Pakistan

Peace and Culture Organization Chairperson Mushaal Hussein Mullick and wife of jailed Kashmiri Hurriyat leader Muhammad Yasin Malik, raised the Pakistani forces, describing them as a ‘steel wall’ against enemies.

Cricket star Hassan Ali’s mother was allegedly mugged on Wednesday in Gujranwala, a senior police official told Dawn.com. Incidents of snatchings by armed suspects are commonplace nationwide. According to a statement from Gujranwala City Police Officer Muhammad Ayaz Saleem’s office, Hassan’s mother was waiting on the road for her other son, Khurram to pick her up to take her to the bazaar. “A robber snatched her purse and fled the scene,” the CPO said. “Khurram Ali said that the purse contained Rs230,000.” The CPO added that a case had been registered and sought a report from Gujranwala Safe City. According to a copy of the first information report — seen by Dawn.com — the unidentified suspect were charged under Sections 356 (assault or criminal force in attempt to commit theft of property carried by a person) and 379 (punishment for theft) of the Pakistan Penal Code. “Police teams have been formed under the supervision of SP (superintendent of police) City Division to arrest the suspect,” CPO Saleem said. “G...

KARACHI: Police in the port city of Pakistan have apprehended a man pretending to have a physical disability. The video of the incident is now going viral on social media, ARY News reported. According to reports, the beggar, who is now going viral, was arrested along with his accomplices during an operation in the Garden […]

Kuwait lifted a 19-year visa ban on Pakistani citizens and resumed issuing a wide range of visas to Pakistani nationals, the government said on Tuesday. The country had stopped issuing visas in 2011 to citizens of Pakistan, Iran, Syria and Afghanistan, citing difficult security conditions in the countries. Since then, Pakistan made several attempts to get visas restored for Pakistani citizens but to no avail. Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, during his visit to Kuwait in 2017, had also pleaded Pakistan’s case and requested for restoration of visas for Pakistani citizens. In May 2021, Kuwait decided to resume granting visas to Pakistani families and businessmen. It was also decided during the meeting that Kuwait would issue technical visas for Pakistani workers in medical and oil fields. According to a post on X by the government, Kuwait has now resumed the issuance of work, family, visit, tourist, and business visas, which it termed “a major diplomatic achievement and a step towards deeper bilateral cooper...

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Wednesday reiterated Pakistan’s willingness to hold talks with India on the Kashmir dispute and counterterrorism, stressing New Delhi wanted the same “in all sincerity”. The prime minister participated in the Pakistan-Turkiye-Azerbaijan Trilateral Summit alongside presidents Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Ilham Aliyev. The meeting comes as the premier continued his tour to friendly countries to appreciate their support for Pakistan during the recent conflict with India. Speaking at the summit, PM Shehbaz said: “I have said in all humility that we want peace in the region […] and that requires talks on the table on issues which need urgent attention and amicable resolution, that is the issue of Kashmir according to the resolutions of the United Nations and the Security Council and as per the aspirations of the people of Kashmir.” The premier also touched upon the issue of terrorism: “I have said in all earnest that if India wants to talk on countering terrorism in sincerity of purpos...

The Afghan Taliban on Wednesday issued a strong rebuke to the militant group Fitna Al-Khawarij, declaring that any armed activity particularly in Pakistan without the Emir's explicit approval is impermissible under Islamic law.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has strongly condemned India's threat to block Pakistan’s water supply, calling it “unacceptable” and asserting that water is Pakistan’s lifeline.

The death toll from heavy rains across the country has risen to 10, with 43 people injured, as strong winds and thunderstorms triggered flash floods and destroyed homes in central and northern parts of Pakistan, officials said on Wednesday. This is the second time in a week that a storm of such intensity wreaked havoc in many parts of the country, damaging crops, properties, and other infrastructure. At least 19 people were killed and over 90 others injured as powerful windstorms and heavy rains had battered many areas in Islamabad, Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Saturday. Four women and a man died in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) and three in KP, the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) said, while other officials said two died in Punjab. “One person is still missing,” Haroon Rasheed, a senior government official in AJK, told AFP, adding that 12 houses and a mosque were destroyed in one village. According to the NDMA, stormy weather is expected to continue in northern and central parts of the count...

Iran on Wednesday said it may consider allowing US inspectors with the United Nations nuclear watchdog to inspect its facilities if a deal is reached with the United States. Iran has long been accused by Western powers of seeking to develop nuclear weapons — a claim Tehran has consistently denied, insisting its nuclear programme is solely for peaceful, civilian purposes. Tehran and Washington have in recent weeks held five rounds of talks aimed at the issue — their highest-level contact since the US withdrew from the 2015 nuclear deal under Donald Trump in 2018. “Countries that were hostile to us and behaved unprincipledly over the years — we have always tried not to accept inspectors from those countries,” Iran’s nuclear chief Mohammad Eslami told reporters, referring to staff from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Iran “will reconsider accepting American inspectors through the agency” if an agreement is reached and Tehran’s demands are taken into account, he added. Since returning to office in ...

President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Wednesday hailed Pakistan’s nuclear capability, saying it continued to serve as a credible minimum deterrent, as evidenced in the recent hostilities with India. With a public holiday, the nation is celebrating Youm-i-Takbeer to mark the historic day of May 28, 1998 when Pakistan joined the ranks of nuclear powers after atomic tests in the hills of Chagai, Balochistan. Pakistan became the seventh nuclear nation in the world and the first Muslim state to have a nuclear arsenal. PM Shehbaz emphasised that Youm-i-Takbeer was more than a celebration and was a solemn reminder of Pakistan’s resolve to safeguard its sovereignty, according to his statement carried by the Associated Press of Pakistan. He linked this year’s commemoration with what he described as Pakistan’s recent success in defending itself from “an unjustified war imposed by India”. Appreciating the nation’s spirit during the confrontation, the premier said, “The joys of Youm-i-Takbeer ha...

Seven people were rescued while two went missing after a boat sank in the Indus River near Kohat on Wednesday, according to Rescue 1122 officials. A spokesperson for KP Rescue 1122 Bilal Ahmad Faizi said, “A boat sank at Khushalgarh on the Indus River. Seven passengers were rescued with the help of local divers, while a search operation is underway to search for two missing people.” Teams from Kohat, Nowshera, and Karak are participating in the search operation, led by Kohat District Emergency Officer Arif Khattak, Rescue 1122 added. Earlier in May, as many as four people, including two siblings, drowned in the Indus River in two different incidents in Attock, police and rescue sources had said. Last year in April, eight people drowned when a boat capsized in the Indus River near Kund Park in Nowshera district.

The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) has filed additional submissions in the Supreme Court, raising legal objections to the July 12 verdict in the reserved seats case.

Security forces killed four terrorists belonging to a banned outfit during an intelligence-based operation (IBO) in Balochistan’s Musakhel area on Wednesday.

Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Field Marshal General Syed Asim Munir has reaffirmed Pakistan’s commitment to enhancing defence cooperation with Azerbaijan.

PEN International, an association of writers, called on the government to immediately halt the mass deportation of Afghans from Pakistan, including writers, journalists and others at risk of persecution from the Taliban, according to a statement. As of May 18, a total of 55,865 Afghan nationals including 35,975 ACC holders and 19,890 illegal migrants have left for Afghanistan since April 1, the day the second phase began after the deadline for repatriation of registered Afghan nationals ended on March 31. The PEN International-led joint statement, signed by freedom of expression and human rights organisations, concerns the recent acceleration in the mass deportation of Afghans from Pakistan, including at-risk writers, journalists, artists, human rights defenders and others at risk of persecution from the Taliban for their peaceful expression. More than a dozen organisations called on the government to “immediately halt the arbitrary mass deportation of Afghan nationals in line with the country’s human rights ...

The chairman of the Senate standing committee on finance and revenue, former finance minister Senator Saleem Mandviwalla, said on Tuesday that the upcoming budget will further burden the people due to an increase in the petroleum levy. He was also critical of the Federal Board of Revenue’s (FBR) performance, especially in terms of the Tajir Dost Scheme (TDS). Under the TDS, taxes were to be collected from shopkeepers at a fixed rate of Rs100 to Rs60,000 per month based on the fair market value of the stores and sales. The scheme was implemented to bring traders and wholesalers into the formal tax structure to fulfill the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) requirement. The former finance minister said the FBR had failed to bring more people under tax net, while responding to a query on DawnNewsTV show ‘Doosra Rukh’ on the board’s inability to raise Rs5.6 million under the TDS. Mandviwalla criticised the “1960’s system” at the FBR and emphasised on the need to introduce officers who could use technology to imp...

The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has issued a public warning regarding a surge in phishing scams, where fraudsters impersonate the authority to steal personal information.

The Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) on Tuesday rejected the Child Marriage Restraint Bill, 2025, declaring it contrary to Islamic teachings.

Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi of Pakistan and his Iranian counterpart Eskandar Momeni have reached several important agreements aimed at improving pilgrim facilitation and strengthening bilateral ties between the two countries.

The Foreign Office on Wednesday condemned the “inflammatory monologue” delivered by Indian PM Narendra Modi in Gujarat, urging India to “return to the core principles of international order”. The developments follow a recent military confrontation between India and Pakistan over New Delhi’s allegations against Islamabad, without evidence, about a deadly attack in occupied Kashmir’s Pahalgam. On the night of May 6-7, New Delhi launched a series of air strikes in Pakistan, resulting in civilian casualties. Islamabad responded by downing five Indian jets. After intercepting drones sent by India and tit-for-tat strikes on each other’s airbases, it took American intervention on May 10 for both sides to finally drop their guns as a ceasefire was reached. In a video posted by Indian news outlet ANI, Modi, addressing India’s youth, calls into question the contents of the Indus Waters Treaty. He said, “If you study the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty, you’ll be shocked.” He continued, “It was decided that the dams built on t...