Pakistan

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi has reaffirmed that restoring peace in the province remains the government’s foremost priority, stressing that decisions to eliminate terrorism must be made collectively with political leaders rather than in isolation.

The Foreign Office (FO) issued a statement on Wednesday in response to clarifications issued by the Court of Arbitration on the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT), saying that Pakistan had taken note of the decision and calling the clarifications “helpful”. The Hague’s Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) had issued its Award on Issues of General Interpretation of the IWT on August 8. On September 19, Pakistan initiated an arbitration against India under the provisions of the IWT, which India suspended unilaterally following a four-day conflict between the two countries in May. The PCA on Saturday issued clarifications on its decisions surrounding the treaty in response to the request, which concerned the interpretation and application of the IWT to certain design elements of run-of-river hydroelectric plants (HEPs). The FO statement added that Pakistan had also taken note of the procedural order issued in parallel with the decision. In response to a Procedural Order also issued in light of the decision, in which the ...

Hit to all parts by India in the Asia Cup final at the end of September, Haris Rauf turned to domestic cricket to rediscover his mojo. On his return to international cricket, the grind of first-class cricket paved the way for a fiery spell of fast bowling that clinched victory for Pakistan with the 32-year-old ripping through the Sri Lankan top-order, and finishing with figures of 4-61, as the hosts scraped to a six-run win in the first One-day International at the Pindi Cricket Stadium on Tuesday night. “It wasn’t easy to win tonight,” Haris said at the post-match press conference. “It wasn’t easy to bowl in the dew but you keep trying as a bowler to pick wickets and in the end we won, which was important.” The performance was important for Haris as well. Slammed for being too easy to put away in the highly-charged Asia Cup final against arch-rivals India, the right-armer got back to work with Islamabad in the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy. “You keep giving your best effort and try to make an impact,” he said. “In our...

The Prime Minister’s Task Force on Water Scarcity has agreed to strengthen inter-provincial coordination and adopt data-driven strategies to ensure equitable water distribution and safeguard national food security.

The scenic Neelum Valley in Azad Jammu and Kashmir received the season’s first rain and snowfall, bringing a sharp drop in temperatures and drawing tourists to the region’s winter charm.

It has become nearly impossible for people to tell the difference between music generated by artificial intelligence and that created by humans, according to a survey released on Wednesday. The polling firm Ipsos asked 9,000 people to listen to two clips of AI-generated music and one of human-made music in a survey conducted for France-based streaming platform Deezer. “Ninety-seven per cent could not distinguish between music entirely generated by AI and human-created music,” said Deezer. The survey came out as a country music song featuring a male singer’s voice generated by AI reached the top of the US charts for the first time this week. “Walk My Walk” by Breaking Rust — an artist widely reported by US media to be powered by generative AI technology — made it to the top spot on Billboard magazine’s chart ranking digital sales of country songs, according to data published on Monday. Deezer said more than half of the respondents to its survey felt uncomfortable at not being able to tell the difference. Polls...

The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) is preparing to launch a historic and comprehensive audit of income tax returns this year, according to departmental sources.

The National Assembly is expected to approve the 27th Constitutional Amendment Bill on Wednesday (today) as debate continues in the lower house of parliament.

Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Muhammad Ishaq Dar on Wednesday said that cowardly acts of terrorism would never weaken Pakistan’s resolve to deal with this menace. He made the remarks while addressing the two-day Inter-Parliamentary Speakers’ Conference being held in Islamabad, where he mentioned the suicide blast in the federal capital and the attack on the Cadet College in Wana. “Let me be very clear — these cowardly acts will never shake or weaken our national resolve to deal with this menace [terrorism],” he said. “If anything, they reaffirm our conviction that dialogue, understanding and partnership are the only sustainable path of peace and security,” he asserted. “We just witnessed two heinous acts of terrorism in Wana and Islamabad in the last 48 hours, resulting in the loss of 15 precious lives,” the minister said. Condemning the attacks and extending sympathies to the victims’ families, Dar went on to say: “We categorically reject acts of terrorism in all forms and manifestations, whethe...

Turkiye on Wednesday said all 20 people onboard a military cargo plane that crashed in Georgia on its return from Azerbaijan had died. The plane had taken off from Ganja airport in western Azerbaijan on Tuesday afternoon but crashed shortly after crossing the border into eastern Georgia, the defence ministry said after the incident. It said there were 20 people on board, including the flight crew. “Our heroic comrades-in-arms were martyred on November 11, 2025 due to the crash of our C-130 military cargo aircraft, which had taken off from Azerbaijan to return to Turkiye,” Defence Minister Yasar Guler said in a statement posted on his X account alongside 20 photographs of those who died. Turkiye has not said what caused the accident but dramatic footage taken by eyewitnesses and published by Azerbaijani media appeared to show the plane spinning horizontally alongside several bits of debris as it fell. Georgia’s interior ministry had confirmed the plane went down in the Sighnaghi area, “about five kilometres (3...

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President and three-time former prime minister Nawaz Sharif is set to attend today’s National Assembly session to cast his vote on the 27th Constitutional Amendment, a crucial move for the ruling coalition.

Lahore continues to grapple with dangerously high levels of air pollution, ranking as the second most polluted city in the world, according to global environmental monitoring data.

Australia and Indonesia agreed on Wednesday to sign a new security treaty, which includes closer military cooperation, the two countries’ leaders said following talks in Sydney. Canberra has drawn ever nearer to longtime ally Washington, bolstering its military in an attempt to deter the might of a rising China in the Asia-Pacific region. Jakarta has walked a more neutral path, wary of drawing too close to Washington and far less willing to needle Beijing. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, speaking alongside President Prabowo Subianto at a Royal Australian Navy Base in Sydney, said they had “just substantively concluded negotiations on a new bilateral treaty on our common security”. “This treaty is a recognition from both our nations that the best way to secure … peace and stability is by acting together,” Albanese told reporters. The Australian leader said he hoped to visit Indonesia next year to sign the new treaty. He said the agreement builds on a bilateral defence pact signed in 2024, which pledged closer...

LAKKI MARWAT: Three people, including a minor child, were killed and four suffered injuries in a quadcopter strike in the Sardikhel Janikhel area of Bannu district on Tuesday. A police official said the bodies and the injured were shifted to the district headquarters hospital. He identified the deceased as Habibullah, 5, a resident of Malikhel Janikhel, and Amjad Ali, 35, and Irfanullah, 35, residents of Sardikhel Janikhel, and said the injured included Rukhniaz, 35, Naheedullah, 24, Mohammad Rauf, 33, and Irshadullah, 35, all residents of Janikhel. Similar quadcopter attacks were carried out by terrorists against police installations and civilians in the district in the recent past. Terrorists kill police official; attack on police station repulsed On July 31, six security personnel were injured in a quadcopter attack on Miryan police station amid an operation against terrorists in the Nurar area. In another quadcopter strike that took place four months ago, a woman was killed and three others were wounded i...

Security sources said early on Wednesday that all the khawarij involved in the attack on Cadet College in Wana had been killed. According to the Inter-Services Public Relations, the college came under attack on Monday as terrorists rammed an explosives-laden vehicle against the main gate of the college, entered the educational facility and were then “cornered in the college’s administrative block”. Security sources on Tuesday had continued the clearance operation against the terrorists hiding inside the educational institute. Early on Wednesday, security sources said that one suicide bomber and four other khawarij were killed in a successful operation. Fitna al-Khawarij is a term the state uses for terrorists belonging to the banned Teh­reek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). Security sources said that the college building was currently being cleared due to the threat of landmines. They asserted that no student or teacher at the college was harmed during the successful operation. View this post on Instagram Speaking t...

ISLAMABAD - Security forces successfully rescued all cadets and teachers from Cadet College Wana, according to sources.

UNITED NATIONS: The United States has circulated a revised draft resolution to establish a two-year mandated stabilisation force in Gaza, setting in motion a process it hopes will lead to adoption by the UN Security Council (UNSC). The draft, presented to the UNSC on Monday, triggered a “silence” period until 10:30am on Tuesday. Under this procedure, the council’s 15 members must register objections or propose amendments within the allotted timeframe; if none are raised, consensus is assumed and the resolution proceeds to a vote, likely later this week, on Thursday or Friday. The proposed force wou­ld operate under a Board of Peace (BoP), with Pres­ident Donald Trump as its head. The board would also establish operational entities to oversee Gaza’s reconstruction, economic recovery programmes, and the demilitarisation of non-state armed groups. Washington has embedded the full “20-point” Trump peace plan into the draft, signalling the United States’ dominant role in shaping the international effort. Several s...

• Justice Jawwad asks top court to set aside 27th Amendment • Argues certain constitutional commands can’t be altered in a way that destroys their essence ISLAMABAD: Former chief justice Jawwad S. Khawaja on Tuesday challenged the 27th Amendment, seeking a direction that the Supreme Court (SC) retains exclusive jurisdiction to determine the lawfulness and constitutionality of the proposed amendment. Filed through Advocate Khwaja Ahmad Hosain, the petitioner pleaded before the apex court to strike down or suspend any provisions in any Act of Parliament, including the 27th Amendment, which reduce or abolish any constitutional jurisdiction of the SC or which purport to vest any such jurisdiction in any other court or body. The petition also requested the apex court to set aside provisions of the 27th Amendment, which relate to transfer of high court judges with a request that until a final decision of this petition and as a matter of urgency. The ex-CJ explained that he has filed the petition to save the SC that...

• Twelve killed, 36 injured in suicide bombing outside district courts • Police say attacker came from outside Islamabad; bomber’s route traced with help of AI • TTP claims responsibility; explosive weighed 4kg • Naqvi vows to punish masterminds; PM, president review situation ISLAMABAD: A suicide attack outside the judicial complex housing the Islamabad district and sessions courts on Tuesday killed 12 people and injured at least 36, including four women and four policemen. It was the first such attack in the capital in nearly three years. The blast occurred as Islamabad was hosting several international eve­nts, including the Inter-Parliamentary Spea­kers’ Conference and the 6th Margalla Dialogue, while a tri-nation cricket series featuring Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe is underway, with a match in Rawalpindi on Tuesday. Officials said the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) had claimed responsibility for the suicide attack. Police said a lone bomber blew himself up at the main entrance to the comple...

ISLAMABAD: Justice Aminuddin Khan, who currently heads the const­i­tutional bench of the Supreme Court, is expe­cted to be appointed as the Chief Justice of the upcoming Federal Constitutional Court (FCC). Sources told Dawn the FCC would initially comprise six other judges — four from the Supreme Court and two from the high courts — besides the chief justice. The names being discussed for the inaugural composition incl­ude Just­ice Hasan Azhar Rizvi, Justice Musa­rrat Hilali, Justice Aamer Far­ooq, and Justice Baqar Najafi from the SC, while Justice K.K. Agha of the Sindh High Court and Justice Rozi Khan Bar­rech, the incumbent Chief Justice of Balochistan Hi­gh Court, are being considered from the high courts. Sources said that the initial strength of the FCC would be determined through a Presidential Order, while any subsequent increase in the number of judges would require approval through an Act of the Parliament. The sources further disclosed that the President would administer the oath to the Chief Just...