Pakistan

Mobile phone and internet services were suspended in several cities across Pakistan on Saturday as part of enhanced security measures for the 9th of Muharram-ul-Haram, observed with solemnity to honour the martyrdom of Hazrat Imam Hussain (RA) and his companions.

US President Donald Trump said on Friday that he had signed 12 trade letters to be sent out next week ahead of an impending deadline for his tariffs to take effect. “I signed some letters and they’ll go out on Monday, probably 12,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One, adding that the countries to which the letters would be sent will be announced on the same day. His comments come days before steeper duties — which the president said on Thursday would range between 10 and 70 per cent — are set to take effect on dozens of economies, from Taiwan to the European Union. The tariffs were part of a broader announcement in April where Trump imposed a 10pc duty on goods from almost all trading partners, with a plan to step up these rates for a select group within days. But he swiftly paused the hikes until July 9, allowing for trade talks to take place. With less than a week to go before July 9, Pakistan and the United States concluded a critical round of trade negotiations yesterday, reaching an understanding o...

The 9th Round of Bilateral Political Consultations (BPC) between Pakistan and Poland was held in Warsaw, where both sides reviewed the full range of bilateral relations and reaffirmed their commitment to strengthening cooperation across multiple sectors.

In a successful intelligence-based operation, police and the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) eliminated three suspected members of the banned Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) Tipu Group in Lakki Marwat, officials confirmed Saturday.

Three suspected terrorists belonging to the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban’s (TTP) Tipu Gul group were killed in a joint operation by the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) and the police in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Lakki Marwat district last night, police said on Saturday. Aamir Khan, the spokesperson for Lakki Marwat police, said in a statement today that the CTD, in collaboration with the local police, carried out an intelligence-based operation in the Bathani Neh area near Harama Tala village and killed three wanted militants. The police statement said that the terrorists belonged to the TTP’s Tipu Gul group and were involved in the targeted killing of Waheedullah of the CTD, Traffic Constable Anwar Sher and Constable Idrees. The statement added that the encounter lasted for about 25 minutes. The police identified the suspected militants as Waseemullah alias Umar Khattab, Qudratullah alias Abu Bakr, and Hijratullah alias Hijrat. They were residents of Gundi Khan Khel, Hijratullah, and Serai Gambila Town’s Harama Ta...

A devastating road accident near Langer Sarai in Muzaffargarh claimed six lives and left 18 others injured when a passenger bus collided head-on with a trailer.

Search and rescue operations stretched into Saturday as teams worked tirelessly for a second consecutive day to recover survivors and bodies from the rubble of a five-storey residential building that collapsed in Karachi’s Lyari’s Baghdadi area.

IT was an avoidable tragedy. Another residential building collapsed in Karachi’s Lyari neighbourhood on Friday, resulting in a number of casualties, including women and children. Nine deaths had been reported as these words were being written. It was the third structural collapse incident in the city in two days. A day earlier, the third-floor roof of a building had collapsed in the Moosa Lane area, killing two; separately, an entire section of a six-storey building had collapsed under the weight of its rooftop water tank in Ghulam Hussain Qasim Quarters, thankfully without casualties. In each case, the buildings had been previously declared unsafe by the Sindh Building Control Authority, but evacuation orders were repeatedly ignored. A review of the city’s records reveals that there have been multiple structural collapse incidents in Karachi in recent years, with many involving condemned buildings. The question naturally arises: why has the SBCA been so helpless in enforcing its writ? The problem is a multif...

The Armed Forces of Pakistan, including the Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir, Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee, and heads of the Air Force and Navy, paid solemn tribute to Captain Karnal Sher Khan Shaheed, Nishan-e-Haider, on his 26th martyrdom anniversary.

The Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) has issued a critical alert warning of potential Glacial Lake Outburst Floods (GLOFs) in Gilgit-Baltistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa due to accelerated glacier melting triggered by an ongoing heatwave.

A FORMER security contractor for controversial new Israel and US-backed aid distribution sites witnessed colleagues opening fire several times on hungry Palestinians who had posed no threat. Speaking to BBC News, the contractor recalled one occasion when a guard had opened fire from a watchtower with a machine gun because a group of women, children and elderly people were moving away from the site too slowly. Although the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) has denied the allegations, claiming no civilians ever came under fire at their distribution sites, the BBC recorded 24 incidents where aid seekers were killed in large numbers. The GHF began its operations at the end of May after an 11-week total blockade of Gaza by Israel, during which no food entered the territory. Since it started, Israeli forces have killed more than 400 Palestinians trying to retrieve food aid from its sites, the UN and local doctors say. Guards ‘fire into unarmed crowds, then laugh about it’ Describing the incident where guards fired...

• Spokesperson says Islamabad ‘committed’ to working with existing eight-nation forum • Calls upon India to choose between belligerence and talks ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Friday ruled out the creation of an alternative forum to the already existing South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc). “Pakistan remains committed to the principles and objectives of the Saarc charter. It has actively been participating in different Saarc activities,” the foreign office spokesperson said about the eight-nation organisation, which included Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka. In his weekly press briefing, Ambassador Shafqat Ali Khan said Pakistan desires Saarc to function as an “important forum for regional cooperation”. He rejected the reports about the creation of a Beijing-led alternative to Saarc. Regarding cooperation among Pakistan, China, and Bangladesh, the member of the purported coalition, Mr Khan said China was a very important country that enjoys friendly ...

The 9th of Muharram is being observed across Pakistan today with deep religious devotion and solemnity to commemorate the martyrs of Karbala.

KARACHI: Over 1.6 million children, between five and 17 years of age, in Sindh have been found to be trapped in child labour, revealed the Sindh Child Labour Survey 2022–2024. Conducted by the provincial labour department with technical support from Unicef and the Bureau of Statistics Sindh, the survey also revealed that over half (50.4pc) of child labour victims aged 10-17 worked in hazardous conditions, exposing them to excessive hours, extreme weather and unsafe tools. Labour Director General Muhammad Ali Shah, who is also the project director of the survey, told Dawn that the survey had been submitted to the provincial government. He said that the incidence of child labour has seen a significant decline, reduced by nearly 50pc compared to the 1996 baseline. According to Pakistan’s first and only National Child Labour Survey, conducted in 1996, the prevalence of child labour in Sindh was recorded at 20.6pc of the total child population at that time. The latest survey also revealed that school attendance am...

KARACHI: Microsoft has decided to close its office in Pakistan and laid off five employees, Dawn has learnt. Earlier, media reports suggested that the global tech giant had moved its operations out of the country. These were based on a LinkedIn post by Jawad Rehman, the former head of Microsoft in Pakistan. Citing sources, he claimed the company “is officially closing its operations in Pakistan”. Microsoft had an on-ground presence in Pakistan until recently, albeit with a significantly reduced local workforce. Most of its operations were handled from foreign offices and by partners in Pakistan, people familiar with the matter told Dawn. In response to Dawn’s query, a Microsoft spokesperson said, “We will serve our customers through both our strong and extensive partner organisation, and other closely located Microsoft offices. We follow this model successfully in a number of other countries around the world.” Spokesperson says company to provide services through local partners, offices abroad The decision to...

KARACHI - At least 13 people including four women, six men, and a seven-year-old boy died and eight others were wound-ed after a five-story dilapidated residential building collapsed o them in the Baghdadi area of Karachi’s Lyari on Friday, rescue workers said.

ISLAMABAD - Security forces have eliminated at least 30 Indian-backed terrorists trying to infiltrate through Pak-Afghan border in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa’s Hassan Khel area, North Waziristan district, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said on Friday.

jeremy Corbyn • Zarah Sultana says their alternative is ‘rooted in justice & equality’ • Group includes MPs Shockat Adam, Ayoub Khan, Adnan Hussain, Iqbal Mohamed LONDON: In an overnight reshaping of Britain’s political landscape, Zarah Sultana, the MP for Coventry South, has announced she will co-lead the formation of a new political party alongside former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn. The move signals a break with the Labour Party, which both politicians accused of abandoning its core values. Sultana declared her resignation from Labour on Thursday evening in a statement that described Westminster as “broken” and accused the two major parties of offering “nothing but managed decline and broken promises.” She urged supporters to join the duo in building an alternative, rooted in justice and equality. Though Corbyn has long floated the idea of a more formal vehicle for left-wing and pro-Palestinian politics, Sultana’s announ-cement surprised many within the Independent Alliance, the loose group of five MPs, in...

ISLAMABAD - Pakistan yesterday ruled out joining any multi-country military alliance - reaffirming its commitment to the principles of the United Nations Charter and peaceful coexistence.

LAHORE - Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif on Tuesday launched a scathing attack on hospital authorities during a surprise inspection of District Headquarters (DHQ) Hospital Pakpattan as she ordered the arrest of senior officials and a criminal case over alleged gross negligence, corruption, and patient mistreatment.