Pakistan

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said on Saturday he looked forward to meeting Chinese President Xi Jinping along with other world leaders as he arrived in China to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit, as Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi also touched down on his first visit after a seven-year gap. The SCO summit, to be held in the northern port city of China’s Tianjin on Sunday and Monday, will gather more than 20 world leaders in a powerful show of Global South solidarity, including Russian President Vladimir Putin. The SCO comprises China, India, Russia, Pakistan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Belarus. Another 16 countries are affiliated as observers or “dialogue partners”. PM Shehbaz arrived in Tianjin with Deputy PM and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar and Information Minister Attaullah Tarar. Terming his visit “historic”, PM Shehbaz said on X today: “I look forward to meeting H.E. President Xi Jinping and other world leaders to further build upon our bilateral t...

Federal Minister for Maritime Affairs Muhammad Junaid Anwar Chaudhry announced Saturday that Pakistan has received authorization to extend the export of fish and fish-related products to the United States for another four years.

When floodwaters from across the Indian border surged into her village in Pakistan’s Punjab this month, Shama knew what to do: gather her four children and prepare to leave. It was the second time this year she has had to flee, after abandoning her home during cross-border fighting between India and Pakistan in May. “How many times do we need to evacuate now?” the 30-year-old mother said, her husband away ferrying their 10 cows to higher ground on a boat. “We lost out on so much during the war like school days for the children, and now the water is forcing us out again. Trouble is trouble.” A Rescue 1122 boat evacuates people from the flooded area past partially submerged houses, following the monsoon rains and rising water level of the Sutlej River, in Chanda Singh Wala village near the Pakistan-India border in Punjab’s Kasur district, on August 29. — Reuters Shama’s ordeal is echoed across flood-hit Kasur, where families say they are exhausted by repeated displacements within months, first from the fighting...

Pakistan has received authorisation to extend the export of seafood products to the United States for another four years, Minister for Maritime Affairs Muhammad Junaid Anwar Chaudhry announced on Saturday. Pakistan’s seafood exports rose to $465 million in FY25, reflecting a 13.4 per cent increase in value and an 8pc growth in quantity compared to last year, according to data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) in July. According to a press release by the maritime ministry, the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) classified all Pakistani fisheries listed on its List of Foreign Fisheries as “comparable” under the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA). “This classification confirms that Pakistan’s fisheries meet US standards for protecting marine mammals from incidental mortality and serious injury during fishing operations,” Chaudhry was quoted as saying. The MMPA required fisheries to “minimise marine mammal bycatch, adopt conservation practices, and sustainably operate mea...

A new $250 “visa integrity fee” imposed on travellers to the United States risks piling more pressure on the struggling travel industry, as overseas arrivals continue to fall due to President Donald Trump’s crackdown on immigration and hostility to many foreign countries. Overseas travel to the US fell 3.1 per cent year-on-year in July to 19.2 million visitors, according to US government data. It was the fifth month of decline this year, defying expectations that 2025 would see annual inbound visitors finally surpass the pre-pandemic level of 79.4m. The new visa fee, set to go into effect on October 1, adds an additional hurdle for travellers from non-visa waiver countries such as Mexico, Argentina, India, Brazil and China. The extra charge raises the total visa cost to $442, one of the highest visitor fees in the world, according to the US Travel Association, a membership organisation. “Any friction we add to the traveller experience is going to cut travel volumes by some amount,” said Gabe Rizzi, President ...

The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) on Saturday provided 500 ration bags each to flood-hit Sialkot and Narowal, containing 46 kilograms of essential supplies comprising 22 items to be distributed through respective district administrations to support affected residents.

Federal Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi on Saturday reiterated that Pakistan has adopted a zero-tolerance policy against the so-called “begging mafia” operating abroad, particularly in Saudi Arabia, in order to protect the country’s image and safeguard its citizens working overseas.

When floodwaters from across the Indian border surged into her village in eastern Pakistan this month, Shama knew what to do: gather her four children and prepare to leave.

President Asif Ali Zardari has assented to the Petroleum (Amendment) Bill, 2025, as passed by Parliament.

A fire started by protesters at a council building in eastern Indonesia killed at least three people, a local official said on Saturday, after demonstrations across the country following the death of a man hit by a police vehicle. Southeast Asia’s biggest economy was rocked by protests in major cities including the capital Jakarta on Friday after footage spread of a motorcycle taxi driver being run over by a police tactical vehicle in earlier rallies against low wages and financial perks for lawmakers. Protests in Makassar, the biggest city on the eastern island of Sulawesi, descended into chaos outside the provincial and local city council buildings, which were both set on fire as demonstrators hurled rocks and Molotov cocktails. Three people were killed as a result of the fire at the Makassar city council, its secretary Rahmat Mappatoba told AFP. “They were trapped in the burning building,” he said, accusing protesters of igniting the blaze. “Usually during a demonstration, protesters only throw rocks or bu...

The Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) has warned that over 70,000 cusecs of additional water may flow into Pakistan from India in the coming days, heightening the risk of fresh flooding in Punjab.

At least one policeman was martyred and three terrorists were killed in a firing incident in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Kohat district, police said on Saturday. According to Regional Police Officer Kohat Abbas Majeed Marwat, “One policeman was martyred and two others were injured in an operation against terrorists.” He said, “Three terrorists have been killed and several others injured as police retaliated [against terrorists] in the mountains of Darmalak.” An operation is underway to arrest the injured terrorists, the official added. “We will not let the sacrifices of our martyrs go in vain and our war against terrorism will continue.” Earlier today, a statement from the Rescue 1122 read, “A tragic incident of firing on a police vehicle took place near the Darmalak police post in Kohat.” As a result of the firing, one policeman was martyred on the spot and two policemen were injured, the statement said, adding that the injured officials were taken to Kohat District Headquarters Hospital. Recent terrorist attacks h...

President Asif Ali Zardari on Saturday approved a constitutional change in the composition of the 11th National Finance Commission (NFC) following a revised nomination from the Government of Balochistan.

An anti-terrorism court (ATC) in Lahore on Saturday sent Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founding chairman Imran Khan’s nephew, Shahrez Khan, to jail on judicial remand in connection with the attack on Jinnah House during the May 9 riots.

President Asif Ali Zardari on Saturday approved a change in the constitution of the 11th National Finance Commission (NFC) after Balochistan revised its nomination, a statement by the president’s secretariat said. The 11th NFC was constituted on August 22 to prepare a new award for sharing federal divisible resources between the Centre and the provinces. Chaired by Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb, the NFC includes four provincial finance ministers and four non-statutory members, one from each province. Its inaugural session, however, was postponed on the request of the Sindh government “due to the impending flood situation”. As per the statement released today, the change became necessary after the “Government of Balochistan revised its nomination, recommending Mahfooz Ali Khan as its non ex-officio member in the 11th NFC”. The statement added that the president has given the nod to this nomination, superseding the earlier approval. The terms of reference set under clause 2 of Article 160 require the 11th...

An anti-terrorism court (ATC) in Lahore on Saturday sent PTI founder Imran Khan’s nephew Shahrez Khan to jail on judicial remand in a case pertaining to the Jinnah House attack during the May 9, 2023 riots. Lahore Police picked up Shahrez, son of Imran’s sister Aleema Khan, from his mother’s Lahore residence on August 21. His brother Shershah Khan was also arrested the next day over similar allegations, and sent on physical remand and then to jail. Lahore police presented Shahrez before the court of ATC Judge Manzer Ali Gill today upon the completion of his eight-day physical remand. Advocate Rana Mudassar Umer and PTI Secretary General Salman Akram Raja appeared as Shahrez’s counsel, while Imtiaz Ahmad Sipra was present as the prosecutor. Sipra sought a further 30-day physical custody of Shahrez, while Umer urged the court to discharge his client from the case. Judge Gill denied the police’s request and ordered that Shahrez be sent to jail on a 14-day judicial remand. “A cane has been recovered from the susp...

Senior Provincial Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb on Saturday revealed that devastating floods triggered by the Chenab, Ravi, and Sutlej rivers have affected more than 1.

A fresh spell of monsoon rains has battered several cities across Pakistan, causing urban flooding, power outages, and loss of lives.

Federal Minister for Climate Change Musadik Malik has announced decisive action against influential elites who have illegally built hotels, resorts, and housing schemes along riverbanks, calling it a “war” to reclaim waterways and safeguard vulnerable communities.

India will not “bow down” and instead focus on capturing new markets, Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal said in his first public remarks since Washington imposed steep tariffs on Indian goods. The 50 per cent levies on many Indian imports into the United States took effect this week as punishment for New Delhi’s massive purchases of Russian oil, part of US efforts to pressure Moscow into ending its war in Ukraine. Since his return to the White House this year, US President Donald Trump has wielded tariffs as a wide-ranging policy tool, with the levies upending global trade. Speaking at a construction industry event in New Delhi on Friday, Goyal said India was “always ready if anyone wants to have a free trade agreement with us”. But, the trade minister added, India “will neither bow down nor ever appear weak”. “We will continue to move together and capture new markets.” The latest tariffs salvo from Trump has strained US-India ties, with New Delhi earlier criticising the levies as “unfair, unjustified and unreas...