Pakistan

An Islamabad district and sessions court on Thursday set aside a lower court’s order to block 27 YouTube channels, granting relief to 11 petitioners. In July, it emerged that an Islamabad court had ordered YouTube in June to block 27 channels for disseminating “fake, misleading, and defamatory” content against the government and armed forces. The sanctioned accounts were being run by journalists, political commentators and social media influencers in Pakistan and overseas. The ban order sparked criticism from various legal and digital rights groups. Among the 27 channels were those of the PTI, journalists Matiuallah Jan, Wajahat Khan, Ahmad Noorani and Asad Ali Toor; former anchors Imran Riaz, Orya Maqbool, Sabir Shakir, and Moeed Pirzada. Additional District and Sessions Judge (ADSJ) Muhammad Afzal Majoka had later suspended the order for at least seven petitioners. A total of 11 of those impacted had appealed against the lower court’s order. ADSJ Majoka conducted a hearing over the matter today and expresse...

Patients from capital's suburbs can now reach treatment for as little as Rs50

Nursery to grade eight pupils will exchange books under new plan

Accused were booked in separate cases of assaulting disabled child, another minor

The National Disaster Management Authority arranged a briefing session for the foreign diplomats in Islamabad on Thursday to sensitize them about the prevailing humanitarian and infrastructural impacts of the ongoing Monsoon season.

The National Assembly Standing Committee on Information and Broadcasting has directed the relevant authorities to formulate a comprehensive code of conduct for anchors affiliated with the state broadcaster aiming to prevent the recurrence of recent incidents and ensure responsible journalism within state-run media platforms.

The District and Sessions Court in Islamabad has set aside the earlier decision to shut down multiple YouTube channels.

The week of September 8, 2025, was just another week for RC Gautam, an errand boy at Kantipur Television. During two decades of his employment at the station, he had seen several street protests, dire political situations, a civil war, shootouts, violence and even an attack on the channel’s headquarters. But September 9 panned out a bit differently for him. “I can’t even begin to tell you how many people stormed our station. It all happened so quickly,” he told me over the phone. An irate mob rushed into the Kantipur TV building on Tuesday, set fire to three buildings on its premises, torched two dozen bikes and over a dozen cars. The station was just one of the hundreds of buildings and homes that came under attack in the wake of what is being dubbed the ’Gen Z’ protests in Nepal, which quickly spiralled out of control on September 8. People look at the remains and ravages of the charred Supreme Court building in Kathmandu on September 10, 2025. — AFP Triggered by a recent social media ban, the demonstrators...

Several PTI senators have resigned from their respective senate standing committees on Thursday, saying that they had made the move in line with the instructions of incarcerated PTI founder Imran Khan. So far, seven senators have quit the Senate standing committees, including Dost Muhammad, Zeeshan Khanzada, Mirza Muhammad Afridi, Muhammad Azam Khan Swati, Mohammad Humayun Mohmand, Falak Naz and Aon Abbas Buppi. The development comes two weeks after the PTI claimed some 30 of its lawmakers resigned from the membership of parliamentary committees, although the National Assembly Secretariat only confirmed the receipt of 20 resignations. The resignation letters of all seven senators, seen by Dawn.com, stated that the decision was made “voluntarily” upon the orders of Imran. They resigned from all their respective standing committees, decrying Imran’s incarceration as well as the “disintegration of democratic norms” in the wake of the recent disqualification of PTI lawmakers. Imran, imprisoned since August 2023, ...

Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday assured the Qatari leadership of Pakistan’s full solidarity and support in the face of unjustified provocation by Israel.

An anti-terrorism court (ATC) in Quetta on Thursday extended the physical remand of Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC) chief Dr Mahrang Baloch and other organisers of the group on the police’s request, according to her lawyer. Advocate Israr Baloch told Dawn.com: “The arrested leaders of the BYC were presented before Judge Muhammad Ali Mubeen of Quetta ATC -1, who extended their physical remand in police custody for 15 more days on the police’s request,” adding that apart from Mahrang, Bebow Baloch, Sibghatullah Shahji, Gulzadi and Beberg Baloch were presented in the court as well. The BYC is a Baloch advocacy group working against enforced disappearances since 2018. Its chief Mahrang, along with other BYC members, was arrested on March 22 on allegations of “attacking” the Quetta Civil Hospital and “inciting people to violence”. The arrests were made a day after the group faced a police crackdown while protesting against alleged enforced disappearances. Mahrang was taken into custody under Section 3 of the Maint...

Federal Minister for Information Technology and Telecommunication, Shaza Fatima Khawaja, said on Thursday that telecom infrastructure in the country was severely affected due to recent floods, with several towers going down.

Security forces have killed 19 terrorists in three separate operations across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the military’s media wing said on Thursday. According to a statement from the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), “On 9-10 September, nineteen Khwarij belonging to the Indian proxy, Fitna al Khwarij were sent to hell in three separate engagements in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province.” The state uses the term Fitna al Khwarij to refer to terrorists belonging to the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). It later designated Balochistan-based groups as Fitna-al-Hindustan to highlight India’s alleged role in terrorism and destabilisation across Pakistan. The ISPR said that an intelligence-based operation was conducted in KP’s Mohmand district upon the reported presence of terrorists there. “During the conduct of [the] operation, own troops effectively engaged the khwarij’s* location, and after an intense fire exchange, fourteen Indian-sponsored khwarij were sent to hell.” It added that another intelligence-based oper...

The Pakistan Army, in close coordination with the civil administration, is working tirelessly to assist flood-affected communities across Punjab.

Punjab Minister for Information and Culture Azma Bukhari has said that the flood situation in Jalalpur Pirwala is serious, but the city has been saved through better arrangements.

Federal Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi met with Sheikh Zayed bin Hamad bin Hamdan Al Nahyan, Chairman of the United Arab Emirates’ National Anti-Narcotics Authority, at the Ministry of Interior on Thursday to discuss enhanced cooperation against drug trafficking.

Indus River System Authority (IRSA) on Thursday released 234,800 cusecs of water from various rim stations with an inflow of 262,600 cusecs.

Following PTI founder Imran Khan’s directives, the wave of resignations from parliamentary committees has now extended from the National Assembly to the Senate, where several PTI senators have stepped down from their posts.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Faisal Karim Kundi on Thursday condemned the Punjab government’s reported ban on wheat supply to his province. Kundi had last week expressed his regret over reports that wheat supply from Punjab had been suspended. However, Punjab officials tasked with maintaining supplies of commodities and regulating their prices denied there was any ban on the grain’s inter-provincial movement. “The arbitrary ban imposed on August 31, 2025, by the Government of Punjab on the supply of wheat and flour to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is a blatant violation of Article 151 of the Constitution and a serious breach of national unity,” Kundi said on X. The Constitution’s Article 151 states that “trade, commerce and intercourse throughout Pakistan shall be free”, but empowers the parliament to “impose such restrictions on the freedom of trade, commerce or intercourse between one province and another or within any part of Pakistan as may be required in the public interest”. The KP governor further noted: “As a res...

The Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD), with support from intelligence agencies, killed four terrorists linked to Fitna al-Hindustan during a joint operation in Balochistan’s Pishin district.