Karachi | Pakistan

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday expressed deep grief and sorrow over loss of precious lives caused by a building collapse in Karachi’s Soldier Bazaar area.

KARACHI: The traffic police on Wednesday informed the Sindh High Court that e-challan system had only been initiated on the corridors of the city where road infrastructure, lane marking and signage were fully operational. It also submitted that the under-construction thoroughfares were excluded from e-ticketing system till the completion of development work and installation/upgradation of road infrastructure. The comments were filed on the behalf of deputy inspector general of police (traffic) in one of several identical petitions filed against implementation of e-challan system in Karachi. It further said that the provincial government had already provided relief by allowing 50 per cent discount if the challan was paid within 14 days and traffic courts were also being set up to ensure transparency. After taking the comments on record, a two-judge constitutional bench of the SHC headed by Justice Yousuf Ali Sayeed adjourned the hearing till March 12 as a provincial law officer sought more time to file comment...

Karachi’s sole power supplier, K-Electric, has announced that there will be no load-shedding across the city during Sehri and Iftar timings throughout the holy month of Ramadan, ARY News reported.

KARACHI: A fire that broke out at a chemical factory in Karachi’s SITE on Tuesday was brought under control, Rescue 1122 said. In a statement, the Rescue 1122 spokesperson said the fire had been brought under control, and the cooling process was underway. Earlier, the spokesperson said that efforts were underway to control the fire, which erupted in a factory located near Valika Chowrangi. “A fire brigade truck, along with rescue teams, was immediately dispatched to the site of the incident, as soon as the Rescue 1122 received report of the incident,” the spokesperson added. A contingent of Sindh Rangers personnel was also dispatched to the site of the incident, their spokesperson said in a statement. “Rangers personnel are actively participating in the relief activities and rescue operation along with the fire brigade and rescue personnel,” the spokesperson said. Meanwhile, Karachi Mayor Murtaza Wahab took notice of the incident. In a post on X, Mayor Wahab said, “KMC fire team is attending to the fire incid...

KARACHI: The Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) has issued a gas supply schedule for Karachi and the surrounding areas for the holy month of Ramazan. The announcement by the utility said that gas would be available from 3am to 9am for Sehr and from 3:30pm to 10:00pm for Iftar, with the supply expected to be suspended outside these hours to manage overall demand. “To ensure improved gas pressure, SSGC would be carrying out gas pressure profiling from 9am to 3:30pm,” it said, “and then during nighttime from 10pm to 3am during Ramazan,” said the utility. The SSGC added that “an approximate 10 percent annual decline in the country’s gas reserves has widened the gap between gas demand and supply”. The announcement said that timings had been worked out for providing convenience to people for food preparations for Sehr and Iftar. SNGPL proposes supply from 3am to 10:30pm The Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) has also proposed providing gas from 3am to 10:30pm daily during the upcoming holy month across Punjab....

The Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital on Sunday dismissed social media claims regarding the withdrawal of a No Objection Certificate (NOC) for a fundraising event for its Karachi facility, clarifying that the purported notification being circulated dates back to December 2023. Several reports emerged on social media and television platforms claiming that the NOC issued by Islamabad’s administration related to holding a fundraising ceremony for the under-construction SKMCH in Karachi had been withdrawn. SKMCH issued a formal clarification regarding the purported development, saying, “The news currently circulating on social media about the withdrawal of a NOC by the Islamabad administration is from December 2023.” “It relates to a fundraising gala dinner planned in Islamabad for December 29, 2023, in support of Shaukat Khanum Hospital Karachi,” it added. It said that fundraising and construction had continued without interruption since then. “The Karachi hospital remains on track for opening in December ...

• DHA, Clifton residential plots up 25-50pc; commercial plots surge 25-75pc • Industrial investment in Karachi remains weak; investors shifting to Nooriabad, Jhampir KARACHI: Property prices in Karachi have increased over the past two years, but the gains have lagged behind the unexpected returns in equities and gold. Investors have been drawn to bullion amid global uncertainty, including market swings linked to US President Donald Trump’s shifting stance on tariffs and threats of military action against various countries. Pakistan’s stock market has also posted strong gains over the past two years, repeatedly setting new highs amid political and economic developments, lower interest rates and investor reluctance to hold US dollars. One tola gold on Jan 1, 2024, was available at Rs219,700 as compared to the current price of Rs526,962 on Saturday, reversing from a record peak of Rs572,862 on Jan 29, 2026. On Feb 13, the KSE-100 Index closed at 179,603.73 points, almost three times higher than its level of 64,6...

KARACHI: Police clashed with Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) workers outside the Sindh Assembly on Saturday. Footage aired on television showed police using tear gas, with workers running while covering their faces. The JI had announced that it would stage a sit-in outside the Sindh Assembly on Feb 14 to protest what it described as the Sindh government’s “failure to address Karachi’s issues” and alleged interference in the city’s institutions. Speaking on Geo News, Sindh Senior Minister Sharjeel Inam Memon said that police and the provincial government were in contact with the party’s administration since 4pm, telling them that they may protest but not enter the Red Zone. “They were strictly forbidden from entering the Red Zone, but despite that, JI party workers entered the Red Zone, pelted stones at the police, and also tried to enter the assembly,” Memon stated. He added that police were forced to use tear gas and arrest workers. “You cannot enter the Red Zone under [Section] 144; the JI entering like this is a viol...

KARACHI: Around 150 people, including elderly people and children, were rescued after a fire erupted in a high-rise building near Karachi’s Baloch Colony on Thursday, according to police and rescue services officials. Bahadurabad Station House Officer Mohammed Nawaz told Dawn that the fire broke out in the Index Palace in Sharifabad, near the Baloch Colony bridge. Rescue 1122 spokesperson Hassaanul Haseeb Khan, meanwhile, told Dawn that it was an eight-storey building with two basements, where vehicles were parked. “The blaze took place inside the parking space, ostensibly due to some short circuit failure in a parked car,” he said. “Since the high-rise building had no ventilation, smoke spread and engulfed the building,” he said. Though the fire only spread up to the first floor, smoke engulfed the whole building, spreading fear and panic among the residents. Khan said two rescue teams were on site, with one engaged in rescue operations. “With the help of ladders, residents from three floors — with four flat...

KARACHI: Around 4.30pm on Feb 25 last year, an altercation took place between two groups of people on Mai Kolachi Road, near the US consulate. While the details of the brawl itself are unclear, the bone of contention was allegedly a three-acre chunk of prime real estate located just off the thoroughfare. One of its two co-owners, builder and developer Javed Iqbal had employed a local JUI-F leader named Jibrail Khan, 32, to work there as a supervisor. Several sources claim that the huge plot is coveted by extremely powerful individuals at the top of the political food chain. Some days earlier, this party had sent in their supporters to occupy the plot. On Feb 25, Jibrail got into a heated confrontation with them. An FIR was filed against him for rioting armed with a deadly weapon, kidnapping and attempted murder. Several other FIRs (copies of which are in Dawn’s possession) were also filed against him in Karachi and other parts of Sindh, including Shikarpur, Moro, Qazi Ahmed and Nawabshah for various crimes, o...

KARACHI: One person was arrested on Thursday for the alleged involvement in explicit videos being played on digital advertising screens in Karachi’s DHA. South Deputy Inspector General Syed Asad Raza confirmed to Dawn that one person was arrested in connection with the incident. He had earlier stated that police were investigating whether the screens were “hacked through Wi-Fi” or whether an insider indulged in mischief. On Wednesday evening, several reports had emerged on social media, alleging that digital advertising boards of a private company was displaying obscene visuals. Subsequently, a case was registered against unidentified employees on the complaint of the company’s legal adviser under Section 292 of the Pakistan Penal Code, which prohibits the sale, distribution, public exhibition, or circulation of obscene books, pamphlets, papers, etc. According to the FIR, the complainant said that on Wednesday, he received information from the company’s operation director that explicit videos were being displ...

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Wednesday offered Pakistan’s deep-sea ports at Gwadar and Karachi as a vital trade outlet for Central Asian states, saying that this could change the fate of the entire region.

KARACHI: The son of slain Lyari gangster Abdul Rehman alias Rehman Dakait was arrested in Karachi, police said on Monday. “Kalakot police have apprehended Jibran s/o Abdul Rehman alias Rehman Dakait and recovered one illegal pistol from his custody,” a statement by police said. The statement added that the suspect held was a “habitual criminal” who had been arrested and sent to prison in several cases in the past. There were two First Information Reports (FIRs) against him registered at Lyari’s Kalakot police station between the years 2023 and 2024. Rehman Dakait was killed in 2009 by Karachi police, along with three of his accomplices. He was reportedly involved in more than 80 criminal cases and was a central figure in the gang wars of Lyari — one of the most populous and oldest localities of Karachi. In 2024, another one of his sons was shot dead in an alleged encounter in Karachi. According to the police, he was organising a gang of criminals in Lyari. Police also said he was previously involved in drug t...

A local PPP activist was gunned down in Karachi’s Pak Colony area late on Friday night, police said on Saturday. South Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) Syed Asad Raza told Dawn that the shooting occurred at Qaim Khani Clinic, located near Warisi Mosque in Hasrat Mohani Colony, within the jurisdiction of Pak Colony Police Station. “Political and social figure Abdul Rasheed Qureshi was present at the clinic where he was receiving medical treatment and was receiving an intravenous (IV) drip due to ill health,” DIG Raza said. “During this time, unknown assailants, for reasons yet to be determined, opened fire, as a result of which Qureshi died on the spot,” he said. The DIG added that Qureshi was immediately moved to Abbasi Shaheed Hospital, where doctors pronounced him dead. “Upon receiving information about the incident, the Pak Colony station house officer (SHO), along with a heavy contingent of police, reached the scene,” the DIG said. “Police are investigating the incident from various angles,” he sa...

KARACHI: Rash and negligent driving claimed the lives of four people in two separate incidents in Karachi early on Friday morning, police said. A total of 803 people lost their lives in traffic accidents in Karachi in 2025. The Karachi traffic police, however, maintains that the situation began to improve during the latter half of the year. Deputy Inspector General (DIG) South Syed Asad Raza told Dawn that one accident occurred at 1:05am on Friday morning. According to him, a couple and a child were on a motorcycle when a trailer hit them at the Native Jetty Bridge. They sustained critical injuries and were transported to Civil Hospital Karachi, where doctors pronounced them dead. The victims’ identity could not be immediately ascertained. “The errant driver managed to escape from the spot along with the heavy vehicle,” Raza said. In another fatal accident, a man was killed in Baldia Town. The DIG said the man was on a motorcycle when a loaded dump truck hit him at Baldia-4. He suffered critical injuries and ...

KARACHI: A seven-year-old boy was killed on Wednesday when a truck ran him over in Korangi’s Mehran Town area. According to a statement by the traffic police, the truck driver was reversing the vehicle when he ran over the boy. The statement said the boy died on the spot while the driver fled the scene along with the heavy vehicle. It added that the driver was a resident of the same area and had intially parked the truck outside his home. The statement said that “carelessly driving the vehicle”, the driver killed the son of his neighbour. The body was shifted to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre for legal formalities. In December, the Sindh government banned the daytime movement of heavy traffic vehicles in Karachi for two months as the city had witnessed a steep increase in traffic accidents, with many resulting from collisions with heavy vehicles such as dumper trucks and water tankers. Earlier this month, in an effort to keep slow-moving freight vehicles from mingling with faster passenger traffic, th...

KARACHI: Sindh Senior Minister Sharjeel Memon on Wednesday expressed hope that the main corridor of the Red Line Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) on Karachi’s University Road would be completed by March. “Our effort is to complete the main corridor on University Road — where there is heavy public movement and where citizens face difficulties — by March,” said the senior minister while speaking to the media in the metropolis. “The remaining BRT work will continue, including bridges, underpasses, and U-turns,” he added. He further said the condition of the main thoroughfare and its adjoining routes is now “far better than before”. “Wherever the roads appear damaged, it is only because development work is currently under way,” he added. Referring to the lack of construction activity, he maintained that the provincial government was not at fault, as there were “some serious issues at the national level”, adding that with an increase in the exchange rate, the project’s cost ballooned. He added that the Sindh Transport Depa...

Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) leader Farooq Sattar on Tuesday urged PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari to seek resignations from the Sindh chief minister and the Karachi mayor. A war of words has been ongoing between MQM-P and PPP leaders in the wake of the Gul Plaza inferno, with lawmakers associated with the former party demanding that Karachi be handed over to the Centre. Addressing a press conference in Karachi, Sattar termed Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah, Senior Information Minister Sharjeel Inam Memon and Karachi Mayor Murtaza Wahab — who he said were close to Bilawal — as his “three naive friends”. “What if a drop scene happens? They are making you sink in a swamp. So we, Karachi’s people, those living in Sindh’s cities, are demanding from you that all three resign,” Sattar said, referring to CM Murad, Memon and Wahab. He remarked that the three leaders had added an enormous “burden” to the PPP’s “ship that could sink it”. “Reduce this burden,” he said, urging Bilawal to demand the r...

Jamaat-i-Islami chief Hafiz Naeemur Rehman on Tuesday stressed the formation of a “city government” as the only solution to Karachi’s administrative and governance issues. The remarks come against the backdrop of the Gul Plaza inferno, which has resulted in lawmakers stressing the need to empower local governments (LGs) and the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) even demanding that Karachi be made a “federal territory”. “The solution to Karachi’s issues is not provincial or federal control. According to the Constitution, the solution is Karachi city government,” the JI chief said while addressing a press conference in the metropolis. Rehman made the case for better local governance by citing Istanbul as an example: “Istanbul’s local governance has its master plan, fire brigade, construction, transportation, water, sewage, education and employment under its jurisdiction.” “This is real governance, not KDA (Karachi Development Authority) or SBCA (Sindh Building Control Authority),” he said, adding that “...

KARACHI: The Karachi police on Monday constituted a special team to make “all-out efforts” to arrest suspects in the Gul Plaza fire and to conduct an impartial probe into the incident. An order issued by the office of South Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Syed Asad Raza stated that the five-member team was constituted for the “arrest of involved accused person(s) and impartial investigation” into the case. “The investigation team shall make all-out and diligent efforts to arrest the accused person(s) by utilising all available resources,” read the notification, a copy of which is available with Dawn. In a first information report (FIR) of the incident, dated January 23, the Karachi police said the fire was an “outcome of negligence and carelessness”. The case was registered against unknown persons as the police have not nominated anyone in the case. The special team will comprise the Garden Sub-divisional police officer (SDPO), the Kharadar investigation deputy superintendent of police (DSP), the head of the G...