Dawn
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Dawn - 17:04 Dec 20, 2025
ISLAMABAD: A special court on Saturday sentenced PTI founder Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi to 17 years imprisonment in the Toshakhana-2 case. The case pertains to the purchase of an expensive Bulgari jewellery set, gifted to Imran by the Saudi crown prince during an official visit in May 2021, at a throwaway price. During the proceedings, the prosecution contended that the PTI founder retained the jewellery set, valued at approximately Rs80 million, after paying only Rs2.9m. The verdict was delivered by Special Judge Central Shahrukh Arjumand during a hearing held at Rawalpindi’s Adiala jail, where Imran is incarcerated. Imran was sentenced to a total of 17 years in prison; he was awarded 10-year rigorous imprisonment under sections 34 (common intention) and 409 (criminal breach of trust) of the Pakistan Penal Code, and seven years under Section 5(2) (criminal misconduct by public servants) of the Prevention of Corruption Act. Bushra Bibi was also sentenced to a total of 17 years’ imprisonment under the... -
Dawn - 17:02 Dec 20, 2025
LAHORE: An anti-terrorism court (ATC) on Saturday sentenced PTI leaders Dr Yasmin Rashid, Ejaz Chaudry, Omar Sarfraz Cheema and Mian Mehmoodur Rasheed to 10 years in prison terms in two more May 9 cases. The latest court verdict comes a day after a Lahore ATC acquitted PTI leader Shah Mahmood Qureshi, while sentencing four other leaders, including Dr. Yasmin Rashid, Omer Sarfraz Cheema, Mian Mehmoodur Rashid, and Ejaz Chaudhry, to 10 years in prison in another case related to the May 9 riots. Rana Mudassar, the counsel for the PTI leaders, confirmed the development to Dawn, saying the cases are related to the burning of police vehicles in Lahore’s Gulberg and the burning of a container near Kalma Chowk during the nationwide riots on May 9, 2023 following the arrest of PTI founder Imran Khan. On that day, supporters and workers of the party, reacting to founder Imran Khan’s arrest, vandalised and torched military installations and government properties. The state subsequently launched a crackdown against Imran... -
Dawn - 15:45 Dec 20, 2025
PESHAWAR: After weeks of protracted deliberations with security and administration officials, tribal elders from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s restive Tirah valley finally agreed to start vacating their homes from January 10, ahead of an operation against militants, after reaching a written agreement with the district administration. The deadlock had persisted between the valley’s tribal elders and government officials over the launch of a military operation in the valley as well as the relocation of families to prevent collateral damage. Sources among the 24-member jirga, who negotiated the written agreement on the displacement process with the district administration, said that the entire Tirah valley would be vacated by January 25, 2026, thus paving the way for the long-anticipated military operation against all proscribed militant groups currently holed up in the valley. Spelling out the terms and conditions of the written agreement, the jirga said that the district administration agreed to pay Rs3 million to thos... -
Dawn - 15:32 Dec 20, 2025
Jeffery Epstein, a convicted sex offender, died by suicide in 2019 while awaiting trial on charges of sex trafficking of underage girls. He held close associations with several influential people, including business tycoons and celebrities. The US Department of Justice on Friday released a new cache of documents from its investigations into the late convicted sex offender. The Epstein files have been a significant political problem for President Donald Trump, with many of his supporters and Republicans in Congress demanding their release. It remains to be seen if this partial release will satisfy Trump’s critics on the issue. Former US President Bill Clinton, Michael Jackson and Diana Ross are seen in this image released by the Department of Justice in Washington, DC, US, on December 19, 2025 as part of a new trove of documents from its investigations into the late financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. —Reuters Sarah Ferguson, at the time Britain’s Duchess of York, is seen in this image releas... -
Dawn - 15:01 Dec 20, 2025
QUETTA: Baloch rights activist Abdul Qadeer Baloch passed away on Saturday in a Quetta hospital after a prolonged illness. He served as the vice chairman of the Voice for Baloch Missing Persons (VBMP), which set up a camp years ago on Quetta’s Adalat Road, a site that has long stood as a symbol of protest against enforced disappearances in Balochistan. VBMP Chairman Nasrullah Baloch confirmed the rights activist’s passing to Dawn, saying: “He had been ill for a long time and was undergoing treatment at a private hospital in Quetta for the past two months.” The group’s chairman added that the funeral prayers and burial would be performed on Sunday in Shaheed Sikanderabad district. Baloch said the deceased’s struggle had remained prominent in human rights circles across the country. In November 2011, Qadeer received the mutilated body of his son, Jalil Reiki, who was the information secretary of the Baloch Republican Party. The kidnapping and subsequent death of his son further galvanised the advocacy group, st... -
Dawn - 14:19 Dec 20, 2025
The United States Justice Department released thousands of heavily redacted documents related to the late financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein on Friday that made scant reference to President Donald Trump but extensively featured Democratic former president Bill Clinton. The absence of references to Trump was notable given that pictures and documents related to him have trickled out of previous Epstein releases for years. Trump’s name appeared in flight manifests listing passengers on Epstein’s private plane that were part of a first batch of Epstein material the Justice Department released in February, for instance. The partial release was intended to comply with a law overwhelmingly passed by Congress in November that mandated the disclosure of all Epstein files, despite the Republican president’s months-long effort to keep them sealed. The scandal surrounding Epstein has become a self-inflicted political wound for Trump, who for years had promoted conspiracy theories about Epstein to his su... -
Dawn - 13:41 Dec 20, 2025
The United States (US) is facing a delicate balancing act in defining the mandate for a proposed International Stabilisation Force (ISF) in Gaza. Any plan must address the concerns of potential troop-contributing countries while also satisfying Israel’s security demands — a combination that has so far proven elusive. As diplomats gathered this week in Doha and Miami, it became clear that clarity on legal authority, rules of engagement, and operational responsibilities is a prerequisite for any country, particularly Muslim-majority nations, to commit troops. Until these questions are resolved, phase two of the Gaza peace plan risks remaining largely a blueprint on paper rather than an actionable plan. Consultations in Doha and Miami Earlier this week, the United States and its partners convened a conference in Doha, Qatar, bringing together representatives from more than two dozen countries to discuss key aspects of the ISF, including leadership, rules of engagement, and operational structure. The meeting, how... -
Dawn - 13:39 Dec 20, 2025
ISLAMABAD: Mahmood Khan Achakzai, head of the Tehreek Tahafuz Ayeen-i-Pakistan (TTAP) and chairman of the Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party, lamented on Saturday that the Constitution and the law “have been torn to shreds” in the country and asked that the sovereignty of Parliament be acknowledged. He expressed these views in the inaugural address at the two-day national conference titled “Protection of the Consensus Constitution: The Need of the Hour and a Way Forward through Collective Wisdom”, organised by TTAP - an alliance of opposition parties. The opposition alliance had announced the national conference after Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director General Lt Gen Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry assailed Imran Khan for creating and spreading an “anti-army” rhetoric, stating that such narratives were now out of the realm of politics and had become a “national security threat”. “The current situation in the country is such that the Constitution and the law have been torn to shreds, and raising one’s voice agai... -
Dawn - 11:23 Dec 20, 2025
Tens of thousands of Bangladeshi mourners, including the country’s interim government leader, attended the funeral on Saturday of a slain youth leader and election candidate amid tight security. Sharif Osman Hadi, 32, a key figure in last year’s student-led uprising that toppled longtime Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, was shot in the head by masked assailants in Dhaka last week while launching his campaign for an election due in February. He died on Thursday in Singapore after six days on life support. His death has prompted a wave of unrest in the South Asian nation that included coordinated mob attacks on major newspapers and cultural institutions. Police and paramilitary forces were deployed across the capital for Saturday’s funeral, but there were no reports of any renewed violence. A convoy carrying the body of Sharif Osman Hadi, a student leader, who died after being shot in the head, moves along the crowd after the funeral prayer, in Dhaka, Bangladesh, December 20. — Reuters Interim government leader Mu... -
Dawn - 09:58 Dec 20, 2025
The Ministry of Finance said on Saturday that the federal government released provincial shares under the National Finance Commission (NFC) on a fortnightly basis, adding that “no outstanding liabilities exist in this regard”. The statement from the ministry came a day after Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi accused the federal government of stalling development in the merged tribal districts by not disbursing funds under the NFC resource-distribution formula for the current fiscal year. In the statement released on Saturday, the ministry reaffirmed the federal government’s “continued commitment to ensuring timely, transparent, and sustained financial transfers” to KP under the NFC Award and beyond. It said that under the 7th NFC Award, KP’s share was determined at 14.62 per cent of the provincial share in the divisible pool. “In recognition of the extraordinary burden borne by the province during the war on terror, an additional one per cent of the undivided divisible pool was allocated exclusi... -
Dawn - 09:22 Dec 20, 2025
A passenger train smashed into a herd of elephants in India’s northeast, killing seven animals on the spot, officials said Saturday. No travellers were injured in the accident in Assam state, home to more than 4,000 of the roughly 22,000 wild elephants in India. Senior Assam police official V.V. Rakesh Reddy told AFP that seven jumbos were killed, and one elephant sustained an injury. Five coaches of the train, which was headed to New Delhi from remote Mizoram state, were derailed. Authorities have introduced speed restrictions along routes designated elephant corridors, but the latest accident occurred outside of these zones, Kapinjal Kishore Sharma, an Indian Railways spokesman said. “The loco pilot, on observing the herd of elephants, applied emergency brakes. However, elephants dashed with the train,” he said. Deforestation and construction activity near their habitats force elephants to stray further afield for food, often bringing them into conflict with humans. According to parliamentary figures, 629 p... -
Dawn - 08:31 Dec 20, 2025
Pat Cummins skittled England’s top order and Nathan Lyon spun out their soft underbelly to all but seal another Ashes series victory for Australia on day four of the third Test at Adelaide Oval on Saturday. Chasing a world record 435 runs to win, England were reduced to 207 for six at stumps, still 228 runs short of victory and having played no small part in their predicament through batting misadventure. Jamie Smith, on two, and Will Jacks, on 11, were left to try to salvage something from the wreckage of another demolition day for the tourists. With holders Australia 2-0 up in the five-test series after eight-wicket wins in Perth and Brisbane, they need only draw the match to retain the urn. View this post on Instagram But there is little prospect of a rousing comeback win from an England squad that have failed to live up to expectations. “Obviously very disappointing. Uphill battle from here,” England opener Zak Crawley told reporters. “We came here to win the Ashes and we’re staring down the barrel now ….... -
Dawn - 07:53 Dec 20, 2025
The World Bank has approved $700 million in financing for Pakistan under a multi-year initiative aimed at supporting the country’s macroeconomic stability and service delivery, it emerged on Saturday. The lender said the funds will be released under the bank’s Public Resources for Inclusive Development — Multiphase Programmatic Approach (PRID-MPA), which could provide up to $1.35 billion in total financing. Of this amount, $600m will go for federal programmes and $100m will support a provincial programme in Sindh. The approval follows a $47.9m World Bank grant in August to improve primary education in Punjab. A separate statement issued by the lender quoted Bolormaa Amgaabazar, the World Bank’s country director for Pakistan, as saying, “Pakistan’s path to inclusive, sustainable growth requires mobilising more domestic resources and ensuring they are used efficiently and transparently to deliver results for people.” She said that through the MPA, the bank was working with the federal and Sindh governments to “... -
Dawn - 06:34 Dec 20, 2025
Alphabet’s Google has advised some employees on US visas to avoid international travel due to delays at embassies, Business Insider reported on Friday, citing an internal email. The email, sent by the company’s outside counsel BAL Immigration Law on Thursday, warned staff who need a visa stamp to re-enter the United States not to leave the country because visa processing times have lengthened, the report said. Google did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. Some US embassies and consulates face visa appointment delays of up to 12 months, the memo said, warning that international travel will “risk an extended stay outside the US”, according to the report. The administration of US President Donald Trump this month announced increased vetting of applicants for H-1B visas for highly skilled workers, including screening social media accounts. The H-1B visa programme, widely used by the US technology sector to hire skilled workers from India and China, has been under the spotlight after the Tru... -
Dawn - 05:24 Dec 20, 2025
The US military launched large-scale strikes against dozens of Islamic State targets in Syria on Friday in retaliation for an attack on American personnel, US officials said. A US-led coalition had already been carrying out airstrikes and ground operations in Syria targeting Islamic State suspects in recent months, often with the involvement of Syria’s security forces. US President Donald Trump had vowed to retaliate after a suspected ISIS attack killed US personnel last weekend in Syria. US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said the strikes targeted “ISIS fighters, infrastructure, and weapons sites” and said the operation was “OPERATION HAWKEYE STRIKE”. “This is not the beginning of a war it is a declaration of vengeance,” Hegseth said. “Today, we hunted and we killed our enemies. Lots of them. And we will continue,” he added. Trump said on social media that the Syrian government fully supported the strikes and that the US was inflicting “very serious retaliation”. At a speech in North Carolina on Friday night,... -
Dawn - 05:21 Dec 20, 2025
PPP leader Sherry Rehman has said that Minister for Communications Abdul Aleem Khan must apologise following his heated exchange with Senator Palwasha Khan during a Senate panel meeting on Friday. Palwasha, who is also a PPP leader, and the federal minister had traded sharp remarks on Friday over the construction of a road allegedly benefiting a private housing society during a meeting of the Senate Standing Committee on Communications. View this post on Instagram In a post on the social media platform X late on Friday night, Rehman said, “What happened today in a Senate standing committee can neither become normalised nor considered acceptable. No federal minister should speak the way Aleem Khan did with Senator Palwasha in a communications committee meeting.” Rehman further said that it was Senator Palwasha’s “absolute responsibility and right to ask questions” and to hold the government accountable. “He must apologise. I am not even going to say that it is necessary because she is a woman. She is due ... -
Dawn - 03:07 Dec 20, 2025
• NCSW slams judgement, says prosecution’s findings disregarded • In dissenting note, judge notes delay in reporting sexual assault not fatal to prosecution ISLAMABAD: The recent Supreme Court verdict, commuting a rape conviction to a charge of fornication, has sparked considerable controversy, with the National Commission on the Status of Women (NCSW) sharply criticising the judgement, and one judge on the bench dissenting from the majority ruling. The NCSW noted with concern that the prosecution’s findings — including investigative evidence and judicial conclusions reached by the trial court and the Lahore High Court (LHC) — were effectively disregarded, resulting in the accused being discharged from the offence of rape. “Such an outcome raises critical questions regarding the adjudication of sexual violence cases and the application of legal standards relating to consent,” the commission regretted. The NCSW also highlighted that consent could not be inferred from silence, delayed reporting, or the absence... -
Dawn - 02:55 Dec 20, 2025
• Dr Yasmin Rashid, Omer Sarfraz Cheema, Mian Mehmoodur Rashid and Ejaz Chaudhry handed 10-year terms in May 9-related GOR-I attack case • In joint letter, five incarcerated leaders push for dialogue to resolve crisis LAHORE: In another case linked to the May 9 riots, an anti-terrorism court (ATC) on Saturday acquitted former foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, while awarding 10-year prison sentences to senior PTI leaders Dr Yasmin Rashid, Omer Sarfraz Cheema, Mian Mehmoodur Rashid and former senator Ejaz Chaudhry. ATC-I Judge Manzer Ali Gill announced the verdict inside Kot Lakhpat Jail after concluding the trial of the accused in FIR No 852/2023, which relates to an attack on the entrance gate of the GOR-I Club Chowk. The case had been registered by the Race Course police, who later submitted a challan against 25 accused persons, including PTI leaders and party workers. In the same case, the court also handed down 10-year imprisonment sentences to PTI workers Qasim Elahi, Muhammad Shehbaz, Mushtaq and Ab... -
Dawn - 02:25 Dec 20, 2025
ISLAMABAD: A visible split among lawyers in the federal capital on Friday resulted in only a partial strike, as a small group of lawyers observed the call issued by the Islamabad District Bar Association (DBA) to protest the removal of Justice Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri, while the Islamabad High Court Bar Association (IHCBA) played down the verdict that led to his ouster. Justice Jahangiri was removed from office through a short order passed by an Islamabad High Court (IHC) division bench comprising Chief Justice Sardar Mohammad Sarfraz Dogar and Justice Mohammad Azam Khan. The bench ruled that his elevation to the high court was “without lawful authority” and that he had “ceased to hold” the office with immediate effect. The short order was announced at around 3:30pm. However, sources said Justice Jahangiri had left his chamber for his residence approximately half an hour earlier, adding that he may have been informed of the decision before its formal announcement. An official of his court told Dawn that the ... -
Dawn - 02:19 Dec 20, 2025
• Govt withdraws ban on drawing pension, salary upon re-employment • Finance ministry cites ‘recruitment difficulties’ in commissions, tribunals ISLAMABAD: In a major policy reversal amid a slight improvement in fiscal stability, the government on Friday withdrew a ban on double benefits of pension and salary for re-employed civil, judicial and military bureaucrats, introduced earlier this year and touted as a major pension reform. The Ministry of Finance silently issued a terse notification stating that two earlier relevant orders, dated April 22 and June 19, 2025, on the subject, “are hereby withdrawn with immediate effect”. The bureaucracy had earlier restored its perks and privileges on account of board memberships in state-owned enterprises (SOEs) ab initio, and secured executive allowances and transport monetisation allowances exceeding Rs300,000 per month on top of salaries, allowances, and other ancillary benefits. Under the April 22, 2025, order, the government formally notified that public servants ...
6698 items