Pakistan

• Officials say SC Rules do not permit them • Policy meant for technical experts, not routine judicial administrators ISLAMABAD: The Federal Con­stitutional Court (FCC), the country’s newly-established apex forum for constitutional interpretation, apparently acting under the proviso of Article 208 of the Constitution made certain appointments in which some employees have been placed in the federal government’s Special Professional Pay Scale (SPPS) policy. A notification issued by FCC earlier this week, and approved by Chief Justice Aminuddin Khan, created eight senior posts — including one in BS-22 and seven in BS-21 — all placed in SPPS. Under SPPS-I, the pay package ranges from Rs1.5 million to Rs2m, almost equivalent to the salary of a high court judge. However, senior federal officials familiar with service laws say the FCC administration has thus far not framed any rules under Article 208 and therefore, under the proviso to the said article, can only follow the Supreme Court Rules relating to the appoint...

TEHRAN: Iranian authorities on Saturday halted electricity production at one of the country’s biggest dams due to a marked drop in the reservoir’s water level, state media reported. “Due to the drop in the Karkheh Dam reservoir level, its power plant’s units were removed from the production circuit,” Amir Mahmoudi, the head of the dam and its power plant, said, according to state news agency IRNA. He added that the water was subsequently released from the lower valves of the dam to meet the needs of people living downstream. He said that the reservoir behind the dam is currently holding about one billion cubic metres of water, adding that “the current water level is 180 meters, which is 40 meters lower than the natural operating level” for electricity production. The Karkheh Dam is one of the biggest earthen dams in the world and the largest in Iran and the Middle East, according to IRNA. Built on the Karkheh River, it is located 22 kilometres (14 miles) northwest of the city of Andimeshk in the southwestern ...

WASHINGTON: Just one day before the terrorist attack against National Guard soldiers in the nation’s capital, another Afghan national, paroled into the United States under President Biden’s “Operation Allies Welcome”, was arrested in Fort Worth, Texas, for threatening to blow up a building, it emerged on Saturday. Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin of the Department of Homeland Security said in a post on X that the suspect, Mohammad Dawood Alokozay, had uploaded a TikTok video showing himself assembling what he suggested was an explosive device. She said the video indicated that the Fort Worth area was his intended target. Alokozay was arrested on Tuesday by the Texas Department of Public Safety and the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force and charged with making terroristic threats. The arrest came less than 24 hours before the violent attack in Washington in which another Afghan national, Rahmanullah Lakanwal, shot and critically wounded two members of the US National Guard. Lakanwal, who had been in the Uni...

The Foreign Office (FO) on Sunday rejected what it called the “baseless” statement by United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk expressing concerns about the 27th Constitutional Amendment. In a statement issued in Geneva on Friday, the human rights chief said the latest constitutional amendment, like the 26th amendment last year, had been adopted without broad consultation and debate with the legal community and wider civil society. He added that the “hastily adopted” amendments undermined judicial independence and raised concerns about military accountability. A press release issued by the FO said that Pakistan rejected the “baseless” statement. “Pakistan notes with deep concern the ungrounded and misplaced apprehensions aired on behalf of the UN high commissioner for human rights regarding the 27th Constitutional Amendment adopted by the two-third majority of the parliament of Pakistan,” the press release by the FO said. “Like all parliamentary democracies, all legislation as well as any...

• Four 500-acre graveyards to be established on city outskirts and one 25-acre within Karachi • Sindh govt is likely to approve mayor’s proposal soon • While burial charges are just Rs9,300 in KMC-run cemeteries, actual charged amount can run up to Rs150,000 KARACHI: Amid a burial-place crisis that could leave Karachi with nowhere to bury its dead by the year 2040, the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) has decided to establish four 500-acre graveyards on city outskirts and a new 25-acre graveyard within the metropolis. The Sindh government has in principle agreed to this proposal and is likely to approve it soon. The KMC’s plan came to the fore after repeated warnings that almost all city graveyards have run out of space for burial. The situation has not only set off alarm bells but also exposed a set of troubling facts that are fast turning into a new challenge for Karachiites. The sources said Karachi Mayor Barrister Murtaza Wahab pushed for the plan which got the provincial authorities’ nod after whic...

ISLAMABAD: One of the three Islamabad High Court judges who packed up their chambers earlier this week is considering submitting his resignation next week, as uncertainty deepens in the judiciary following the 27th Amendment. Sources told Dawn that Justice Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri is likely to tender his resignation early next week. He is also expected to visit the Islamabad High Court Bar Association (IHCBA) on Dec 2, a day before key developments in his pending degree-related case. Justice Jahangiri is among the three IHC judges who removed their personal effects from the high court building over the past week as rumours intensified regarding their possible resignations following sweeping constitutional changes introduced through the 27th Amendment. The three judges — Justices Jahangiri, Babar Sattar and Sardar Ejaz Ishaq Khan — had reportedly packed their belongings and shifted them home. According to the sources, Justice Jahangiri removed all books, documents, decorative items and other personal effects fr...

• Malik Ahmad stresses need for stable constitutional interpretation for governance, economic continuity • Cross-examined in PM Shehbaz’s Rs10bn defamation suit against Imran LAHORE: Punjab Assembly Spea­­ker Malik Ahmad Khan has defended the 27th Constitution Amendment, describing it as a “necessary institutional reform aimed at reducing friction among constitutional bodies, clarifying judicial jurisdiction, and ensuring long-term administrative stability”. Addressing the “Speaker Aur Awam” public engagement session here on Saturday, he said a major part of the discussion centered on the 27th Amendment. He said the amendment established a Federal Constitutional Court, introduced reforms to the transfer process for high court judges, created a commander for the new National Strategic Command, and provided legal protections to senior armed forces officials and the president. “The amendment was necessary institutional reform aimed at reducing friction among constitutional bodies, clarifying judicial jurisdictio...

THE photo shows one of the damaged sections of a railway track on the outskirts of Quetta.—Dawn QUETTA: Seven blasts rocked Quetta and Dera Murad Jamali on Saturday, with one explosion blowing up a section of railway track near the provincial capital and suspending train traffic to other parts of the country. The first blast took place near a police checkpost on Qambrani Road, where unidentified atta­ckers hurled a grenade. The device exploded but caused no loss of life. Police said the second blast occurred shortly afterwards on the same road, when armed men detonated a motorcycle carrying an improvised explosive device (IED) as a Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) vehicle passed by, carrying bomb disposal squad personnel to the site of the first explosion. “Miscreants planted an IED on the motorbike and detonated it with a remote control when the CTD vehicle was passing through the area,” SSP Operations Capt (retd) Asif Khan told Dawn, adding that the CTD vehicle escaped the blast and no casualties were rep...

• Kyiv plunges into darkness as grid hit in Russian strikes; three killed • Moscow’s oil terminal halts operations after Black Sea drone attack KYIV/MOSCOW: Ukrainian Presi­d­ent Volodymyr Zelensky said on Saturday that a delegation headed by security council secretary Rustem Umerov was on its way to the United States to continue talks on an agreement to end Russia’s war. Umerov has been put in charge of the Ukrainian delegation after the previous lead negotiator, Zelensky’s powerful chief of staff Andriy Yermak, resigned on Friday hours after anti-corruption detectives searched his apartment. Zelensky said he expected that the res­ults of previous meetings with the US in Geneva, which took place last weekend, would now be “hammered out” on Sunday. Those meetings allowed Ukraine to present a counter-offer to proposals laid out by US Secretary of the Army Dan Driscoll to leaders in Kyiv almost two weeks ago. “Rustem delivered a report today, and the task is clear: to swiftly and substantively work out the step...

Military calls Afghan Taliban a global threat

Says Pakistan possesses 'ample kinetic capabilities'; Rules out anti-Hamas mandate in Gaza stabilisation

ISLAMABAD - Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi on Saturday directed the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) that no Pakistani in the possession of valid traveling documents should be offloaded from any airport of the country.

ISLAMABAD - Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Di­rector General Lt-Gen Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry on Saturday said that 206 terrorists were killed in 4,910 intelligence-based operations conducted by the armed forces since November 4, 2025.

ISLAMABAD - Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar on Saturday said that Pakistan is considering allowing supply of essential food­stuff for the Afghan peo­ple only on the request of the United Nations.

Funds will go to small-scale projects in constituencies of ruling alliance lawmakers

Minister encourages Danish firms to explore Pakistan's fast-growing IT talent pool

Govt commits to addressing traders' woes, boosting industrial growth

Companies caution they are facing financial trouble, businesses may collapse

Punjab reviews plantation drive as certified seed use rises 25%

Founders suggest early-stage ventures must 'survive rejection' to scale