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Dawn - 05:01 May 26, 2025
LAHORE: Sikandar Raza ran off in celebration — punching the air in delight, his partner Kusal Perera in tow as fireworks exploded in the background. Lahore Qalandars were Pakistan Super League champions again, sealing their third title in four seasons after pulling off a remarkable chase. Quetta Gladiators had been in the ascendancy in Sunday’s final, headed towards what they believed was their destiny — a second PSL crown — having clinched their first six long years ago. They had tightened the noose around the Qalandars, who, in their chase of 202, needed 57 runs to win off the last 20 deliveries when Raza joined Perera at the crease. But the Qalandars found inspiration, as Gladiators lost theirs; Perera played a masterful knock of an unbeaten 31-ball 62 featuring four sixes and five fours, with Raza providing the ideal foil with 22 off seven balls to take their side home with a ball to spare. As their teammates ran onto the pitch in jubilation, the Gladiators sank to the ground, left wondering what could ha... -
Dawn - 18:54 May 25, 2025
Virgil van Dijk lifted the Premier League trophy after Liverpool’s 1-1 draw with Crystal Palace on Sunday as the Reds held a title party with their own fans for the first time in 35 years. Arne Slot’s side wrapped up their record-equalling 20th English crown with a demolition of Tottenham in April, but the long-awaited trophy presentation was saved for the final game of the season. Liverpool’s last title in 2020 was won during the Covid-19 lockdown, meaning the trophy was held aloft by then-captain Jordan Henderson in front of an empty stadium. The Reds made the most of their first title celebration in a packed Anfield since 1990 as the 61,000-capacity crowd partied along with the great and good of Liverpool’s illustrious past. “It’s always special to win something, but at certain clubs maybe a little bit more,” Slot said. “I don’t think you expect anything like this. If you look at the Premier League in the last few seasons, it was always a race to the end. “To be part of it was already nice, let alone to wi... -
Dawn - 17:57 May 25, 2025
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Sunday expressed gratitude to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for his nation’s support during a brief military confrontation with India. The PM is visiting Turkiye for two days as part of his four-nation tour to friendly countries, where he will express his gratitude for supporting Pakistan during the recent conflict. Earlier, state broadcaster PTV News reported that the PM and Erdogan had a delegation-level meeting in which Foreign Minister Muhammad Ishaq Dar, Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir and Minister of Information and Broadcasting Attaullah Tarar took part. According to PTV News, the meeting was “warm and most cordial” and both nations “reaffirmed the deep-rooted, historic, and brotherly ties between Pakistan and Türkiye, anchored in shared values, mutual respect, and a common vision for progress and prosperity”. A video posted by the broadcaster showed PM Shehbaz embracing President Erdogan before boarding a car and leaving Dolmabahce Pal... -
Dawn - 17:20 May 25, 2025
Security forces killed nine terrorists “sponsored” by India during a series of operations in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Sunday, according to the military’s media wing. According to a statement from the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), nine “Indian-sponsored khawarij” were killed in three separate engagements. “An intelligence-based operation (IBO) was conducted by the security forces in Dera Ismail Khan district, on [the] reported presence of Indian sponsored khwarij,” the military’s media wing said, using the term designating terrorists affiliated with the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan. During the engagement, security forces “effectively engaged the khawarij location and after an intense fire exchange, four Indian-sponsored khawarij were sent to hell”. According to the statement, another IBO was conducted in Tank District and two more Indian-sponsored khawarij were “sent to hell” by the security forces. In the third operation in Khyber district’s Bagh area, “own troops successfully neutralised three mo... -
Dawn - 16:11 May 25, 2025
Former PPP senator and prominent human rights defender Farhatullah Babar has warned against labelling Baloch Yakjehti Committee Chief Mahrang Baloch, her group, or anyone “a terrorist” without evidence or trial, terming such statements “extremely problematic” that could “backfire”. Babar, head of the PPP’s Human Rights Committee, said this in response to remarks made by the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director General Lt Gen Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry earlier this week, who during a press conference vehemently criticised the BYC and Mahrang, saying that the media needed to “unmask” the group and its membership. He had said that the group spoke about human rights and missing persons, yet when the armed forces eliminate terrorists and conduct DNA identification, “many of them turn out to be the very individuals listed as missing.” Lt Gen Chaudhry also talked about the Jaffer Express hijacking incident, in which more than 400 people were taken hostage by the proscribed Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), and sai... -
Dawn - 15:38 May 25, 2025
Lando Norris won his maiden Monaco Grand Prix on Sunday to close the gap on his McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri in the battle for the 2025 drivers’ world title. Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc took second, with Piastri completing the podium in the eighth race of the season. Norris closed to within three points of Piastri after adding the jewel in the F1 calendar to his season-opening win in Australia. Four-time reigning world champion Max Verstappen took fourth with Lewis Hamilton in the other Ferrari rounding out the top five. “Monaco, baby! It’s a dream,” Norris exclaimed over the team radio, after becoming the first McLaren driver to win on the sinuous streets of the Principality since Hamilton in 2008. “It feels amazing, it’s a long, gruelling race. An amazing weekend with pole, with today. This is what we dream of, this is what I did dream of as a kid,” beamed the 25-year-old. He was pushed hard to the end of the gruelling and at times chaotic afternoon in the Monaco sunshine by Leclerc, who took second, 3.131 ... -
Dawn - 14:26 May 25, 2025
Locals in North Waziristan’s Mir Ali district continued their sit-in on Sunday for the seventh day, protesting against a suspected drone strike in the district — that they say is responsible for the death of four children — vowing to launch a long march to Islamabad if their demands were not met. The suspected strike took place in Mir Ali’s Hurmuz village on May 19 during the daytime, leaving four children of the same family dead and injuring five others, including a woman. The police have held talks with tribal elders, which have so far remained inconclusive. Earlier this week, the military’s media wing, Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), had clarified that security forces were “falsely implicated” in the incident and that it was carried out by the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). According to the local elders, the sit-in near the Mir Ali cantonment area continued for the seventh day as authorities allegedly blocked all network and internet systems in the district. The local elders threatened to... -
Dawn - 12:45 May 25, 2025
IN October 2023, when the Supreme Court struck down the military trials of civilians, the detailed judgement began with the following quote: “even amid the clash of arms, the laws were not silent, that they spoke the same language in peace and in war”. The majority judgements were authored by Justices Munib Akhtar and Ayesha Malik. Even in the darkest of times, the court affirmed, fundamental rights must remain in every part of our territory. On May 7, the Constitutional Bench overturned this decision, and sanctioned the military trials of civilians. The verdict is a surrender of fundamental rights, and a defeat for the Constitution. A law first introduced by Ayub Khan in 1967 has been restored. This means civilians can be court-martialled going forward. The law allowing the court martial of civilians was part of a series of oppressive Ayub-era laws. Under the Defence of Pakistan Ordinance, 1965, and the rules made thereunder, citizens could be preventatively detained on vague grounds including “suspicion” th... -
Dawn - 12:20 May 25, 2025
Bangladesh on Sunday began the first trial at a special court prosecuting former senior figures connected to the ousted government of Sheikh Hasina, the chief prosecutor said. The court in the capital Dhaka accepted a formal charge against eight police officials in connection with the killing of six protesters on August 5 last year, the day Hasina fled the country as the protesters stormed her palace. The eight men are charged with crimes against humanity. Four are in custody and four are being tried in absentia. “The formal trial has begun,” Tajul Islam, chief prosecutor of Bangladesh’s domestic International Crimes Tribunal (ICT), told reporters. “The prosecution believes that this prosecution will be able to prove the crimes done by the accused.” It is the first formal charge in any case related to the killings during last year’s student-led uprising, which ended Hasina’s iron-fisted rule of 15 years. Up to 1,400 people were killed between July and August 2024 when Hasina’s government launched a brutal cam... -
Dawn - 10:54 May 25, 2025
US President Donald Trump defended on Sunday his administration’s move to block foreign students at Harvard after a judge suspended the action, branded by the top university as unlawful. “Why isn’t Harvard saying that almost 31 [per cent] of their students are from foreign lands, and yet those countries, some not at all friendly to the United States, pay nothing toward their student’s education, nor do they ever intend to,” Trump posted on his Truth Social platform. “We want to know who those foreign students are, a reasonable request since we give Harvard billions of dollars, but Harvard isn’t exactly forthcoming.” Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on Thursday revoked Harvard’s ability to enrol foreign nationals, throwing the future of thousands of students and the lucrative income stream they provide into doubt. She had threatened last month to block international students at the school unless it turned over records on visa holders’ “illegal and violent activities”. But a judge quickly suspended the m... -
Dawn - 10:47 May 25, 2025
A Liberian-flagged container ship with hazardous cargo has sunk off the coast of Kerala in India’s south, the navy said on Sunday after rescuing all 24 crew members safely. India’s navy said the MSC ELSA 3, listed as a 184-metre-long freight ship, which was sailing from the Indian port of Vizhinjam to Kochi, ran into trouble on Saturday and issued a distress call. Navy aircraft scrambled to the area and spotted two life rafts, with the container ship listing at a dangerous angle, some 38 nautical miles southwest of Kochi. “All 24 crew members on board were rescued,” the Ministry of Defence said in a statement, with the Indian Coast Guard (ICG) and a navy patrol boat collecting the sailors, who were from Georgia, Russia, Ukraine, and the Philippines. “The vessel went down with 640 containers, including 13 with hazardous cargo and 12 containing calcium carbide,” the statement said. The Defence Ministry did not specify what was inside the containers it said were hazardous. Calcium carbide is used in the chemical... -
Dawn - 09:39 May 25, 2025
In a groundbreaking move to transform Pakistan into a global leader in digital innovation, the government has announced the allocation of 2,000 megawatts (MW) of electricity in the first phase of a national initiative to power Bitcoin mining and artificial intelligence (AI) data centres. The government recently decided to legalise cryptocurrency to lure international investment in Pakistan. The Pakistan Crypto Council (PCC) was launched in March to “regulate and integrate blockchain technology and digital assets” into the country’s financial landscape. The federal government appointed entrepreneur Bilal Bin Saqib as the chief adviser to the finance minister on the council. A statement by the Finance Division says this ambitious initiative is spearheaded by the PCC — a government-backed body under the Ministry of Finance — as part of a broader strategy to “monetise surplus electricity, create high-tech jobs, attract billions of dollars in foreign direct investment, and generate billions of dollars for the gove... -
Dawn - 09:07 May 25, 2025
For Najibullah Wazir, a resident of North Waziristan, May 28, 2018, marked a historic turning point. On that day, Pakistan’s Parliament passed the 25th Constitutional Amendment, formally abolishing the colonial-era Frontier Crimes Regulation (FCR) and merging the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) with Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP). The decision was hailed as a watershed moment — an end to more than a century of legal and political exclusion for the region’s residents. The merger held out the promise of equal rights, access to courts, regular policing, improved infrastructure, and civic inclusion. For young voices such as Wazir, who had long advocated for the mainstreaming of Fata, it signified the dawn of a new chapter. “We believed we would finally be treated as citizens, not subjects,” he recalls. “They promised us development, peace and justice.” Seven years later, those promises remain largely unfulfilled. Despite legislative success, the implementation has faltered, undermined by bureaucratic inertia,... -
Dawn - 08:49 May 25, 2025
The Pakistan Polio Programme on Sunday launched the third drive of the year against the crippling disease at the National Emergency Operations Centre (NEOC), Islamabad. Pakistan is one of the last two countries in the world, alongside Afghanistan, where polio remains endemic. Despite global efforts to eradicate the virus, challenges such as security issues, vaccine hesitancy, and misinformation have slowed progress. Earlier this week, two new cases of polio were reported in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Lakki Marwat and Bannu districts, taking the tally for the current year to 10. “The Pakistan Polio Programme today launched its third National Immunisation Days (NIDs) campaign of the year at the National Emergency Operations Centre (NEOC), Islamabad,” a statement from the Centre read. The campaign was formally inaugurated by Prime Minister’s Focal Person for Polio Eradication Ayesha Raza Farooq, alongside members of the Polio Programme’s core group and representatives of partner organisations, the statement added. “To... -
Dawn - 07:42 May 25, 2025
LAHORE: The Punjab government has plans to enact a law to control criminal and anti-social persons commonly known as “goondas”, who make life difficult for the people, in the province. The new law, The Punjab Control of Goondas and Anti-Social Behaviour Act 2025, will serve as a modern, effective legal tool to tackle organised and habitual crime, protect public safety, and deter anti-social behaviour. The Act, after enactment, will repeal The Punjab Control of Goondas Ordinance, 1959. The Punjab home department has drafted the new law that provides a comprehensive legal framework for identifying, monitoring and restraining individuals commonly known as “goondas” who pose a threat to public order. The act provides the legal definition of goonda as “a person habitually involved in disorderly conduct, criminal activity, or anti-social behaviour that endangers peace or creates public nuisance”. The district intelligence committees (DICs) have been empowered to declare an individual a ‘goonda’ based on credible re... -
Dawn - 07:35 May 25, 2025
GAZA CITY: Gaza’s civil defence agency said on Saturday that an Israeli strike in the southern city of Khan Yunis at least nine children from the same family, with the Israeli army saying it was reviewing the reports. Agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal said civil defence crews retrieved “the bodies of nine child martyrs, some of them charred, from the home of Dr Hamdi al-Najjar and his wife, Dr Alaa al-Najjar, all of whom were their children”. He added that Hamdi al-Najjar and another son, Adam, were also seriously wounded in the strike on Friday. A medical source at Nasser Hospital, where Alaa al-Najjar works, gave Adam’s age as 10 years old. Footage of the aftermath released by the civil defence agency showed rescuers recovering badly burned remains from the damaged home. Asked about the incident, the Israeli military said it had “struck a number of suspects who were identified operating from a structure” near its troops. “The Khan Yunis area is a dangerous warzone,” it added. “The claim regarding harm to uninv... -
Dawn - 07:26 May 25, 2025
• Latif Baloch’s son was also abducted, slain a few years ago • Journalist bodies condemn killing, demand justice QUETTA: A journalist, Abdul Latif Baloch, who worked for a Quetta-based newspaper as a correspondent, was gunned down by unknown assailants in the Mashkey area of Awaran district on Saturday, police said. The gunmen barged into the journalist’s house in the wee hours of Saturday morning and tried to take him away. When he offered resistance, the intruders opened fire, killing him on the spot. The killers fled the scene and could not be arrested till late into the night. Police have launched an investigation into the incident. According to police officials, Mr Baloch was also working in the Levies force department. They said that a few years ago, the body of Mr Baloch’s kidnapped son was found in Mashkey. Journalist organisations strongly condemned the killing of Mr Baloch, who was working for Daily Intikhab. While the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) expressed its deepest shock and out... -
Dawn - 07:20 May 25, 2025
GUJAR KHAN: Scores of teams from across the country participated in the two-day Jhelum Tent-Pegging Championship 2025 — the first in the history of the Jhelum district to be organised by a female tent-pegger. The event was organised by Arooj Azhar Kiyani, the Chief Executive Officer of the Kingsgate Equine and the first female captain of a tent-pegging team in the country, in collaboration with the Punjab government. A large number of people, including families, gathered to watch the cultural sport, while over 70 tent-pegging teams participated in the event. Talking to Dawn during the event, Ms Kiyani said she felt proud to be the first female tent-pegger in Pakistan, adding that it was not easy for her to make her debut in a male-dominated sport. Speaking of the challenges faced by women in becoming horse riders, especially tent-peggers, the KingsGate CEO said that there was a scarcity of good trainers in the field who could coach young girls to pursue their passion. “Luckily, I found a good coach who helped... -
Dawn - 07:08 May 25, 2025
KARACHI: The Pakistan Institute of International Affairs (PIIA) organised an interactive session on ‘The Pakistan-India conflict’ in the institute library on Saturday. It was explained by PIIA chairperson Dr Masuma Hasan there was a need to hear different voices, especially the voices of the youth, regarding the recent conflict. Therefore, they decided to call on their research assistants to talk about the different themes of the conflict, as identified by them, for the audience to then take it from there. Taking the audience through the events of the past month or so, she also reminded how India, out of the blue, with no credible evidence, held Pakistan responsible for April 22’s Pahalgam attack, which was an intelligence failure on the part of India. “Then India suspended the Indus Waters Treaty of 1960 and Pakistan suspended the Simla Agreement of 1972,” she said. “Then on May 7, India launched Operation Sindoor against Pakistan. While defending the country very well, Pakistan retaliated on May 10, which w... -
Dawn - 06:43 May 25, 2025
KARACHI: Sidra Amin’s Stars clinched the National Women’s T20 Tournament title with a commanding 42-run victory over Fatima Sana’s Conquerors at the National Bank Stadium on Saturday. After opting to bat first in the decider, Stars posted 135-5 thanks to opener Sana Urooj’s brisk 37-ball 44 before they bundled the Conquerers out for 93 with two balls to spare with Anosha Nasir taking 3-14. Sana and Anosha were jointly awarded the player-of-the-final. Sana set the tone for her side, striking seven fours and being involved in key partnerships: 33 for the first wicket with with Huraina Sajjad (23) and 47 for the third with Kaynat Hafeez (21). Kaynat provided the anchor, striking just one six in her 35-ball knock with their partnership being broken when Nashra Sandhu (2-21) cleaned up Sana. Sidra Amin and Sidra Nawaz provided the late flourish, the skipper striking four four fours in her 13-ball 18 while the latter faced 11 deliveries for 15. The Conquerers lost half their side with 80 on the board in the chase a...
6698 items