Islamabad | Pakistan

The Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) announced on Saturday that it would resume flights to the United Kingdom from October 25, with nonstop flights from Manchester to Islamabad. This comes a day after the Pakistan High Commission in London announced that the national carrier would resume flight operations to the UK this month as PIA received its Foreign Aircraft Operating Permit from the UK Civil Aviation Authority and Third Country Operator approval, but no exact date was given. PIA announced its “historic return” to British skies with a post on X today, which read: “The wait is finally over! Pakistan International Airlines proudly reconnects Manchester and Islamabad, bringing loved ones closer once again.” In yesterday’s announcement, the high commission said flight operations to Manchester would be resumed during the first phase, after which Birmingham and London would follow suit. In July, the UK removed Pakistan from its Air Safety List, allowing Pakistani airlines to apply to operate flights in Bri...

A district and sessions court in Islamabad issued bailable arrest warrants for YouTuber Imran Riaz Khan and two officials from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s anti-corruption body, it emerged on Saturday. The arrest warrants, issued by Judicial Magistrate Abbas Shah yesterday and available with Dawn.com, were issued for Khan, head of the Directorate of Anti-Corruption Sadeeq Anjam and Adviser to the KP Chief Minister on Anti-Corruption Musaddiq Abbasi, over their alleged involvement in a social media campaign against Islamabad Judge Humayun Dilawar. Dilawar was the judge who convicted PTI founder and former prime minister Imran Khan in the Toshakhana case in 2023 and sentenced him to three years in prison. All three warrants were issued under Sections 20 (offences against dignity of a natural person), 24 (cyber stalking) of the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act, 2016 and Sections 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention), 109 (punishment of abetment if the act abetted is committed in consequ...

ISLAMABAD - Islamabad police Thursday stormed National Press Club Islamabad, vandalised the cafeteria, and assaulted journalists after reportedly mistaking them for Kashmiri protesters.

Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi on Thursday ordered an inquiry into a raid carried out by Islamabad police at the National Press Club (NPC), where several journalists were allegedly attacked. Visuals aired on DawnNewsTV showed policemen armed with batons attacking journalists on the press club premises. Visuals shared on social media also showed police dragging journalists out of what appeared to be the cafeteria. View this post on Instagram Another video shared by a Dawn.com correspondent showed a journalist holding his broken Nikon camera and his shirt ripped across the back. A statement issued by Naqvi stated that he had taken notice of the “unfortunate” incident and demanded a report from the Islamabad inspector general of police. “Violence against the journalist community cannot be tolerated under any circumstances,” he was quoted as saying. “Disciplinary action must be taken against officials involved in the incident,” he said. Meanwhile, Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) President Afzal Butt ...

Earthquake tremors were felt in several parts of Pakistan, including Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and Islamabad, on Friday morning.

An anti-terrorism court (ATC) in Islamabad on Monday issued a bailable arrest warrant for PTI senior leader Asad Qaiser in a case related to the March 2023 clashes outside the Federal Judicial Complex (FJC). Hours-long clashes took place between PTI workers and the Islamabad police on March 18, 2023, when former prime minister Imran Khan arrived at the FJC to attend a hearing in the first Toshakhana case, in which he was later arrested in August that year and has been behind bars since then. The same day, the Punjab police personnel had entered Imran’s Zaman Park residence in Lahore, which had also been the venue of a chaotic stalemate between the cops and the PTI just days before. ATC Judge Tahir Abbas Sipra presided over today’s hearing. Advocate Sardar Masroof Khan, Amna Ali and others appeared as the legal team for the PTI leaders, while Advocate Sardar Muhammad Razzaq was present as former Punjab chief minister Parvez Elahi’s counsel. The judge issued a bailable arrest warrant for Qaiser, ordering that h...

Former minister Shireen Mazari said on Saturday that a “heavily armed raiding party” of the Islamabad police had surrounded her house at 1am and enquired about her daughter, Imaan Zainab Mazari-Hazir, and son-in-law, Hadi Ali Chattha. “At 1am this morning, a heavily armed raiding party of ICT police from Secretariat thana (police station) surrounded my home and asked for Imaan and Hadi. They were not there, and we informed them of the same. Cops said they had an FIR (first information report) against them and they should report to the thana. Eventually they left,” she posted on X. In a subsequent post, she referred to a protest at the Islamabad High Court yesterday, where Imaan — who is a lawyer and rights activist — and others had raised slogans in support of judicial independence. The lawyers had staged a protest on the premises of the IHC to oppose the suspension of Justice Tariq Mahmood Jahangiri from judicial work. Isl­a­mabad Bar Council member Ale­­em Abbasi, ex-president of the Islamabad High Court Ba...

An Islamabad court indicted accused Umar Hayat in the murder case of 17-year-old social media influencer Sana Yousaf on Saturday. The accused pled not guilty to murdering Yousaf, who was shot dead at her house in June. During the hearing, Additional District and Sessions Judge Mohammad Afzal Majoka enquired whether Hayat had killed Sana. “I did not commit any such crime,” the accused replied. The judge then asked him whether he was falsely accused in the case. “Is this all a lie?” the judge remarked. He also pointed out that Hayat had also been accused of snatching Yousaf’s mobile phone. At that, the accused maintained that all allegations levelled against him were “based on falsehood”. The court then adjourned the hearing until September 25. Islamabad police had arrested Hayat on June 3, a day after Yousaf was killed at her house in Islamabad. Preceding his arrest, a first information report (FIR) of the murder was registered at Islamabad’s Sumbal police station against an unidentified man on the complaint o...

Pakistan Railways has announced plans to introduce a high-speed train service between the twin cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi, aiming to ease daily commutes and cut travel time to just 20 minutes.

ISLAMABAD: Days after Pakistan asked the Afghan Taliban to choose whether they want to stand with their neighbour, or the outlawed Tehreek-i-Taliban Pak­­i­s­tan (TTP) militant group, a key US official has called on Islamabad to seek a political settlement with Kabul. Zalmay Khalilzad, who was named US special representative to Afghanistan during the previous Trump administration, also called on Afghanistan to “help Pakistan with such negotiations”. The former diplomat recently undertook a visit to Kabul alongside US hostage envoy Adam Boehler, where he met with key members of the Afghan Taliban regime. In a tweet posted after he wrapped up his visit, Khalilzad noted that violence between Pakistan’s security forces and the TTP had resulted in the deaths of a significant number of security personnel and citizens. Imran echoes Khalilzad’s views, terms dialogue with Kabul only way to achieve lasting peace Saying that he believed pursuing a military solution to this challenge was a mistake, he called on Islamabad...

The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) government has decided to construct a new “KP House” in the Makhnial area of Haripur district, located just 15 kilometers from Islamabad.

An Islamabad court has issued a written order on a petition seeking registration of a case against former president Arif Alvi.

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...

A district and sessions court in Islamabad on Wednesday reissued an arrest warrant for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur in an illegal arms and liquor case after he failed to appear before the court. The case, which dates back to October 2016, accuses the PTI leader of possessing illegal arms and liquor after Islamabad police claimed they recovered five Kalashnikov rifles, a pistol, six magazines, a bulletproof vest, alcohol, and three tear gas shells from his car outside Bani Gala. Gandapur has denied the police allegations, asserting that he was travelling with two licensed Kalashnikov rifles and that the vehicle contained a valid arms licence. He further claimed that the liquor bottle in question actually contained honey. According to the court order — a copy of which is available with Dawn.com — Judicial Magistrate Mubashir Hassan Chishti directed that the KP CM be arrested and presented in the court on September 17. The judge issued the order after no representative appeared on behalf o...

A high-level delegation of investors from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) met with the Chairman Capital Development Authority (CDA) and the Chief Commissioner of Islamabad, Muhammad Ali Randhawa, on Monday to explore investment opportunities in the federal capital.

An Islamabad district and sessions court on Sunday extended the remand of a suspect, who allegedly threatened and attempted to abduct social media influencer Samiya Hijab. The suspect was arrested on Monday and a case was registered in the capital’s Shalimar Police Station at her complaint under Sections 354 (assault or criminal force to a woman with intent to outrage her modesty), 365 (Kidnapping or abducting with intent secretly and wrongfully to confine person), 392 (punishment for robbery), 500 (punishment for defamation), 509 and 511 of the Pakistan Penal Code. He was later remanded in police custody by a judicial magistrate. According to a copy of the court order issued today, available with Dawn.com, police requested that the suspect be further remanded for eight days, but the court ordered three days. “Learned counsel for the accused has opposed the request of the IO (investigating officer) and submitted an application that on a previous date, two days [of] physical remand was granted, thus the accuse...

The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) on Saturday sounded the alarm over the risk of urban flooding in Islamabad and northern Punjab, expected within the next 2 to 6 hours due to torrential rains.

The Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) on Tuesday said that tremors were felt in Peshawar, Mansehra and Islamabad after another earthquake struck eastern Afghanistan. A press release from the PMD said the 5.4-magnitude earthquake occurred at 5:30pm in southeastern Afghanistan at a depth of 22 kilometres with tremors felt all the way in Peshawar, Mansehra, Islamabad, Abbottabad and Swat. Meanwhile, the US Geological Survey reported it as a 5.2-magnitude earthquake 34 kilometres northeast of Jalalabad city in Nangarhar province. The epicentre of the tremor was close to where a magnitude 6.0 earthquake hit late Sunday night, devastating remote areas in mountainous provinces near the border with Pakistan. The “quake was felt in the same areas which were affected in Kunar [province] in the first earthquake”, Ehsanullah Ehsan, the disaster management spokesman in the hard-hit province, told AFP. “These aftershocks are constant, but they have not caused any casualties yet.” The number of victims from Sunday’s ...

Islamabad police on Monday arrested a man for allegedly harassing and attempting to kidnap social media influencer Samiya Hijab. A statement from the police spokesperson said the action was taken after her complaint and video statement. A case was registered in the capital’s Shalimar Police Station at her complaint under Sections 354 (assault or criminal force to a woman with intent to outrage her modesty), 365 (Kidnapping or abducting with intent secretly and wrongfully to confine person), 392 (punishment for robbery), 500 (punishment for defamation), 509 and 511 of the Pakistan Penal Code. The suspect had been stalking her for several days, the social media influencer said in the first information report. She added that on Sunday at 6:30pm, an attempt was made to forcefully take her out of the house “Today’s incident further escalated when he attempted to forcibly abduct me from my house while I was returning his gifts. This amounts to abduction, harassment, and assault under the law. For evidence, I have C...

Heavy rain lashed parts of Islamabad on Monday, inundating low-lying areas and disrupting daily life, while similar downpours were reported from other parts of the country.