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Dawn - 17:36 Jul 04, 2025
PPP Chairman and former foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Friday said Pakistan had no objection to extraditing “individuals of concern” to India as a confidence-building measure, as long as New Delhi showed willingness to cooperate in the process. Ties between Pakistan and India have remained tense, further strained after New Delhi, without presenting evidence, blamed Pakistan for the deadly April attack in occupied Kashmir’s Pahalgam. This led to a four-day military confrontation in May, with both sides dropping their guns after American intervention. The PPP chairman has repeatedly called for India and Pakistan to engage in a dialogue to establish peace. Speaking during an exclusive interview with Al Jazeera, the PPP chief responded to a question about extraditing Laskhar-i-Taiba (LeT) chief Hafiz Saeed and Jaish-i-Muhammad (JeM) chief Masood Azhar as possible concessions and good-faith gestures to India. “As part of a comprehensive dialogue with Pakistan, where terrorism is one of the issues that ... -
Dawn - 17:30 Jul 04, 2025
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Friday urged stronger regional cooperation in the face of increasing geopolitical tensions, including the Iran-Israel conflict and Indian hostility towards Pakistan, stressing that the Economic Cooperation Organisation (ECO) offered the country its “best hope” for a unified response. Addressing the 17th ECO Summit in Azerbaijan’s Khankendi city, the prime minister said two recent events — the Iran-Israel war and the India-Pakistan conflict — showed that “the forces of instability and chaos continue to destabilise our region for geo-political agendas. “The evolving global landscape has made regional cooperation even more essential,” PM Shehbaz said while addressing the 10-nation Eurasian bloc. “ECO represents our best hope, and Pakistan is a proud partner in these collective efforts.” Speaking about the 12-day Iran-Israel war, he said that “the unlawful, uncalled for and unjustified Israeli attack on Iran was the most recent manifestation of this dangerous trend.” According to ... -
Dawn - 16:33 Jul 04, 2025
The finance ministry on Friday issued notifications for a 10 per cent increase in the salaries of federal government employees, as well as granting Disparity Reduction Allowance (DRA) worth 30pc of basic pay, according to documents seen by Dawn.com. The pay hike was announced as part of the budget for the coming fiscal year, where the salaries of federal employees from Grade 1 to 22 would be raised by 10pc and retired government servants would be eligible for a 7pc pension increase. According to one of the notifications, dated July 4, basic pay to armed forces personnel, civil armed forces, and civil employees of the federal government are subject to the pay raise. The notification read that the pay would be “subject to income tax; admissible during leave and entire period of LPR except during extraordinary leave; will not be treated as part of emoluments for the purpose of calculation of pension/gratuity and recovery of house rent.” It further said that the pay would “not be admissible to the employees durin... -
Dawn - 16:00 Jul 04, 2025
More than 5,500 police personnel will be deployed across Karachi on Friday for the security of 8th Muharram processions. Stringent security measures are being taken across the country, such as army deployment as well as a crackdown on sectarian content and hate mongers, ahead of Ashura (Muharram 10), which will be observed on Sunday. According to the Karachi police, as many as 829 processions and 5,227 majalis are scheduled to take place during the first 10 days of Muharram. “Karachi police [are] performing [their] duties at various locations in the city for the security of the 8th Muharram processions,” said a statement from the office of Karachi’s additional inspector general of police. A total of 5,543 police officers and personnel will be present to monitor and secure the central procession, the statement added. It continued that apart from senior officers and 4,957 constables and head constables of the Karachi police, 586 NGOs will also be performing duty for the security of the central procession. Exper... -
Dawn - 15:13 Jul 04, 2025
The Karachi Police on Friday said they had arrested the primary suspect allegedly involved in the gang-rape of a girl in Ittehad Town. In a statement issued today, Keamari Senior Superintendent of Police Captain (retired) Faizan Ali said that the Ittehad Town Police had registered the gang-rape case a day ago. He said the incident had occurred on July 1 when the detained suspect had forcibly taken away the victim on his bike to his dera (sitting place) in Ittehad Town, where he gang-raped her along with his friends. “The rape survivor managed to escape from the place at night and reached the home of her maternal uncle and later on informed the police about the incident,” he said, adding that her medical examination was carried out at the Civil Hospital Karachi and a case was subsequently registered. “The main suspect was arrested within hours after the registration of the case, while efforts are underway to arrest other suspects. “Such beasts are cancer for the society and they will be taken to task,” the SSP... -
Dawn - 14:23 Jul 04, 2025
Six members of a family were killed in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) on Friday when their car veered off the road and plummeted hundreds of feet, crashing onto the right bank of the Neelum River, officials said. The accident occurred at a sharp bend on the Neelum Valley road near Chilyana village, approximately 50 kilometres northeast of Muzaffarabad. Chilyana is located across from the Indian-occupied village of Titwal on the opposite bank of the Neelum River, a point that once served as a foot-crossing under the cross-Line of Control (LoC) travel arrangement before activity came to a halt in 2019. “Shortly after Friday prayers, a vehicle … went out of the driver’s control while negotiating a dangerous curve near Chilyana,” Akhtar Ayoub, the Neelum Valley District Disaster Management Officer (DDMO), told Dawn.com. “It rolled down the mountain slope but stopped just short of entering the river; otherwise, it would have been swept away by the violent current,” he added. Ayoub said that upon receiving reports ab... -
Dawn - 14:19 Jul 04, 2025
Syria said on Friday it was willing to cooperate with the United States to reimplement the 1974 disengagement agreement with Israel, which created a UN-patrolled buffer zone separating the two countries’ forces. In a statement following a phone call with his US counterpart Marco Rubio, Asaad al-Shaibani expressed Syria’s “aspiration to cooperate with the United States to return to the 1974 disengagement agreement”. Washington has been pushing diplomatic efforts towards a normalisation deal between Syria and Israel, with envoy Thomas Barrack saying last week that peace between the two was now needed. Speaking to The New York Times, Barrack confirmed this week that Syria and Israel were engaging in “meaningful” US-brokered talks to end their border conflict. Following the toppling of longtime Syrian ruler Bashar al-Assad in December, Israel deployed its troops into the UN-patrolled zone separating Syrian and Israeli forces. It has also launched hundreds of air strikes on military targets in Syria and carried ou... -
Dawn - 13:26 Jul 04, 2025
A pet lion escaped and chased a woman and two children down a busy street in Lahore, police said on Friday, with dramatic footage showing the big cat leaping over a wall before pouncing on them. CCTV footage released by the police showed the lion jumping the barrier around its home and pursuing a woman carrying her shopping on Thursday night. The lion jumped on her back, knocking her to the ground, the footage showed. A police report quoted the father as saying the lion then turned to his five-year-old and seven-year-old children, and clawed their arms and faces. All three were taken to the hospital but were not in critical condition. View this post on Instagram The owners who ran out of the house were “amused to see their lion attack” the passersby, the father added in the report. Police said on Friday they had arrested three men. “The suspects fled from the spot, taking the lion with them. They were arrested within 12 hours of the incident,” the office of the Lahore Deputy Inspector General Operations told ... -
Dawn - 12:19 Jul 04, 2025
Flash floods and landslides after torrential rain over the last two weeks killed at least 69 people and injured 110 others in India’s northern Himalayan regions, officials said on Friday. Scores of people die each year during the rainy season due to flash floods and landslides across India, a country of 1.4 billion people. Rivers swollen by lashing rain, including the mighty Beas, which starts from the region’s glacial peaks, disrupted several routes in the state of Himachal Pradesh. The “cumulative damage” includes 69 people dead, and 110 others injured in different incidents over the past two weeks, the state’s revenue department said in a statement. India’s meteorological department on Thursday issued a fresh alert for “heavy to very heavy rainfall” in Himachal Pradesh and neighbouring Uttarakhand, another picturesque Himalayan state popular with Indian tourists. India’s annual monsoon season from June to September offers respite from the intense summer heat and is crucial for replenishing water supplies, ... -
Dawn - 11:54 Jul 04, 2025
Pakistan continued their dominance on the squash courts as four players advanced to the finals of the 32nd Asian Junior Individual Squash Championships in Gimcheon, South Korea, on Friday. Top seed Muhammad Sohail Adnan beat India’s Amarya Bajaj in three straight sets 11-5, 11-1, 11-2 to advance to the Boys U13 final. He will play against India’s Ayyan Dhanuka in tomorrow’s final. Over on the girls’ side, Mahnoor Ali beat Malaysia’s Maisarah Binti Khairulnizam 11-7, 11-5, 11-7, and will play against China’s Yin. Z. The Boys U15 final will be an all-Pakistan showdown as Ahmed Rayyan Khalil and Nauman Khan face each other. Khalil beat Yuen Tsz Kong of Hong Kong in a commanding win of 11-8, 11-2, 11-1, while top seed Khan beat India’s Aryaman Singh 11-5, 11-1, 11-5. In the Boys U19 semi-final, Abdullah Nawaz was outclassed by Korea’s Jooyoung Na who made it to the final with a 3-1 win, beating the Pakistani 11-7, 10-12, 11-2, 11-4. “Best of luck to our finalists! May they bring gold medals to Pakistan!” the Paki... -
Dawn - 10:53 Jul 04, 2025
Federal Planning and Development Minister Ahsan Iqbal on Thursday called for the integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) into the national development strategy, announcing new measures, including the establishment of a national AI fund to provide financial support for innovative ideas and pilot projects. The announcements were made as Iqbal chaired a meeting of the National Task Force on Artificial Intelligence. Formed in April 2023, the body is working to develop a 10-year roadmap for accelerated adoption of AI in different sectors. According to a statement from the Press Information Department, during the meeting, Iqbal emphasised that it was time for Pakistan to move with clarity and purpose. “He stated that AI adoption cannot be advanced in isolation and must instead be guided by cross-sectoral collaboration, alignment with national priorities, and effective coordination across all relevant institutions,” the statement read. It added that the taskforce was assigned a clear mandate to identify twelve k... -
Dawn - 10:50 Jul 04, 2025
The bodies of Liverpool footballer Diogo Jota and his brother Andre Silva arrived in northern Portugal on Friday for a wake in their hometown, as tributes continued to pour in after they died in a car accident in Spain. A convoy of hearses left for Gondomar near Porto on Thursday evening from the morgue of Puebla de Sanabria, near where the Lamborghini the brothers were travelling in had veered off the road and burst into flames after midnight early on Thursday. Police said they suspected a tyre had burst. Jota’s wife Rute Cardoso, who had married the footballer just weeks earlier, was seen leaving the morgue and joining the convoy, as was Jota’s longtime agent Jorge Mendes. A wake is expected to take place at a chapel in Gondomar from 4pm (8pm PKT) and a funeral on Saturday at a church nearby at 10am local time, Gondomar’s mayor’s office said. Portugal’s Prime Minister Luis Montenegro arrived in the village on Friday morning. Portugal’s Prime Minister Luis Montenegro arrives at the Chapel of the Resurrection... -
Dawn - 09:59 Jul 04, 2025
Pakistan thrashed the Maldives 60-35 in the final to win the Asian Youth Netball Championship on Friday and maintain its winning streak throughout the tournament being held in South Korea. Pakistan had a strong start with 17-5 in the first quarter before ending halftime at 34-17. The Green Shirts surged to 45-23 in the third quarter and ended at 60-35 to lift the championship trophy. Standout performances were delivered by Leya Raza Shah, Alisha Naveed, Sumayya Kouser, Haleema, Jasmine Farooq, Alina, Amani, Parisa and Farah Rasheed, who collectively maintained Pakistan’s stronghold on the game from start to finish. Chairman of the Pakistan Netball Federation Mudassir Arian, along with President Sameen Malik and Secretary General Muhammad Riaz, extended their congratulations to the team. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif lauded the team for their victory. “Special appreciation for staying undefeated throughout the tournament!” he said in a post on X. “Very well played!” The Pakistan Embassy in Seoul congratulated ... -
Dawn - 09:59 Jul 04, 2025
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz has said the army must draw up a plan to prevent Iran from threatening Israel again after the arch-foes fought a 12-day war last month, in comments released on Friday. “The Israeli military’s current mission is to prepare an enforcement plan to ensure that Iran cannot threaten Israel again,” Katz said at a meeting with military leaders on Thursday, according to a statement released by his ministry. “The army must prepare on the intelligence and operational level to ensure that the air force maintains air superiority over Tehran, the ability to enforce restrictions on Iran and prevent it from rebuilding its capabilities,” he added. Israel launched a bombing campaign against Iran on June 13 following a decades-long shadow war, saying it aimed to prevent it from developing a nuclear weapon — an ambition Tehran has consistently denied — and degrade its ballistic missile arsenal. Following a US-announced ceasefire, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to prevent Iran... -
Dawn - 09:53 Jul 04, 2025
India will launch a $234 million incentive programme for civil and military drone makers to reduce their reliance on imported components and counter rival Pakistan’s programme built on support from China and Turkiye, three sources told Reuters. The military confrontation between India and Pakistan came as the former blamed Islamabad for the Pahalgam attack. On the night of May 6-7, New Delhi launched a series of air strikes on Pakistan, resulting in civilian casualties. Both sides then exchanged missiles, which stretched over the week. It took American intervention for both sides to finally drop their guns. The nuclear-armed neighbours are now locked in a drones arms race. New Delhi will launch a 20 billion Indian rupees ($234m) programme for three years that will cover the manufacture of drones, components, software, counter-drone systems, and services, two government and one industry source, who did not want to be named, told Reuters. Details of the programme have not been previously reported and its planne... -
Dawn - 09:31 Jul 04, 2025
The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) warned on Friday that the risk of glacial lake outburst flood (Glof) has increased in the glacial areas of the province due to heavy rains and flash floods. Glof refers to the sudden release of water and debris from a glacial lake, leading to the loss of lives, property and livelihoods in mountain communities. Over 7.1 million people in Gilgit Baltistan and KP are vulnerable, according to the Ministry of Climate Change. In an advisory issued today, the PDMA warned that continuous increase in temperature increases the possibility of melting of glaciers and flash floods. “The residents of Chitral, Dir, Swat and Kohistan have been instructed to remain alert about possible glacial outbursts. The district administration has been instructed to monitor sensitive areas, ensure timely warning and evacuation drills,” the disaster management agency said. The PDMA has advised residents to avoid unnecessary movement near rivers and canals and refrain f... -
Dawn - 09:03 Jul 04, 2025
Thirty terrorists of an “Indian proxy” outfit were killed as they attempted to infiltrate through the Pak-Afghan border in Hassan Khel tehsil of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s North Waziristan district, the military’s media wing said on Friday. Pakistan has witnessed an uptick in terror activities, especially in KP and Balochistan, after the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) ended its ceasefire with the government in November 2022. The country ranked second in the Global Terrorism Index 2025. A statement from the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) read that on the nights of July 2 and July 3, “movement of a large group of khwarij, belonging to Indian proxy Fitna al Khawarij, who were trying to infiltrate through Pakistan-Afghanistan border, was detected by the security forces in general area Hassan Khel, North Waziristan district”. Fitna al Khawarij is a term used by the government for the TTP, while those associated with the terrorist group are referred to as khaarji. As per the ISPR, “all 30 Indian-sponsore... -
Dawn - 06:39 Jul 04, 2025
Healthcare groups slammed the passage of US President Donald Trump’s tax-cut and spending bill on Thursday, warning that its sweeping healthcare provisions would inflict widespread harm on millions of Americans. The bill, when enacted, will overhaul the government’s Medicaid healthcare programme that covers around 71 million low-income Americans, introducing changes including mandatory work requirements that are expected to leave nearly 12 million people uninsured, according to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). Republicans have said the legislation will lower taxes for Americans across the income spectrum and spur economic growth. According to the CBO, the bill would lower tax revenue by $4.5 trillion over 10 years and cut spending by $1.1tr. Much of those spending cuts come from Medicaid. Bobby Mukkamala, president of the American Medical Association, an influential US doctors’ group, warned that the Medicaid cuts would limit access to care by leaving millions without health insurance and make it harder... -
Dawn - 06:33 Jul 04, 2025
• Flash flood risk in northern areas from July 7-12 • Heavy rain forecast across all provinces, GB and AJK • Second monsoon spell expected to affect most Punjab districts • PDMA Balochistan warns of flash floods in 20 districts • Tourists advised to avoid high-risk areas; citizens urged to stay indoors RAWALPINDI / LAHORE / QUETTA: The National Emergencies Operation Centre (NEOC) of the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) has issued impact-based weather alerts ahead of predicted monsoon activity and a strong westerly wave expected to affect multiple regions of the country from July 6 to 10. Flash flood risks are also anticipated in northern areas from July 7 to 12. Isolated rain and thunderstorms are expected in Islamabad and across Punjab, including Rawalpindi, Attock, Jhelum, Chakwal, Mianwali, Sargodha, Khushab, Gujranwala, Gujrat, Faisalabad, Lahore, Kasur and Okara from July 6 to 10. Widespread moderate to heavy rainfall is forecast across northern and central Punjab, while southern district... -
Dawn - 05:12 Jul 04, 2025
• LG Minister Ghani chairs maiden session of steering committee for Greater Karachi Regional Plan 2047 • Says absence of master plan led to disorganised, haphazard urban growth • Mayor promises to include all relevant stakeholders in formation of new plan KARACHI: The maiden meeting of the steering committee tasked to develop the Greater Karachi Regional Plan 2047 was informed on Thursday that the new master plan of the country’s commercial capital would be ready within two years. Sindh Local Government Minister Saeed Ghani chaired the inaugural meeting of the high-powered body, which was also attended by Karachi Mayor Murtaza Wahab, director generals of the Sindh Building Control Authority, Karachi Development Authority, Malir Development Authority and Lyari Development Authority, Additional Chief Secretary-Local Government Waseem Shamshad, Senior Member Board of Revenue Baqaullah Unar, Planning & Development Secretary Sajjad Abbasi, Project Director Muhammad Arshad Khan, representatives of the project’s con...
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