Dawn
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Dawn - 07:25 Feb 08, 2026
WASHINGTON: Pakistan has been invited to the first proposed meeting of US President Donald Trump’s “Board of Peace” (BoP) on Gaza, reported to be held in Washington on Feb 19, and is likely to attend, diplomatic sources told Dawn. According to the sources, Islamabad received the invitation as part of the outreach to countries that have already joined the board, which was launched by Trump late last month. The meeting is expected to focus on giving formal shape to the board, including its structure, mandate and secretariat, the sources said. “This will be a key meeting aimed at giving a shape and structure to the board,” one diplomatic source said. Asked whether Pakistan could be approached to contribute troops to a proposed international stabilisation force for Gaza, the source said such discussions were premature. “That would come later. First, we have to give shape to the board, form a structure, set up a secretariat and define its direction,“ he added. Another source also said it was “still too early” for ... -
Dawn - 06:04 Feb 08, 2026
TIES between Pakistan and India are perhaps at their lowest point since Partition. Bilateral interaction is close to zero, while Pakistan has strong reasons to believe that its eastern neighbour is playing a key role in fomenting terrorism within its borders. This is unsustainable in the long run, as the threat of conflict is never far away when such a massive gulf of mistrust exists. And while India keeps harping on about the main obstacle to better ties being ‘terrorism’, which it alleges emanates from Pakistan, it is India which is bringing terrorism to this country. Meanwhile, the main flashpoint in South Asia remains the unresolved question of Kashmir. Though New Delhi would like to believe its own fiction that the Kashmir dispute has been ‘resolved’ by the scrapping of the occupied territory’s limited autonomy in 2019, the fact remains that internationally, Kashmir remains a disputed region. The lack of resolution of the Kashmir question results in a state of permanent insecurity in the subcontinent. We... -
Dawn - 04:52 Feb 08, 2026
LAHORE: Bangladesh has expressed keen interest in procuring freight wagons and passenger coaches after Pakistan offered the rolling stock at prices cheaper than those in other countries. A two-member delegation, headed by a senior Bangladeshi official, has also visited the Pakistan Railways (PR) carriage factory in Islamabad and the Mughalpura Workshop in Lahore to receive a briefing from the railway authorities and to witness the rolling stock manufacturing process, Dawn has learnt. According to the Lahore-based PR authorities, Mr Farhad Islam, Bangladesh’s Secretary for International Organisations and Consular Affairs and Designate D-8 Commissioner and Mohammad Iqbal Hussain Khan, High Commissioner of Bangladesh to Pakistan, visited the Mughalpura workshop on Friday. Muhammad Nasir Khalili, Chief Mechanical Engineer (Carriage and Wagons), briefed the delegation on the overall functioning, technical capabilities, and ongoing projects of the PR’s workshops. A short documentary highlighting the workshops’ oper... -
Dawn - 04:48 Feb 08, 2026
ISLAMABAD: The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) and the Power Division faced sharp criticism on Friday from a wide range of stakeholders over proposed changes to net-metering regulations, as critics accused authorities of ganging up against rapid solar energy adoption and pushing the country towards an “inefficient, unreliable and unaffordable” power system. The objections were raised during a marathon public hearing convened by the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) to seek feedback on its proposed Prosumers Regulations 2025, which aim to significantly reduce incentives for net-metering solar consumers. Although Nepra itself proposed the draft regulations, their defence was largely mounted by the Power Division and its utilities, including distribution companies and K-Electric. Participants at the hearing included think tanks, politicians, chambers of commerce, solar installers, service providers, industrialists and domestic consumers, many of whom argued that the propos... -
Dawn - 03:17 Feb 08, 2026
KARACHI: The prices of tomatoes, onions, potatoes, and other vegetables have started creeping up ahead of the start of Ramazan, after hitting rare seasonal lows, thanks to a winter production glut, while prices of flour varieties and fruits have risen. As the holy month will get underway from the third week of this month, fruit vendors have already started charging higher rates for the most sought-after items like banana, apple and guava. In the flour industry, retailers blame millers for raising rates, while flour millers flatly reject the claim. As the new Sindh wheat crop will arrive in March, a random market survey ahead of the holy month reveals a price hike in a 20 kg bag of wheat flour to Rs2,500-2,700 from Rs2,400-2,600 two weeks back, followed by a Rs141 per kg increase in fine flour, up from Rs133 per kg. The Sensitive Price Index ending Feb 4 revealed a slight jump in the price of a 10kg bag of wheat to Rs1,100 from Rs1,050 two weeks back. Vegetable, fruit and flour prices rise ahead of holy month ... -
Dawn - 03:05 Feb 08, 2026
KARACHI: The city is expected to face a daily water shortage of around 200 million gallons for at least four days as the Karachi Water and Sewerage Corporation (KWSC) begins repair work on a leaking 84-inch diameter main water line on Monday. The leak was detected in the Phase-I main water line in Block 19 of Gulshan-i-Iqbal. It prompted the utility to initiate urgent repair and maintenance work. The 96-hour operation will begin at 12 noon on Monday. The Phase-I main pipeline project, particularly the University Road section near Block 19, is part of the high-priority K-4 water augmentation initiative aimed at improving supply reliability. A KWSC spokesman said the repair work was being carried out to stabilise and strengthen the city’s water supply system ahead of Ramazan. He said the decision was taken to ensure a smooth water supply during the holy month, adding that specialised teams would oversee the process to minimise disruption. KWSC says leakages in 84-inch main in Gulshan to be plugged in four days ... -
Dawn - 02:50 Feb 08, 2026
RAWALPINDI: An Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) in Rawalpindi on Saturday dismissed an application filed by PTI founder and former prime minister Imran Khan, seeking permission for a medical check-up by his personal doctors at Adiala jail. After hearing arguments from both sides, the court declined to grant access to Mr Khan’s private physicians inside the jail. Appearing for the PTI founder, counsel Faisal Malik argued that as a former prime minister, his client deserved the same medical facilities previously extended to other ex-premiers, citing Nawaz Sharif as precedent. He contended that Mr Khan was an undertrial prisoner and had the legal right to be examined by doctors of his choice. The lawyer also claimed that Adiala jail lacked adequate facilities for specialised eye treatment. Referring to Pakistan Prison Rules, Mr Malik said Rule 795 required that a prisoner’s family be informed before any medical treatment. He questioned why Mr Khan had been taken to the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) lat... -
Dawn - 02:39 Feb 08, 2026
Ramesh Chandra, 44, from Gopalganj district in Bangladesh’s southwest, 127 kilometres from the capital Dhaka, has been making sculptures for over two decades. He is a voter in the Gopalganj-3 constituency, from where former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was elected for eight consecutive terms. Chandra has long supported Hasina’s Awami League. But this time, the situation is different. Following the mass student-led uprising on August 5, 2024, Sheikh Hasina fled to India. On May 10, 2025, the interim government, headed by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus, banned the political activities of the Awami League and all its affiliates, under the Anti-Terrorism Act. The International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) in Bangladesh, a domestic judicial body founded by Hasina in 2010, is currently prosecuting Awami League leaders for “genocide” and “crimes against humanity”, related to the 2024 movement. Ironically, the same tribunal sentenced Hasina to death for ordering a crackdown on the 2024 protesters. Previously, the... -
Dawn - 02:39 Feb 08, 2026
“This bargain no longer works. Let me be direct. We are in the midst of a rupture, not a transition… You cannot live within the lie of mutual benefit through integration, when integration becomes the source of your subordination.” — Mark Carney, Prime Minister of Canada, at Davos 2026 “After the war, we gave Greenland back to Denmark. How stupid were we to do that? But we did it, but we gave it back. But how ungrateful are they now? And then after the war, which we won, we won it big — without us, right now, you’d all be speaking German and a little Japanese, perhaps.” — Donald Trump, US President, at Davos 2026 “If anyone thinks that the European Union, or Europe as a whole, can defend itself without the US, keep on dreaming. You can’t. We can’t.” — Mark Rutte, Secretary-General Nato, speaking at EU Parliament Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney went to the World Economic Forum at Davos and told the world that his country — by extrapolation, all US allies — had lived a “pleasant fiction” that is now over. Th... -
Dawn - 02:38 Feb 08, 2026
• Law minister sees fourfold drop in cases of enforced disappearances • Says recent reforms must to ‘end judicial overreach’ • Claims military courts hand down ‘lenient sentences’, compared to civil courts • Legal experts warn against 28th Amendment; question govt’s legitimacy LAHORE: Federal Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar on Saturday announced that the government is forming a new high-level committee to investigate the issue of ‘missing persons’ with greater scrutiny, reaffirming the government’s commitment to reaching a target of zero missing person. Addressing the 6th Asma Jahangir Conference in Lahore, Mr Tarar admitted that while the reported number of enforced disappearances dropped significantly in recent years from nearly 10,000 to around 2,600, even the current figure was “unacceptable” from a human rights standpoint. He detailed an interim relief package designed to support the families of missing persons. This policy mechanism, developed over 18 months, provides not only financial assistance but al... -
Dawn - 02:32 Feb 08, 2026
GILGIT: A renowned young mountaineer from Shimshal lost his life after falling from a mountain during ice climbing in the Khyber area of Gojal, Hunza, on Saturday. According to officials, Shah Daulat, 31, a resident of Shimshal, was climbing an ice wall in Khyber village along with a foreign tourist. The two were practising ice climbing, as the mountain develops a steep ice wall during winter. During the climb on Friday evening, Shah Daulat suddenly slipped on the ice and fell nearly 400 metres, sustaining fatal injuries. He died on the spot. Local volunteers later recovered his body and shifted it to a government hospital in Sost, near the Pakistan–China border at Khunjerab Pass. On Saturday, his body was dispatched to Shimshal for burial. Shah Daulat was a young and highly respected climber from Shimshal. He had successfully summited four eight-thousand-meter peaks, including the world’s second-highest peak K2 (8,611m), Nanga Parbat (8,126m), Gasherbrum-II (8,035m), and Gasherbrum-I (8,080m). In 2025, he a... -
Dawn - 02:25 Feb 08, 2026
RAWALPINDI: The Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) has forecast rain, snow and thunderstorms in the upper parts of the country as well as Balochistan over the next two days, as a westerly wave is likely to approach the western parts of the country on Feb 8 (today). The PMD said that due to the new weather system, landslides may occur in vulnerable areas of upper Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Gilgit-Baltistan and Kashmir, warning that snowfall may cause traffic disruptions and slippery conditions in the hilly areas on Feb 9 and Feb 10. Tourists have been urged to remain extra cautious and avoid unnecessary travel during the forecast period. Under the influence of this weather system, rain accompanied by wind and thunderstorms, with snowfall over the hills, is expected in Quetta, Ziarat, Chaman, Pishin, Qilla Abdullah, Qilla Saifullah, Chaghai, Nushki, Harnai, Zhob, Kalat, Mastung, Barkhan, Sibi, Loralai, Khuzdar, Kech, Gwadar, Panjgur and Awaran on Feb 8 and 9. In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, rain-wind/thunderstorms with... -
Dawn - 18:21 Feb 07, 2026
KARACHI: A suspected robber was lynched by an angry mob in Korangi area on Saturday night, according to police. Zaman Town Station House Officer (SHO) Rao Aurangzeb told Dawn that three suspects had attempted to rob citizens near Mutkay Wali Pull in Korangi No. 2. People got hold of one suspect while his two suspected accomplices managed to escape, the official said. The mob beat him up, killing him on the spot, he said. “The suspect was killed with sticks and other weapons. His identity could not be ascertained immediately, as no CNIC [card] was found in his pocket,” he said. The SHO said that the suspect’s body was moved to Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC) for legal formalities. Last year in May, a suspected robber was lynched by an angry mob, which also set the body on fire, after he shot and wounded two brothers during a robbery in New Karachi. According to police, two suspects had attempted to loot a general store in Sector-11-G. Two shopkeepers, Mohammed Faisal and Mohammed Faizan, who were als... -
Dawn - 17:48 Feb 07, 2026
Denmark’s foreign minister said on Saturday that his country is now in a better position regarding United States President Donald Trump’s desire to acquire Greenland — an autonomous Danish territory — but stressed the crisis is not yet resolved. “We are not out of the crisis, and we do not have a solution yet,” Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen told reporters in Greenland’s capital Nuuk, while adding: “We are in a much better position now, compared to a few weeks ago.” The minister added that there “are no threats on the table, there is no trade war with Europe” and that everyone agreed the situation should be worked out in a “normal diplomatic way”. Since returning to the White House last year, Trump has insisted that Washington needs to control the strategic Arctic island for security reasons. Last month, he backed off threats to seize Greenland after striking a “framework” deal with Nato chief Mark Rutte to ensure greater US influence. A US-Denmark-Greenland working group was established to discuss Was... -
Dawn - 16:57 Feb 07, 2026
The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Saturday denied approaching the International Cricket Council (ICC) in connection with the team’s boycott of the match against India on February 15. In a post on the social media platform X, the PCB issued a statement attributed to its spokesperson, Amir Mir. “I categorically reject the claim by Indian sports journalist Vikrant Gupta that the PCB approached the ICC,” Mir was quoted as saying. Gupta, earlier in the day, had posted on X that the PCB had “reached out to the ICC for dialogue”. He had alleged that after the ICC wrote back to the PCB regarding the legal ramifications it could face, the board approached the cricket world body for talks to resolve the issue. “As usual, sections of the Indian media are busy circulating fiction. A little patience and time will clearly show who actually went knocking and who didn’t,” PCB spokesperson Mir said. It is worth mentioning that earlier on Saturday, AFP had reported a source close to the developments as saying that the PCB ha... -
Dawn - 16:40 Feb 07, 2026
ISLAMABAD: PTI stalwart Asad Qaiser said on Saturday that the party would go ahead with its countrywide protest on Feb 8 (Sunday) — the second anniversary of the 2024 general polls — but would also observe a day of mourning in the wake of the suicide bombing in Islamabad a day earlier. Talking to Dawn, Qaiser termed rumours regarding the party cancelling or postponing the protest incorrect. “The fact is that we have decided that the day will be observed as a national day of mourning. At the same time, protests will also be held across the country against rigging during the general elections,” he said. Replying to a question, he said that February 8 was not limited to PTI founder Imran Khan or the PTI. “It is a day on which the whole nation was deprived of democracy and the right to choose its representatives. We will hold the protest and a complete shutter-down strike against the injustice with the masses,” he added. Qaiser said that the PTI and Tehreek Tahafuz Ayeen-i-Pakistan (TTAP) opposition alliance woul... -
Dawn - 16:32 Feb 07, 2026
Information Minister Attaullah Tarar on Saturday held the PTI responsible for the resurgence in terrorism in the country, while the party slammed the minister for choosing to do so with a “hateful rhyme”. The minister made the remarks while addressing a press conference alongside religious scholars in Lahore to show solidarity and unity after the suicide attack at an imambargah in Islamabad on Friday. Asked by a reporter whether the blast was a “failure of security agencies”, Tarar asserted, “No, not at all.” He went on to stress that Pakistan’s security institutions were hailed as examples internationally, recalling the recovery of abducted passengers “with minimal damages” during the deadly Jaffar Express attack. The minister also brought up the Pak-India conflict in May 2025, when “the enemy was brought to its knees, sought mediation and said ‘I’m sorry’”. He said that while a terrorist attack on the outskirts of Islamabad in the presence of the Safe City system and with “security agencies having entire ap... -
Dawn - 15:59 Feb 07, 2026
ISLAMABAD: Lawyers Imaan Zainab Mazari-Hazir and her spouse Hadi Ali Chattha on Saturday challenged their conviction in the controversial social media posts case by filing separate criminal appeals in the Islamabad High Court (IHC). The appeals sought to have the trial court’s January 24 verdict — which handed the couple a total of 17 years in jail on multiple charges — declared null and void. In their appeals, the appellants contended that the impugned judgment was passed in blatant violation of settled legal principles and mandatory procedural requirements. They argued that the trial court proceeded to pronounce the verdict despite the fact that an application seeking transfer of the case was pending adjudication before the IHC, rendering the decision unlawful and without jurisdiction. According to the appeals, once a transfer application was filed and pending before a superior court, the trial court was barred from proceeding further in the matter. The appellants maintained that any judgment delivered unde... -
Dawn - 15:43 Feb 07, 2026
Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi said on Saturday that four facilitators of the suicide attack on an imambargah in Islamabad, including the “main mastermind”, had been arrested during raids in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. He made the remarks while speaking to the media in Islamabad. In his media talk, the interior minister said that operations were underway throughout last night to trace those behind the attack. Making special mention of the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) and the KP police for their joint efforts, he said, “All those people linked to this, and the mastermind, at around 3am, all of them were apprehended.” He lauded all “agencies”, saying that this incident was a “test case”. “After the blast, raids were carried out in Nowshera and Peshawar, in which four facilitators were caught. And their mastermind, who is an Afghan, was also caught,” he said. He said that an assistant sub-inspector of KP police was martyred during the raids, while others were injured. “But the main mastermind is linked to Daesh an... -
Dawn - 14:04 Feb 07, 2026
ISLAMABAD: The death toll from the Islamabad imambargah attack rose to 36 on Saturday, according to hospital officials. The attack occurred at Imambargah Qasr-i-Khadijatul Kubra in the Tarlai area on the city’s outskirts during Friday prayers. Over 160 others were injured, with the death toll expected to rise. “A 21-year-old man who was brought from the imambargah has died,” Dr Aneeza Jalil, a spokesperson at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims), confirmed to Dawn. “The number of deaths has reached 33, and nine patients are in very serious condition,” she added. She recalled that 149 injured and 28 bodies were brought to Pims on Friday following the attack. Separately, HBS Hospital’s Dr Riaz Janjua confirmed to Dawn that three deaths from the attack were reported at his hospital. Great progress in probe: info minister Information Minister Attaullah Tarar held a press conference in Lahore with various religious scholars, including Allama Muhammad Hussain Akbar. “There has been progress to a great ...
7934 items