Pakistan

Hospitals on high alert, public urged to stay vigilant

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Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar, on Friday, received Saudi Arabia’s Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Adel Al-Jubeir her at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and discussed matters of mutual interest.

Director General of Inter-Services Public Relations (DG ISPR), Lt Gen Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry, said on Friday that India could not act as the judge, jury, and executioner in a case involving two states.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Friday said that the government’s priority in the upcoming budget was to provide relief to the common man, stating that all-out resources will be utilised to reduce the financial difficulties of the poor and the middle class. Chairing a meeting on the preparation of the federal budget 2025-26, the premier directed that the upcoming budget should be prepared with a focus on sustainable export-driven growth and considering the projects to promote industries and increase production “The budget should also focus extensively on the creation of jobs, agriculture, information technology, small and medium enterprises, and the housing sector,” he added. The prime minister said that the government and private sector must work together for development and prosperity. Calling the public-private partnerships and youth vocational training among the government’s priorities, the premier noted that positive results were emerging from the power sector reforms, as the reduction in electricity pr...

Foreign Minister of Japan Iwaya Takeshi on Friday telephoned Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar and expressed deep concern over the evolving situation between Pakistan and India.

Federal Minister for Law and Justice Azam Nazeer Tarar said that Pakistan’s proposal for an investigation into the Pahlgam incident has been praised not only by the international community but also by the United Nations Secretary-General.

In response to disruptions in flight schedules caused by escalating tensions between Pakistan and India, the Ministry of Religious Affairs has launched a dedicated helpline to assist Hajj pilgrims.

The official X account of Pakistan’s Finance Ministry was hacked overnight, officials confirmed on Friday.

Pakistan says India's reckless conduct has brought the two nuclear-armed states closer to a major conflict.

Thousands of people rallied on Friday outside the residence of Bangladesh’s interim leader Muhammad Yunus, demanding that he ban the political party of former prime minister Sheikh Hasina. Nobel Peace Prize winner Yunus, 84, has led an interim government since Hasina was overthrown by student-led mass protests in August 2024 and fled into exile as crowds stormed her palace. Friday’s rally came after the sudden departure of Abdul Hamid, a former leader of Hasina’s Awami League party, from Bangladesh early on Thursday. A crowd, mainly made up of young people, had started gathering outside Yunus’ residence on Thursday night. Hasnat Abdullah, the chief organiser of the newly formed National Citizen’s Party, said the demonstration would continue until their demands were met. “Sheikh Hasina robbed the people of Bangladesh of their democratic rights. She manipulated the system to prevent any real opposition from participating in the election,” Kamrul said. “We saw Abdul Hamid leave the country safely. The actions of...

Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah announced on Friday that Karachi would host the 35th National Games from December 6 to 13 after it was postponed from its initial dates in May. The games were set to be held from May 1-9 in Karachi but were postponed in April due to “unavoidable circumstances,” according to an official letter issued by the Sindh Olympic Association. Murad held a meeting today at CM House with a high-level delegation of the Pakistan Olympic Association (POA) to finalise preparations for the games. He welcomed the opportunity to host National Games, pledging full cooperation to ensure the games are organised in accordance with international standards. He directed all relevant departments to provide essential facilities to athletes, including training, medical care, transportation, and modern infrastructure. CM Murad announced the construction of a new swimming pool and acquisition of modern electronic timing and scoring systems. A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was also signed between the ...

In war, truth is the first casualty. The Indian media, it would appear, isn’t happy to just kill the truth. Over the last few days, hysterical war-crazed news anchors, buoyed by trolls and pundits on social media, have made every effort to crush the truth, stomp on it, tear it up, chop it into fine pieces, set it on fire and throw away the ashes in the Indian Ocean. When Greek dramatic Aeschylus (525/524 bc — 456/455 bc) coined the phrase, he may have been referring to the propaganda spread by states through scrolls and word of mouth. That was a simpler time — states could get away with untruths and falsehoods, with the other side none the wiser. It takes a different kind of arrogance, however, to try to pull this off in the 21st century, when the information ecosystem is no longer inhibited by geographical limitations or even the imperative of a closed media landscape. Into the metaverse Over the last 24 hours, in particular, the kind of disinformation coming out of the Indian information ecosystem has been ...

ISPR DG Lt Gen Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry has outright rejected India’s claims of cross‑border terrorism as politically driven and unsupported by evidence.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has said that providing relief to the common man in the upcoming budget is the government's top priority.

Special prayers were offered in the mosques across the country during Jumma congregational prayers on Friday, expressing deep solidarity with the Pakistan Army amid ongoing tensions.

Remittances from overseas Pakistani workers clocked in at $3.2 billion for the month of April, up 13 per cent year-on-year, according to State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) data released on Friday. Topline Securities, a brokerage firm in Karachi, noted, “Worker remittances clocked in at US$3.2bn, up 13pc YoY in Apr-2025. “This takes 10MFY25 remittances to US$31bn, up 31pc YoY,” it added. According to the firm, inflows during April were mainly sourced from Saudi Arabia ($725m), UAE ($658m), UK ($535m), and US ($302m). Earlier, the government had set a target of $35bn in remittances for the current fiscal year (FY25), but financial experts believe the inflow would exceed the estimate. “The inflows could reach up to $36bn in FY25,” said a currency dealer in the banking market. A study published by the Asian Development Bank found that Pakistani migrants tend to remit more when economic conditions are improving back home and when there is a positive association between remittances and domestic economic activity. The stu...

Pope Leo XIV on Friday celebrated his first Mass in Vatican City’s Sistine Chapel where he was elected less than 24 hours earlier and prayed that his historic papacy can help the Catholic Church be a beacon illuminating “the dark nights of this world”. Leo, the former Cardinal Robert Prevost and the first US pope, looked serene as he said the Mass in the famous, frescoed chapel with the same cardinals who chose him to be the 267th pontiff and the successor to Pope Francis. Dressed in relatively simple white and gold vestments, Leo, who was born in Chicago but spent two decades as a missionary in Peru, said a few words in English before continuing his homily in fluent Italian. He painted the spiritual picture of the Church he would like to see under his papacy. “God has …. entrusted this treasure to me so that, with his help, I may be its faithful administrator for the sake of the entire mystical Body of the Church,” he said. “He has done so in order that she may be ever more fully a city set on a hill, an ark...

Shares at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) recovered nearly 4,000 points on Friday after the index suffered its largest-ever plunge a day earlier, causing losses to the tune of Rs820 billion loss to equity investors following Indian drone attacks in major cities across the country. The benchmark KSE-100 index climbed 799.65, or 0.77 per cent, to stand at 104,326.46 from the previous close of 103,526.81 at 11:06am. At 4:31pm, the index recovered 3647.82, or 3.52pc, to stand at 107,174.63 from the last close. Mohammed Sohail, chief executive of Topline Securities, said that after falling sharply by 6pc yesterday, the stocks had recovered. “So far, there has been no news of any major escalation which helped restore confidence,” he said. Yousuf M. Farooq, director research at Chase Securities, noted, “Stocks on the PSX remained volatile today, opening higher as participants increasingly factored in that an all-out war with India is unlikely. “Some investors have begun accumulating stocks trading at highly attrac...