Pakistan

ISLAMABAD - The Supreme Court was informed on Monday that no medical board was constituted to evaluate Zahir Jaffer’s mental health during his trial for the murder of Noor Mukadam, despite the defence’s repeated claims that he was unfit to stand trial.

ISLAMABAD - The Senate Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs paying tribute to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) for its “exceptionally tremendous” role during the recent Pakistan-India conflict.

ISLAMABAD - Pakistan and China have reaffirmed their commitment to strengthening bilateral cooperation in the health sector during a high-level meeting on the sidelines of the 77th World Health Assembly (WHA) in Geneva.

PESHAWAR - Advisor to the Chief Minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Information and Public Relations, Barrister Muhammad Ali Saif, has said that peace has been restored in District Kurram due to the prudent efforts of Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur.

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan is seeking loans totalling up to $350 million from commercial banks in the United Arab Emirates to meet its external financing needs. According to informed banking sources, Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb has been in discussions with these banks to revive their loan portfolio with Pakistan, and the finalisation of the loan is expected to occur very soon. In the first three quarters of the current fiscal year, the government received about $504m from foreign lenders (mostly UAE-based), showing a minor recovery from commercial banks that had stayed away from financing Pakistan last year. The government has budgeted $3.8bn in financing from foreign banks for the current fiscal year, but the actual realisation has been sluggish in the first nine months. The government had also targeted $1bn in international bonds for FY25. Another projection of $9bn inflows from bilateral partners — China and Saudi Arabia — was targeted for the current fiscal year. These projections include a $5bn time dep...

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar met with Liu Jianchao, Minister of the International Department of the Communist Party of China (IDCPC), during his ongoing three-day official visit to Beijing, state-run APP reported on Tuesday.

RAWALPINDI: Having lost four matches in a row following five wins on the trot to open their HBL Pakistan Super League campaign, Islamabad United arrived here at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium on Monday night with the intent to stamp their authority as the defending champions. To Karachi Kings’ horror, the holders went on to post a mammoth total before bundling Kings out cheaply as Shadab Khan led from the front, contributing both with the bat and the ball. The all-rounder’s batting effort — 42 off 19 with the help of three fours and as many sixes — was a cameo in the bigger scheme of things, which saw Sahibzada Farhan and Alex Hales smash blistering half centuries to help United to 251-5. But Shadab’s leg-spin accounted for four wickets at the expense of 45 runs, and that performance eventually defined the match, choking Kings batters through the middle of their chase as United won by 79 runs eventually. The result saw United replace Kings in the second spot in the PSL standings as the tournament’s league sta...

The Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) has predicted that the ongoing severe heatwave will persist throughout the week due to a dominant high-pressure system in the upper atmosphere.

LAHORE: An anti-terrorism court on Monday awarded a jail term to a member of a banned outfit on charges of learning to make bombs on Facebook. ATC-I Judge Manzer Ali Gill convicted the accused, Hannan Abdullah, after finding him guilty and sentenced him to two years and six months in prison. He also imposed a fine of Rs50,000 on the convict. The convict, who was on bail, was taken into custody from the court after the announcement of the guilty verdict. The judge handed over the custody of the convict to Kot Lakhpat Jail officials. The FIA had registered a case against the convict in 2022. The prosecution said the convict was learning how to make bombs on Facebook. It said the convict also established contacts with terrorists and a banned outfit through Facebook. A prosecutor asked the court to convict the accused in light of the cogent evidence available on record. Published in Dawn, May 20th, 2025

India’s Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri has said that the United States had no role in mediating the ceasefire between New Delhi and Islamabad, according to Indian media reports on Tuesday. Misri’s statement comes despite US President Donald Trump taking credit multiple times for his administration’s role in the truce, which Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif also thanked him for. New Delhi had accused Islamabad, without evidence, of orchestrating last month’s deadly attack in occupied Kashmir’s Pahalgam. Pakistan had strongly denied the allegations and called for a neutral probe. As the situation turned into a military confrontation between the nuclear powers, it took American intervention for both sides to agree to a ceasefire. During a meeting yesterday of the parliamentary committee on external affairs, led by Congress lawmaker Shashi Tharoor, Misri claimed that the offer for a ceasefire came from Pakistan and that no other country was involved in the negotiations, Hindustan Times reported, citing a “senior law...

Dark finger-like slope streaks extending across the dusty Martian surface in a region called Arabia Terra are seen in this NASA satellite photograph released on May 19, 2025. — NASA/Handout via Reuters WASHINGTON: Images taken of Mars from orbit dating back as far as the 1970s have captured curious dark streaks running down the sides of cliffs and crater walls that some scientists have construed as possible evidence of flows of liquid water, suggesting that the planet harbors environments suitable for living organisms. A new study casts doubt on that interpretation. Examining about 500,000 of these sinewy features spotted in satellite images, the researchers concluded they were created probably through dry processes that left the superficial appearance of liquid flows, underscoring the view of Mars as a desert planet currently inhospitable to life — at least on its surface. The data indicated that formation of these streaks is driven by the accumulation of fine-grain dust from the Martian atmosphere on sloped...

RAWALPINDI - Security Forces killed nine Khwarij belonging to Indian Proxy, Fitna Al Khwarij in multiple engagements in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province on May 17 and 18.

Shehbaz Sharif praises Pak Navy’s critical role in safeguarding sea lines of communication Visits navy dockyard, pays tribute to Pak Navy for its role in Operation Bunyanum Marsoos.

Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson says ready to work with Pakistan to advance bilateral ties Ishaq Dar says China, Pakistan enjoy an iron-clad close relationship.

ISLAMABAD - Pakistan yesterday rubbished Indian propaganda that Shaheen missiles were used in the Operation Bunyanun Marsoos (BM).

ISLAMABAD - The Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) has forecast that a severe heatwave is expected to continue across the country during the current week due to the presence of a high-pressure system in the upper atmosphere.

ISLAMABAD - The Supreme Court’s constitutional bench on Monday adjourned the hearing of super tax case until May 22, following conclusion of arguments by counsel for Federal Board of Revenue (FBR).

ALI Khan Mahmudabad NEW DELHI: The arrest of Professor Ali Khan Mahmudabad on Sunday under charges that point to sedition and for hurting religious sentiments for his comments on operation Sindoor has been criticised by opposition parties who said the move shows how “fearful” the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is of critique, The Wire said on Monday. Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Mahua Moitra said that if an eminent scholar like Mahmudabad can be arrested “on Mickey Mouse charges & jailed then it is only because of his name.” Ms Moitra also re-shared Mahuma­dabad’s post and said that nothing in it “is remotely offensive, let alone seditious”. Prof Ali Khan Mahmudabad has noted in his social media post that while rightwing Indians rejoiced at Col Sofiya Qureshi’s briefings about operation Sindoor, they were insensitive to the lynchings and bulldosing of homes of Muslims in India. Says move shows how ‘fearful’ BJP is of criticism The opposition also said that in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s India, “hate mongers” ...

ISLAMABAD - The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Monday quashed the sentence of an official of Capital Police in a case pertaining to passing the classified information to a foreign diplomat.

ISLAMABAD - The Judicial Commission of Pakistan has unanimously nominated Muhammad Ejaz Swati as the Chief Justice of the High Court of Baluchistan.