Pakistan

Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Yahya Afridi on Tuesday raised questions over some observations made by the Lahore High Court (LHC) on former premier Imran Khan’s bail pleas in eight May 9 cases. In November 2024, a Lahore anti-terrorism court had denied Imran bail in the cases related to the May 9, 2023 riots, including an attack on the house of the Lahore corps commander. The incarcerated PTI leader’s plea challenging that was also rejected by the LHC on June 24. Subsequently, days later, Imran moved the Supreme Court against the high court’s decision. A three-member bench led by CJP Afridi, which also included Justices Muhammad Shafi Siddiqui and Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb, resumed hearing the bail pleas today. Barrister Salman Safdar appeared on behalf of Imran, while Punjab Special Prosecutor Zulfiqar Naqvi was representing the state. During the hearing, CJP Afridi took note of some “findings” issued by the LHC in its detailed verdict of dismissing Imran’s bail pleas. “Can final observations be given in a ...

An anti-terrorism court (ATC) in Lahore on Tuesday ordered the confiscation of properties owned by PTI leaders Dr Yasmin Rashid, Ejaz Chaudry, Omar Sarfraz Cheema and Mian Mehmoodur Rasheed a day after they were convicted in two May 9 cases. ATC-I Judge Manzer Ali Gill on Monday sentenced the four PTI leaders to 10 years in prison in the cases pertaining to the Shadman police station attack and burning of police vehicles near Jinnah House. The court, however, acquitted former foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi in the cases. Today’s hearing was also taken up by Gill, who ordered the confiscation of the convicted PTI leaders’ properties. The judge issued jail warrants for the leaders and handed them to the jail superintendent. In its verdict yesterday, the ATC had also fined Dr Yasmin, Chaudhry, Cheema and Rasheed Rs600,000. PTI leaders Aliya Hamza and Sanam Javed were sentenced to five years in prison in the Shadman case. In a separate development today, Judge Gill ordered the release of Qureshi in the two ...

The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has announced plans to hire 102 sector and audit experts across 42 key industries to strengthen field audits and improve compliance in Pakistan’s major economic sectors.

Karachi - Chief Minister Sindh Syed Murad Ali Shah on Monday reiterated his government’s unwavering commitment to safeguarding the rights of religious minorities, stressing that Pakistan belongs equally to all its citizens regardless of faith.

Peshawar - As an important step towards strengthening the emergency response in province’s tourist destinations, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has handed over state-of-the-art multi-purpose machinery to the Galiyat Development Authority (GDA) and the Kaghan Development Authority (KDA).

Lahore - A grand ceremony to mark National Minority Day, organised by the Human Rights and Minorities Affairs (HR&MA) Department, was held at Aiwan-e-Iqbal, here on Monday.

United States President Donald Trump on Monday ordered a delay in the re-imposition of higher tariffs on Chinese goods, hours before a trade truce between Washington and Beijing was due to expire. The White House’s halt on steeper tariffs will be in place until November 10. “I have just signed an executive order that will extend the tariff suspension on China for another 90 days,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform. The truce on steeper levies had been due to expire on Tuesday. While the US and China slapped escalating tariffs on each other’s products this year, bringing them to prohibitive triple-digit levels and snarling trade, both countries in May agreed to temporarily lower them. As part of their May truce, fresh US tariffs targeting China were reduced to 30 percent and the corresponding level from China was cut to 10pc. Those rates will now hold until November — or whenever a deal is cut before then. Around the same time that Trump confirmed the new extension, Chinese state media Xinhua news agenc...

Italian orienteering athlete Mattia Debertolis died on Tuesday at the World Games in Chengdu, China after collapsing during competition, organisers said. Debertolis, 29, was found unconscious during an orienteering event on August 8 and died four days later, said a joint statement from World Games organisers and the International Orienteering Federation (IOF). The World Games is a multisport event held every four years for disciplines not included in the Olympics. “Despite receiving immediate expert medical care at one of China’s leading medical institutions, he passed away,” the statement said. It did not provide details on the cause of death. Orienteering sees athletes navigate an unmarked course with a map and compass, punching in at designated spots along the route in the quickest time. The event, held about 50 kilometres outside of central Chengdu, took place in intense heat and humidity, with temperatures above 30 degrees. Debertolis, from Primiero in eastern Italy, was taking part in the final of the m...

Security forces have eliminated another three terrorists attempting to infiltrate via the Pakistan-Afghanistan border in Balochistan’s Zhob district, the military’s media wing said on Tuesday. The military’s anti-infiltration operation, which began on the night of August 7, has so far killed 50 terrorists. “On night [of] 10/11 August 2025, a deliberate sanitisation operation was conducted in surrounding areas of Sambaza along [the] Pakistan-Afghanistan border,” the Inter-Services Public Relations said in a press release. “During the conduct of the operation, three more Indian sponsored khawarij were hunted down and successfully neutralised. Weapons, ammunition and explosives were also recovered from the killed khawarij,” the ISPR added. Fitna al Khawarij is a term the state uses for terrorists belonging to the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). The ISPR highlighted: “The number of khawarij killed in four days’ anti-infiltration operation has risen to 50.” It noted that “47 khwarij were sent to hell” pre...

LAHORE - The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Monday declined to hear Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Zartaj Gul’s appeals against her convictions in three May 9-related cases until she appears before the court.

Security forces have killed three more Indian-sponsored Khawarij in the surrounding areas of Sambaza, Zhob District, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said on Tuesday.

LAHORE - PML-N President Nawaz Sharif presided over a party’s high-level meeting in Murree on Monday to discuss the coming by-elections for a number of National Assembly and Punjab Assembly seats that fell vacant due to the disqualification of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) legislators.

ISLAMABAD - The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Islamabad has reassured Bahria Town residents and property owners that their legal rights, assets, and investments are fully protected, despite the circulation of misleading and malicious narratives by certain elements.

ISLAMABAD - First Lady Aseefa Bhutto Zardari, Sindh Health Minister Dr Azra Fazal Pechuho, and parliamentarians from across the political spectrum on Monday signed a landmark joint declaration on gender, breastfeeding, and nutrition in Pakistan, pledging coordinated action to protect child health, empower mothers, and remove systemic.

ISLAMABAD - Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) lawmaker Abdul Qadir Gilani, a Member of the National Assembly (MNA) from Multan, fell victim to a high-value street crime in Spain when unidentified thieves snatched his expensive gold-plated wristwatch in the city of Barcelona.

ISLAMABAD: Various religious groups joined hands on Monday to protest against the demolition of a mosque in the capital. The Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) along with other groups held a protest at the site of the demolished Madni mosque near Rawal Dam Chowk. The protesters also uprooted the saplings planted by the CDA on the place. The mosque had been demolished late Saturday night. The JUI-F Member of National Assembly, Naeema Kishwar, also submitted a resolution condemning the demolition of Madni mosque. Addressing the protesters, JUI-F Islamabad chapter Emir Mufti Owais Aziz announced that legal proceedings would be initiated against the demolition of the mosque. He said the government was planning to raze 50 mosques in Islamabad and vowed to resist the move. He said the religious groups have unanimously agreed to get an FIR registered against Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi and other officials under blasphemy laws. “If the police refuse to register the case, we will consider them enemies of Islam,” Muf...

PESHAWAR: Around 55,000 people have been displaced from different areas of Mamund tehsil in Bajaur tribal district due to the military operation, while 400,000 residents remain hostage to the suddenly-imposed curfew, local lawmaker Nisar Baz told the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly on Monday. During a debate on the law and order situation in the province with Speaker Babar Saleem Swati chairing the session, Mr Baz of the opposition Awami National Party insisted that the people displaced from his district due to a military operation against terrorismfaced multiple problems due to the government’s failure to cater for them. He said that neither the provincial government nor the federal government had made any arrangements to meet the needs of displaced residents. Mr Baz urged authorities to lift curfew to enable people to shift to safety. Opposition demands end to curfew to help residents move to safety “Almost the entire population is literally hostage to the curfew, which halted their migration. It’s astonishing ...

ISLAMABAD - Pakistan yesterday rejected the “immature remarks” made by the Indian Ministry of External Affairs on the remarks attributed to Pakistan’s Chief of Army Staff Field Martial Asim Munir.

ISLAMABAD - President Asif Ali Zardari has said that Pakistan’s minority communities are an essential and respected part of society, and that their rights, freedoms, and safety are fully protected under the Constitution of Pakistan.

Light rain and drizzle in various parts of Lahore on Tuesday brought a welcome change in weather, easing the recent spell of humidity.