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Dawn - 11:23 Oct 14, 2025
A day after experiencing a significant downturn, the Pakistan Stock Exchange’s (PSX) benchmark KSE-100 index rebounded by 7,000 points on Tuesday, recouping the previous day’s losses. Bearish sentiment had taken hold of the market on Monday, with the 100-Index plummeting 4,600 points, wiping out Rs534 billion from market capitalisation, amid rising tensions with Afghanistan, political instability in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and violent protests in Punjab. The market had closed at 158,443 points, lower by 4,654 points, or 2.85 per cent. Today, the KSE-100 index surged 7,032.6 points, or 4.44pc, to close at 165,476.02 points. Of 483 active scrips, 391 advanced , 69 declined while 23 remained unchanged. Yousuf M. Farooq, director of research at Chase Securities, told Dawn.com that the market had rebounded today as “tensions with Afghanistan and domestic unrest following the breakup of Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) protests had eased overnight”. “After entering a corrective phase following the trade data released o... -
Dawn - 11:07 Oct 14, 2025
Balochistan Chief Minister Sarfraz Bugti on Tuesday dismissed the presence of an insurgency in the province, blaming “India-backed so-called separatist movements” for the worsening security situation. In recent months, Balochistan has witnessed a rise in terrorist attacks. The outlawed Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), in particular, has adopted new tactics to inflict higher casualties and directly target Pakistani security forces. Addressing participants of the 17th National Workshop in Quetta, the chief minister maintained that there was “no insurgency in Balochistan but so-called separatist movements” in the province. “The purpose of these anti-state elements is to harm and divide Pakistan,” he said. He added that the Indian spy agency Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) was behind the deterioration of the security situation in the province. “The Indian agency RAW has a clear role behind the deteriorating situation in Balochistan,” he said. “Separatists are pleased with India but want to harm Pakistan.” CM B... -
Dawn - 10:56 Oct 14, 2025
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Tuesday reiterated his praise for United States President Donald Trump, stating that Pakistan would continue to “express admiration” for the American leader’s “unique contribution” to peace. The statement comes a day after Trump and the leaders of Egypt, Qatar and Turkiye had signed a declaration meant to cement a ceasefire in Gaza, hours after Israel and Hamas exchanged hostages and prisoners. PM Shehbaz had also attended the ceremony held at the Egyptian beach resort of Sharm el-Sheikh. At a later press conference, the US president had especially mentioned the premier and the army chief. In a post on X, the premier said: “As I board the plane to return home after the Gaza peace summit in Sharm el-Sheikh, I want to share some reflections on the potentially transformational nature of what took place and why Pakistan has been so deeply involved.” He stated that Pakistan’s biggest priority was the “immediate cessation of the genocidal campaign imposed on Gaza”, which he said he ... -
Dawn - 10:51 Oct 14, 2025
Senior lawyer Abid Shahid Zuberi on Tuesday told the Supreme Court’s (SC) Constitutional Bench (CB) that the chief justice of Pakistan (CJP) had the power to form a full court as it took up a set of petitions against the 26th Amendment. The 26th Amendment was passed by Parliament during an overnight session in October last year, with the PTI claiming seven of its lawmakers were abducted to gain their favour as the party opposed the legislation. The Balochistan National Party-Mengal (BNP-M) also alleged its two senators were being, with both later defying party line to vote in the tweaks’ favour. The legislation, which altered judicial authority and tenure, has been a lightning rod for debate with both opposition parties and legal experts questioning its impact on the judiciary’s independence. The tweaks took away the SC’s suo motu powers, set the CJP’s term at three years and empowered a Special Parliamentary Committee for the appointment of the CJP from among the three most senior SC judges. It also paved th... -
Dawn - 10:14 Oct 14, 2025
Iran on Tuesday denounced “baseless claims” made by United States President Donald Trump, calling Washington “the largest sponsor of terrorism”. Addressing Israel’s Knesset on Monday ahead of joining an international peace summit in Egypt’s Sharm el-Sheikh, Trump said that Iran wants to reach a peace deal with the US “even if they said, ‘We don’t want to make a deal,’”. In a statement carried by the state news agency IRNA, the foreign ministry said: “The US, as the world’s largest generator of terrorism and supporter of the terrorist and genocidal Zionist (Israeli) regime, has no moral authority to level accusations against others.” “The repetition of false claims regarding Iran’s peaceful nuclear programme can in no way justify the joint crimes of the US and the Zionist regime” in violating Iran’s soil, the ministry said. Israel launched a surprise attack on Tehran on June 13, targeting military, nuclear, and civilian sites as well as senior military commanders and nuclear scientists. Tehran launched retalia... -
Dawn - 07:56 Oct 14, 2025
Ceasefire, reconstruction plans and the weary diplomacy of war’s aftermath — this is what the summit hall in Egypt’s Sharm el-Sheikh was meant for. Yet when Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif took the microphone, the air shifted — solemnity gave way to spectacle. Before a room of world leaders convened to discuss the future of Gaza, the Pakistani premier delivered not a statement of statecraft, but a volley of high praise … for US President Donald Trump. He called Trump a “man of peace”, spoke of nominating him for the Nobel Prize, and credited him with averting a nuclear war between India and Pakistan. And as Trump looked on with a grin of self-satisfaction, the rest of the hall seemed to freeze between disbelief and bemusement. The applause was hesitant; the headlines were instant. View this post on Instagram By conventional diplomatic standards, PM Shehbaz’s remarks were absurd. No leader in that room — not Sisi, not Macron, not Erdoğan — matched that tone of unrestrained flattery. In a forum built for multilat... -
Dawn - 07:31 Oct 14, 2025
Google on Tuesday said it would invest $15 billion in India over the next five years as it announced a giant data centre and artificial intelligence base in the country’s south. “It is the largest AI hub that we are investing in anywhere outside of the US,” said Thomas Kurian, CEO of Google Cloud, at a ceremony in New Delhi. He announced “capital investment of $15bn” over the five years and a “gigawatt-scale AI hub in Visakhapatnam”, a city in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh. Google has plans for the centre to eventually “scale to multiple gigawatts”, Kurian added. Demand for AI tools and solutions has surged in India — projected to have more than 900 million internet users by year’s end — driven by growing adoption by businesses and individuals. India’s Information Technology Minister, Ashwini Vaishnaw, thanked Google for the investment. “This digital infrastructure will go a long way in meeting the goals of our India AI vision,” he said. Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu called it a “very... -
Dawn - 04:28 Oct 14, 2025
• 42 battered Pakistanis reunite with their families at Edhi Centre • Six others still await government clearance in Lahore • Returnees say beatings, burn injuries and forced labour became routine after Pakistan-India conflict KARACHI: Some 42 of the 48 Pakistani fishermen released from Indian jails and handed over to Pakistani authorities through the Wagah Border reached Karachi on Monday after a long wait of over a month because of the uncertain situation in Lahore. There are still six of them awaiting government clearance in Lahore. The expected time of arrival of the fishermen reaching the city by road from Lahore, thanks to the Edhi Foundation, was 12 noon, though they reached the Edhi Centre at Kharadar after 2:30pm. Still, the media gathered there already felt like they knew each and every one of them, as they had heard so much about them from their family members waiting for them there since morning. What’s common is the story of the horrible torture they endured in custody after the May conflict betw... -
Dawn - 03:08 Oct 14, 2025
• Taliban foreign minister claims omission of women journalists from his first media interaction was ‘unintentional’ • UN terms Afghan restrictions on women ‘gender apartheid’ • India’s Ministry of External Affairs denies any role in Friday’s press interaction at Afghan embassy A PICTURE is worth a thousand words — and the image splashed across Indian newspapers on Monday, showing female journalists seated prominently in the front row at the Taliban foreign minister’s press conference in Delhi, perfectly embodies that sentiment. The conference — Amir Khan Muttaqi’s second press event at the Afghan embassy within 48 hours — was convened following widespread outrage over the exclusion of female journalists from his initial briefing on Friday, BBC News reported. Mr Muttaqi said at Sunday’s conference that the exclusion was unintentional and not “deliberate”. “With regard to the [Friday’s] press conference, it was on short notice and a short list of journalists was decided, and the participation list that was pre... -
Dawn - 02:58 Oct 14, 2025
• Dozens arrested, several injured as armoured vehicles, water cannon used to disperse charged crowd • Police say inspector martyred; around 50 cops badly injured in violent clashes • Conflicting reports emerge about fate of TLP chief; IGP says Saad Rizvi ‘not in custody’ • Second-tier leaders call on TLP supporters to converge on Lahore for protest on 17th LAHORE: The fate of Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) chief Saad Rizvi remained shrouded in mystery after law enforcement agencies launched a sweeping pre-dawn operation on Monday to dismantle the religious party’s protest camp in Muridke, triggering violent clashes, widespread chaos and dozens of arrests. The operation, which began around 3:30am, quickly spiralled into one of the most serious confrontations between police and TLP in recent months, continuing for nearly six hours. According to officials, some 1,500 police personnel in full anti-riot gear, supported by four armoured personnel carriers and water cannons, surrounded the protest camp along the ... -
Dawn - 02:33 Oct 14, 2025
• UN-OCHA sit-rep says cold conditions precipitated by La Nina will especially impact KP, GB • Phenomenon likely to disrupt Kharif crop harvesting, raise Glof risk ISLAMABAD: Pakistan is likely to face one of its coldest winter this year in decades due to the La Nina climate pattern. According to the latest situation report on Pakistan’s monsoon floods, compiled by the Intersector Coordination Group in collaboration with other partners, this could lead to colder-than-usual winter conditions, further stretching coping mechanisms of households affected by the floods, particularly in the mountainous regions of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Gilgit Baltistan. A La Nina occurs when sea surface temperatures in the Pacific Ocean cool abnormally, triggering extreme weather shifts worldwide. In its forecast for October, the report published by UN-OCHA says that the continued marginally negative phases of both the El Niño Southern Oscillation and the Indian Ocean Dipole will drive rainfall across Pakistan. Northern Punjab, KP,... -
Dawn - 19:17 Oct 13, 2025
The Foreign Office (FO) on Monday night issued a strongly-worded statement telling Afghanistan to focus on issues pertinent to itself and not to interfere in Islamabad’s internal affairs. The FO was responding to a statement by Afghan Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid slamming the police crackdown on the Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP). The TLP, which began its protest march in Lahore on Friday, was planning to reach Islamabad and stage a demonstration in support of Gaza and Palestine outside the US embassy. On Monday, police and law enforcement agencies launched an early-morning operation to disperse the protesters, who were encamped in Muridke. The clashes left a police officer and four civilians dead, including three TLP workers. Mujahid issued a statement earlier today in which Kabul expressed its condolences and said it was “profoundly saddened” by the violence and deaths and noted that the demonstrations were carried out “in accordance with the country’s legal framework”. “We extend our heartfelt... -
Dawn - 18:41 Oct 13, 2025
Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said on Monday that as of today, there are “no ties” between Islamabad and Kabul in the fallout of Afghanistan’s unprovoked attack on the Pak-Afghan border over the weekend. “It’s a stalemate right now. You can say there are no active hostilities, but the environment is hostile,” Asif said on Geo News programme ‘Aaj Shahzeb Khanzada ke Saath’. “There are no ties, direct or indirect, as of today.” Asif said hostilities between the two sides can resume “at any time”. “We can not rule that out, but there is certainly a lull in hostilities. “We cannot lower our guard,” warned the defence minister. When asked if Islamabad will negotiate with Kabul, Asif replied that if Afghanistan wants negotiations while threatening Pakistan at the same time, “then they should act on their threats and we’ll negotiate after”. “This is a natural thing. If you are attacked, you instantly have the right to react and target wherever the attack is originating from,” the defence minister explained. “We did ... -
Dawn - 18:12 Oct 13, 2025
Torrential rains that lashed Mexico last week killed at least 64 people and 65 more are missing, the government said on Monday, after a tropical depression triggered landslides and flooding in parts of the Gulf Coast and central states. The unnamed depression came toward the end of the rainy season, battering land and bursting rivers that had already been soaked by months of rains, while forecasters were focused on tropical storms and two hurricanes on the Pacific coast. “This intense rain was not expected to be of such magnitude,” President Claudia Sheinbaum told reporters. Admiral Raymundo Morales, Mexico’s Navy secretary, said the flooding was the result of the coming together of warm and cold air fronts over rivers that were already filled to the brink and mountains weakened by months of rain. Around 100,000 homes were affected, Sheinbaum said. She is set to meet with the finance ministry later in the day to discuss rebuilding efforts, and visit some hard-hit states. Laura Velazquez, national coordinator ... -
Dawn - 18:06 Oct 13, 2025
United States President Donald Trump especially thanked Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and “my favourite” Field Marshal Asim Munir on Monday for their efforts in achieving peace in Gaza, among many other world leaders. Trump was addressing a ceremony following the signing of a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas at the Sharm el-Sheikh Peace Summit in Egypt. He also invited PM Shehbaz to deliver a special address at the ceremony. Taking the podium, PM Shehbaz thanked Trump and the Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi for their efforts in securing the peace deal. “Today is one of the greatest days in contemporary history because peace has been achieved after untiring efforts led by President Trump, who is genuinely a man of peace [and] who has relentlessly and untiringly worked throughout these months, day in and day out, to make this world a place to live with peace and prosperity.” ’’I would say that Pakistan had nominated President Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize for his outstanding and extraordin... -
Dawn - 18:05 Oct 13, 2025
South Africa’s lower order once again came to the rescue after a top order collapse, edging out Bangladesh by three wickets in a nail-biting finish in the Women’s World Cup in Visakhapatnam on Monday. Chasing 233, the Proteas were on the ropes at 78-5, but their tail refused to throw in the towel, showing the same grit that saw them turn the tables on India in their previous outing. A gutsy 85-run stand for the sixth wicket between Marizanne Kapp, who made 56, and Chloe Tryon, 62, steadied the ship and gave the chase a fresh lease of life. Both batters brought up their half-centuries, but their dismissals reopened the door for Bangladesh, who sniffed an upset. Then, Nadine de Klerk, South Africa’s player for a crisis, walked in and saw her side over the line. Her unbeaten 37 off 29 deliveries guided her side home with three balls to spare. “I am lost for words, actually. It was a bit nerve-wracking, but I’m happy we pulled this off,” said Tryon, who was named player-of-the-match. “We just wanted to stay calm ... -
Dawn - 17:04 Oct 13, 2025
PTI MPA Sohail Afridi on Monday was elected the new chief executive of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa during an assembly session marred by the opposition’s walkout and despite prevailing uncertainty regarding the resignation of outgoing Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur. KP Assembly Speaker Babar Saleem Swati, who pushed ahead with the election despite the opposition walkout, announced that the three opposition candidates — Maulana Lutfur Rehman of JUI-F, Sardar Shah Jehan Yousaf of the PML-N, and Arbab Zarak Khan of the PPP — all received zero votes. Noting that three members of the assembly were out of the country, he announced that Afridi had won the election after securing 90 votes, prompting chants in favour of the PTI leader to ring out in the assembly hall. Afridi had needed to secure at least 73 votes in the 145-strong KP Assembly to win the election. Out of a total of 53 opposition members, 51 walked out of the assembly on the call of the opposition leader; the remaining two were not present for the session. Mean... -
Dawn - 16:53 Oct 13, 2025
The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Monday sought a reply from the provincial AAG after the PTI submitted a plea seeking the nomination of the KP Assembly speaker to administer the oath to CM-elect Sohail Afridi. PHC Chief Justice S. M. Attique Shah asked AAG Sanaullah to confirm whether the KP governor has received the summary related to the oath from the assembly secretariat and has instructed him to submit a reply by Wednesday. “We will look at the matter tomorrow again. Get a response from the governor and let us know,” the judge added. The development comes after PTI’s Sohail Afridi won the election held in the KP Assembly for the chief minister role. KP Assembly Speaker Babar Saleem Swati, announced that the three opposition candidates — Maulana Lutfur Rehman of JUI-F, Sardar Shah Jehan Yousaf of the PML-N, and Arbab Zarak Khan of the PPP — all received zero votes. KP’s Leader of the Opposition Dr Ibadullah Khan decried Afridi’s election as “unconstitutional”, and opposition lawmakers staged a walkout from... -
Dawn - 16:52 Oct 13, 2025
Normalcy returned to the twin cities on Monday evening, with traffic flow restored after an early morning operation by law enforcers against Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) protesters who had camped at Muridke, according to police. A Dawn.com correspondent reported that only the Faizabad Interchange remained closed while the rest of the intersections between Rawalpindi and Islamabad were open for traffic. He said that the situation was returning to normal and there was no serious reaction from the religious party, adding that overall traffic was thin on the major thoroughfares. Mobile data services, impacted since the start of the protest, were also restored in most areas of the twin cities, added the correspondent. Earlier, authorities had moved to close roads and motorways again in and around Lahore and Islamabad — which had started reopening on Sunday — after the operation, as panic spread among citizens about the potential outcome of the clash. Meanwhile, some schools in Islamabad also closed earlier tha... -
Dawn - 16:40 Oct 13, 2025
Former Pakistan Test batter Wazir Mohammad passed away on Monday at the age of 95, according to the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB). According to ESPNCricinfo, the right-hander was born in Junagadh in 1929, and his siblings included renowned cricketers Hanif, Mushtaq and Raees Mohammad. “One of the four Mohammad brothers to represent Pakistan in Test cricket, he featured in 20 matches for his country from 1952 to 1959,” the PCB wrote in a post on X, extending its condolences. PCB Chairman Mohsin Naqvi expressed his condolences to Mohammad’s family in a statement, paying tribute to the batter’s services to Test cricket. “Wazir Mohammad was a good batsman and an extremely refined human being,” Naqvi was quoted as saying, offering prayers for the family. ‘A guiding light’ In Pakistan’s early days, a group of brothers used to play cricket in the compound of a temple at Karachi’s Haji Camp. All five of them, who had migrated to the city from Junagadh in India, were right-handed batters and each highly talented, but t...
8012 items