There was considerable discussion on this question during last week’s briefing as well. Till the evaluation of the security situation, this transit trade will remain closed.” He said there had been continuous attacks on trading points at the border from the Afghan side that killed Pakistanis, adding that the lives of citizens were “more important than any commodity trade”. Andrabi added that Afghan soil should not be used for fomenting and sponsoring terrorism in Pakistan. Questioned about reports of the Taliban supreme leader ordering the construction of a dam on the Kunar river, t... -
Dawn - 17:06 Oct 24, 2025
The main Palestinian political factions, including Hamas, said on Friday they had agreed that an independent committee of technocrats would take over the running of post-conflict Gaza. During a meeting in Cairo, according to a joint statement published on the Hamas website, the groups agreed to hand “over the administration of the Gaza Strip to a temporary Palestinian committee composed of independent technocrats”. It said the committee would “manage the affairs of life and basic services in cooperation with Arab brothers and international institutions”. The statement also said the factions had agreed to work on unifying a common position “to confront the challenges facing the Palestinian cause”. It called for a meeting of all forces and factions to “agree on a national strategy and to revitalise the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) as the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people”. Hamas is not part of the PLO, which is dominated by its longtime rival Fatah. An informed source told AFP ... -
Dawn - 17:02 Oct 24, 2025
Pakistan is among four possible destinations that are being considered to receive exiled Palestinian captives, according to the Palestinian Prisoners Club (PPC), a non-governmental organisation established in 1993 to support political prisoners in Israeli occupation jails. They were freed in exchange for Israelis held in Gaza, but instead of going home, 154 former Palestinian prisoners were exiled to Egypt, where they are confined to a hotel and kept under tight surveillance. All of them had been sentenced by an Israeli military court to life in prison on charges of murder, belonging to Palestinian resistance groups banned by Israel and more. But when a ceasefire took effect in Gaza earlier this month, the group was put on buses and sent to Egypt, where authorities have put them in a five-star hotel that they cannot leave without clearance. Egypt first received 150 exiled prisoners in January, and more than eight months later, most of them are still in the same hotel, their fate undecided. PPC official Hasan ... -
Dawn - 16:54 Oct 24, 2025
In a rare sighting, four Bryde’s whales have been spotted off the coast of Gwadar, according to the World Wide Fund for Nature-Pakistan (WWF-P). In a post on X, the organisation said the group was sighted a day ago by local fishermen near Gwadar (Demi Zur) by local fishermen, who immediately reported the incident to WWF-Pakistan as part of its citizen science initiative. “The whales were spotted by a fishing boat captained by Amir Dad Karim, who noticed movement on the calm sea about 5 kilometres north of their operation area. On approaching, they found a pod of baleen whales, later identified as Bryde’s whales, likely moving toward coastal waters to feed.” The organisation said the Bryde’s whale (Balaenoptera brydei) is one of the three baleen whale species known from Pakistani waters — the other two are the blue whale and the Arabian humpback whale — adding that it lives in warm and temperate oceans and mainly feeds on schooling fish such as sardines, anchovies and mackerels, which are abundant along the co... -
Dawn - 16:14 Oct 24, 2025
Three cops, including a superintendent of police (SP), were martyred as back-to-back blasts rocked Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Hangu on Friday, according to police. KP Inspector General of Police (IGP) Zulfiqar Hameed shared these details with Dawn.com, saying that the first blast targeted a police checkpost in the jurisdiction of Bilyamina police station. He said no policemen were usually deployed at the checkpost, adding that some policemen were on their way to the site when a second blast took place near their vehicle. Three policemen were martyred in the second blast, which was caused by an improvised explosive device, the IG said. Kohat division’s Regional Police Officer (RPO) Abbas Majeed shared further details of the incident while speaking to the media in Hangu. He said police security was on high-alert today in Hangu, as well as in other districts of Kohat. Police had been carrying out a search and strike operation in the area and had also cordoned off a location at a distance of around 100 metres from the ... -
Dawn - 15:36 Oct 24, 2025
Citizens who have not yet completed biometric verification for their digital bank accounts and wallets may face service disruptions from October 25 as new regulations introduced by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) in July take effect. The regulations, introduced through BPRD Circular No.1 of 2025, had mandated streamlining of account opening and customer onboarding processes by all institutions under the SBP’s regulatory ambit, including Banks, DFIs, MFBs, Digital Banks, and EMIs. As per the circular, issued on July 25, all SBP-regulated entities (REs) need to “streamline the account opening/customer onboarding process and improve the customer experience”. One of the new requirements introduced was that biometric verification of the account or wallet operator should be made the primary verification method for all accounts and digital wallets. The prevailing system had allowed operators to take up to 60 days to complete biometric verification before a debit block was imposed on their account. With the new regu... -
Dawn - 14:20 Oct 24, 2025
India will not accept limits on its trading choices or rush to sign agreements, Trade Minister Piyush Goyal said on Friday, even as a senior government official said a bilateral trade deal with Washington was “very near”. “India will not sign any trade deal in a hurry,” Goyal said during a speech at the Berlin Global Dialogue, referring to European Union and the US concerns over India’s continued purchases of Russian oil. Alongside ongoing EU free trade pact negotiations, India is in trade talks with the United States, which has imposed 50 per cent tariffs on Indian exports. US President Donald Trump said this week he spoke with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi mainly about trade, and that Modi had assured him India would limit its oil purchases from Russia. Goyal said New Delhi would take a measured approach. An official aware of the ongoing trade talks with the US told reporters in New Delhi that the two countries are sorting out the language of their agreement. “We are very near as far as deal is concer... -
Dawn - 14:04 Oct 24, 2025
At least eight “Indian-sponsored” terrorists were killed during an Intelligence-based operation (IBO) in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa’s Tank district as part of operation “Azm e Istehkam”, the military’s media wing said on Friday. In today’s operation in Tank, “troops effectively engaged terrorist locations, and after an intense fire exchange, eight Indian sponsored khwarij were sent to hell,” the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said in a statement. “On 24 October 2025, on [the] reported presence of Khwarij belonging to Indian Proxy, Fitna al Khwarij, security forces conducted an intelligence-based operation in Tank District,” the statement read. In July, the government designated the banned terrorist outfit Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan as Fitna al Khawarij, mandating all institutions to use the term khariji (outcast) when referring to the perpetrators of terrorist attacks on Pakistan. Weapons and ammunition were recovered from the slain terrorists, the ISPR said. It added that the slain terrorists “remained activ... -
Dawn - 13:54 Oct 24, 2025
Posts from pro-Pakistani accounts on social media platform X on Thursday circulated a video claiming to show Indian Deputy Chief of Army Staff (Strategy) Lt Gen Rajiv Ghai publicly denouncing the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and warning against the politicisation of the Indian Armed Forces. However, the video is doctored. A day ago, an X account, that appears to be anti-Indian based upon its previous posts and is known for repeatedly sharing AI-altered videos, posted a clip with the following caption: “Breaking News: Indian Lt Gen Rajiv Ghai comes out openly against BJP politics of Narendra Modi. Any politicisation or saffronisation of the armed forces will lead to a defeat in the morale of Indian Armed Forces. We will resist against all attempts to make Indian army subservient to Hindutva.” The post gained over 45,000 views. The transcript of the video is provided below: “As a senior officer who has devoted decades to the service of this uniform, I say this with deep concern. The growing influence of ...
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