Pakistan

Pakistan Army spokesperson Lieutenant General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry has accused India of using Afghan soil to wage terrorism against Pakistan and urged the Afghan people not to allow their land to be used for such activities.

Two more students, Sheema Ibrahim and Muskan, succumbed to their injuries while receiving treatment after the recent terrorist attack on a school bus in Khuzdar, raising the death toll to eight, according to security sources.

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...

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...

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar today held a telephone conversation with the Foreign Minister of Uzbekistan, Saidov Bakhtiyor Odilovich.

Government has decided to launch operation against illegal constructions in Islamabad.

Pakistan has termed India's decision to illegally and unilaterally suspend the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty as a grave violation of international law, including human rights law, the treaty law and customary international law.

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...

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,...

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...

A private airline flight (FL-842) from Karachi to Lahore narrowly averted disaster on Saturday evening when it was caught in a violent storm while attempting to land at Allama Iqbal International Airport.

The Pakistan Polio Programme has officially launched its third round of National Immunisation Days (NIDs), marking another major step in the country’s drive to eradicate poliovirus.

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...

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...

• 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...

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...

In a stirring tribute to the valiant sacrifices of Pakistan’s armed forces, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) has released a powerful new anthem titled "Dharkan Pe Aik Hi Naam", celebrating the landmark success of Operation Bunyan-Un-Marsoos.

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...

The maximum temperature in Karachi is expected to hover between 39°C and 40°C on Sunday, with high humidity levels making it feel as hot as 45°C in coastal areas, the Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) has warned.

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...