Pakistan

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif held meetings with the delegations of multiple parties on Thursday in what appears to be efforts by the government to prepare the ground to get a 27th Constitutional Amendment approved by Parliament. Among those he met was a seven-member delegation of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P), which was led by party Convener Dr Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui. A statement by the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) said “discussion and consultation took place on the proposed 27th Constitutional Amendment” during the meeting. The delegation also included Sindh Governor Kamran Khan Tessori, Health Minister Syed Mustafa Kamal, Members of National Assembly Dr Farooq Sattar, Jawed Hanif Khan, Syed Aminul Haque and Khawaja Izharul Hassan, the statement added. Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, National Assembly Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif, Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar, Economic Affairs Minister Ahad Khan Cheema, Information and Broadcasting Minist...

Federal Minister for Communications and President Istehkam-e-Pakistan Party, Abdul Aleem Khan, has said that Jammu Martyrs’ Day is a solemn reminder of the unparalleled sacrifices made by the Kashmiri people in their struggle for freedom, dignity, and the right to self-determination.

Director General of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) Riffat Mukhtar said on Thursday that the agency is investigating reports of workers being offloaded at airports, during a meeting chaired by Federal Minister for Overseas Pakistanis Chaudhry Salik Hussain, a statement from the ministry said. Over the past few months, numerous incidents have been reported of travellers being offloaded from flights at various airports on grounds of suspicion, despite possessing valid travel documents. The actions follow Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s directive to crack down on migrant smuggling after last year’s Greece boat tragedy that claimed several Pakistani lives. The development took place during a high-level meeting today presided over by the minister, in which he was briefed on such incidents. DG FIA Mukhtar, officials Ministry of the Overseas Pakistanis, and a delegation from the Pakistan Overseas Employment Promoters Association were also in attendance. DG FIA Mukhtar informed the meeting participants that in...

The inaugural flight of Mahan Air (W5-1184) successfully departed from Islamabad International Airport (IIAP) for Tehran on Thursday, marking the commencement of the Iranian carrier’s regular air service between the two capitals.

President Asif Ali Zardari Thursday left for Pakistan after his visit to Doha, Qatar.

Pakistan has categorically rejected the unfounded and misleading allegations that members of the Hindu community were denied entry into its territory.

A district and sessions court in Islamabad on Thursday cancelled the non-bailable arrest warrants issued for lawyer and rights activist Imaan Mazari and her husband, Hadi Ali Chattha, in the controversial tweet case.

PPP Information Secretary Shazia Marri said on Thursday that the party would not support any rollback of the 18th Amendment or the NFC Award if the government sought its backing. Speaking to reporters in Karachi outside the Bilawal House, Marri said that her party will never take away the rights given to provinces. “When it comes to provinces, the PPP has a very clear stance […] the Pakistan Peoples Party wants to see the strengthening of the provinces, and it will never take away its rights or agree to proposals that may [compromise its rights],” she said. However, she added that if any constitutional amendments could improve Pakistan’s governance system, enhance institutional performance, and deliver greater relief to citizens, the PPP would be open to considering and supporting such proposals. “There are fears and speculations that there will be discussions [today] regarding the 18th Amendment or the NFC share. The PPP has a very clear stance on this — we will never step back. Rolling back the 18th Amendme...

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi said on Thursday that he was unable to meet the chief justice of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) earlier today and was denied permission to meet PTI founder and ex-premier Imran Khan at Rawalpindi’s Adiala Jail. Afridi has been seeking a meeting with the former premier, who is incarcerated at Rawalpindi’s Adiala jail, since he was sworn in as the KP CM on October 15. He has been denied access to the PTI founder at least four times since then, despite the IHC’s directives to implement its March order that reinstated a twice-a-week meeting schedule for Imran. Addressing reporters outside the prison, CM Afridi lamented that he was unable to meet the party founder and the chief justice of the IHC, the latter of whom he had waited 90 minutes to meet before leaving empty-handed. “As you all know, there have been continuous efforts through constitutional and legal means; this is the fifth time,” he said, referring to how frequently he was denied a meeting with the PTI f...

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Report reveals not a single conviction recorded in cases reported between January & June, 25

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Air quality index exceeds 170 as gridlock, dust and chaos grip Rawalpindi

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The Foreign Office (FO) on Thursday rejected “unfounded and misleading” allegations that members of the Hindu community were denied entry into the country on religious grounds, clarifying the action was “purely administrative” and consistent with Islamabad’s sovereign right to regulate entry into its territory. Earlier this week, Pakistan welcomed Sikh pilgrims from India, with over 2,000 pilgrims granted visas to attend a 10-day festival marking the 556th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak, founder of the Sikh faith. However, Indian media claimed yesterday that an Indian national and six family members were reportedly denied entry into Pakistan, with officials allegedly citing their Hindu faith as the reason for refusal. In a statement today, FO said that these claims are “entirely baseless and represent yet another attempt to distort facts and politicise a matter that was purely administrative in nature”. “High Commission for Pakistan, New Delhi, had issued over 2,400 visas to Sikh pilgrims from India to parti...

Türkiye’s Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya met with Pakistan’s Federal Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi in Islamabad to discuss enhanced collaboration in counterterrorism, anti-narcotics operations, human trafficking prevention, border management, cybercrime, coast guard coordination, and police training.

“Vibe coding”, a word that essentially means using artificial intelligence (AI) to tell a machine what you want instead of coding it yourself, was on Thursday named the Collins Word of the Year 2025. Coined by OpenAI co-founder Andrej Karpathy, the word refers to “an emerging software development that turns natural language into computer code using AI”, according to Collins Dictionary. “It’s programming by vibes, not variables,” said Collins. “While tech experts debate whether it’s revolutionary or reckless, the term has resonated far beyond Silicon Valley, speaking to a broader cultural shift towards AI-assisted everything in everyday life,” it added. Lexicographers at Collins Dictionary monitor the 24 billion-word Collins Corpus, which draws from a range of media sources, including social media, to create the annual list of new and notable words that reflect our ever-evolving language. The 2025 shortlist highlights a range of words that have emerged in the past year to pithily reflect the changing world aro...

Society of Aircraft Engineers of Pakistan (SAEP) President Abdullah Jadoon and Secretary General Awais Jadoon were dismissed from service on Thursday amid an ongoing tiff with the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA). PIA spokesperson Abdullah Hafiz confirmed the development to Dawn. The national flag carrier also issued two dismissal notices to the engineers, copies of which are available with Dawn. Abdullah’s role was stated as an aircraft engineer (PG-VI), while Awais was an aircraft engineer (PG-VIII). The dismissal letters said that notices were issued to the SAEP president for conducting a press conference without prior authorisation and for disclosing official information to the media, and to the SAEP secretary general, for the unauthorised disclosure of confidential operational information and PIA images. “In order to enquire into the allegations/charges communicated to you via the aforesaid showcause notice, an enquiry was conducted wherein you failed to participate despite providing ample opportuni...