Pakistan

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar on Sunday held a telephone conversation with Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi to review bilateral relations and discuss the evolving regional situation.

Chief of Army Staff and Chief of Defence Forces Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir on Sunday issued a stern warning to Afghan Taliban-backed militants, saying Pakistan would not tolerate threats to its security and sovereignty.

Chief of Defence Forces (CDF) and Army Staff Field Marshal Asim Munir has said that formations of the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban (TTP) infiltrating into Pakistan mostly comprised Afghans. “In the TTP formations coming [into Pakistan], 70 per cent are Afghans,” he said. The defence forces’ chief made this statement at the National Ulema Conference held in Islamabad on December 10. However, details of the Field Marshal’s address at the conference were scant thus far and clips of his speech from the event were broadcast on television today. Islamabad has repeatedly urged Kabul to put an end to the use of Afghan soil by terrorists for carrying out attacks in Pakistan. Kabul, however, denies the allegation. Turning his attention to the matter at the conference, CDF Munir questioned: “Is Afghanistan not spilling the blood of our Pakistani children?” He recalled that the Afghan Taliban had been told to choose between Pakistan and the TTP. Speaking about the four-day May conflict with India, he said in Pakistan’s retal...

The commissioning ceremony of a Pakistan Navy Milgem class ship, PNS Khaibar, has been held at Istanbul Naval Shipyard, where Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan emphasised the need for enhanced mutual collaboration in the field of defence production between the two countries. The warship is the second of four Milgem class corvettes, the contract for which was signed with ASFAT Inc, a Turkish state-owned defence contractor firm in 2018. Under this contract, two ships were to be constructed in Turkiye and the remaining two ships in Pakistan. “The commissioning of PNS Khaibar marks the completion of the construction of both ships in Turkiye,” the military’s media affairs wing said in a statement on Sunday. President Erdogan was the chief guest on the occasion while Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Naveed Ashraf also attended the ceremony, it added. According to the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) statement, Erdogan “termed the brotherly relations between Pakistan and Turkiye as exemplary” while addressing...

The Ministry of Energy has approved a major revision to Pakistan’s net metering policy, significantly altering the framework for solar power consumers across the country.

Dense fog and overcast conditions gripped several parts of Punjab on Sunday, reducing visibility to dangerously low levels and prompting authorities to close major motorways to prevent accidents.

Widespread rain and snowfall across Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Azad Kashmir on Sunday intensified the ongoing cold spell, bringing much-needed relief from prolonged dry conditions while causing localized disruptions in some areas.

Nine people were killed and 10 wounded in an early morning shooting in a township south-west of Johannesburg and authorities have launched a manhunt for the suspects, the South African Police Service said on Sunday. The incident occurred just before 1am local time (4am PKT) at a licensed tavern in Johannesburg’s Bekkersdal township, the police said in a statement. About 12 unknown suspects in a white minibus and a silver sedan opened fire at the tavern patrons and continued shooting randomly as they fled the scene, the police said, adding the motive for the shooting would be determined by investigation. The injured have been taken to medical facilities for treatment, police added. Bekkersdal is part of the Rand West City local municipality, whose website describes the township as being an area characterised by high levels of unemployment and poverty due to a decline in gold mining. South Africa, Africa’s biggest economy, has one of the world’s highest murder rates, averaging about 60 a day.

As fog engulfed several areas of Karachi on Sunday morning and the city experienced “very unhealthy” weather conditions, flight disruptions and one road accident death were reported. Low visibility due to fog was reported from Super Highway, Surjani Town, Gulistan-i-Jauhar, I.I. Chundrigarh Road, Clifton and Defence. Updates on the Karachi airport’s website showed that multiple flights were cancelled or delayed in the morning. Pakistan Airports Authority spokesperson Saifullah Khan confirmed in a statement that six international flights scheduled to land in Karachi had to be diverted due to fog. The statement said that the diversion was a usual safety measure taken due to reduced visibility. It added that Pegasus Airlines, Eitehad Airways, Flyadeal and Gulf Air flights had been diverted to Muscat. Moreover, a Pakistan International Airlines flight that had departed from Madina, too, had to be divered to Muscat. Similarly, Fly Jinnah flight arriving from Jeddah was diverted to Islamabad. According to the Pakis...

Illustration by Abro George Orwell’s classic novel Nineteen Eighty-Four, published in 1949, explores a fictional totalitarian regime that maintains absolute power by dismantling individual thought, memory and personal connection. Orwell wrote the novel after witnessing the rise of fascism in Germany and, especially, the Stalinist system in the Soviet Union. A self-described socialist, Orwell fought against fascists in the Spanish Civil War (1936-39). But he critically differentiated between ‘democratic-socialism’ and the communism practised in the Soviet Union. By the time Nineteen Eighty-Four was published, totalitarianism in Germany had fallen, but Stalinism persisted. Orwell was particularly disturbed by the Soviet Union’s trajectory, having already satirised it in his 1945 allegory Animal Farm. In Nineteen Eighty-Four, he presented a warning about communism’s potential to create a terrifying dystopia. The term ‘Orwellian’ quickly entered political discourse as a universal descriptor for state overreach, t...

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court has declared that the protective bails, granted to scores of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf’s lawmakers and leaders, including Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi, were meant to facilitate their appearance before the relevant courts, so the relief shouldn’t be used for participating in protests or anti-state activities. “This interim relief shall not, under any circumstances, be construed, interpreted, invoked or relied upon by the petitioner(s) as a shield, protection, justification, or safeguard for any purpose other than facilitating their appearance before the competent court. For abundant caution, it is further clarified that this order shall not be used, directly or indirectly, to enable, justify or facilitate the petitioner(s) participation in any protest, demonstration, anti-state activity, or any event of a similar nature,” reads a ruling by a bench consisting of Justice Syed Arshad Ali and Justice Mohammad Faheem Wali in multiple cases. It declared that an...

BANGLADESH has been rocked by spasms of violence after a student leader, who was shot in Dhaka recently, succumbed to his injuries while receiving treatment in Singapore. Sharif Osman Hadi was a key figure in last year’s uprising — which sent Sheikh Hasina Wajed’s regime packing — a spokesman for the Inqilab Morcho political platform, and a candidate for next year’s elections scheduled for February. After news of his death spread on Thursday, protests in various parts of Bangladesh spiralled out of control, as rampaging mobs resorted to rioting and arson. Among the institutions attacked were two of the country’s leading newspapers, Prothom Alo and The Daily Star. Staffers of the latter publication survived a terrifying ordeal when a mob torched their building, and they had to be rescued by security personnel. As per local media, Hadi’s funeral on Saturday drew hundreds of thousands of mourners, including Bangladesh’s interim leader Muhammad Yunus. Inqilab Morchohas termed the murdered leader a “martyr … again...

KARACHI: A sessions court on Friday granted interim bail to YouTuber Rajab Butt, who was booked in a case pertaining to allegedly “hurting religious” sentiments. Lawyer Riaz Ali Solangi had lodged a complaint against the YouTuber in January at the Hyderi Market police station, under Section 295-A (deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs) of the Pakistan Penal Code. According to the FIR, the complainant claimed that in December 2024 he watched a viral video of the YouTuber in which he was allegedly “disrespecting” prayer (Namaz) that hurt sentiments of Muslims. He added that in the “controversial” video, Mr Butt was performing prayer while music was playing in the background, which left him feeling grieved and angered. It is pertinent to mention that the FIR was registered after a sessions court allowed the complainant’s application filed under Section 22-A, seeking directives for the Hyderi Market SHO to lodge a case agai...

KARACHI: The Karachi Bar Association (KBA) has strongly condemned the removal of Islamabad High Court (IHC) judge Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri. On Dec 20, a two-judge IHC bench headed by Chief Justice Sardar Mohammad Sarfraz Dogar had ordered the removal of Justice Jahangiri after allowing a petition challenging the validity of his law degree. Subsequently, the president had also approved the de-notification of Justice Jahangiri on the advice of the prime minister on the same night. In a statement, the KBA said only the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) is the constitutional forum to remove judges of the high courts and Supreme Court and any “executive or administrative process” is unconstitutional. Bar President Amir Nawaz Warraich and General Secretary Ghulam Rehman Korai stated that the de-notification had been effected with extraordinary haste and in a manner manifestly inconsistent with the constitutional guarantees of judicial independence, due process and institutional propriety. “Such action directly impinges...

In Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery, the sequel to Glass Onion (2022), Jud Duplenticy (Josh O’Connor), a former boxer-turned-Catholic priest in upstate New York, is reprimanded for punching a deacon. His punishment feels more like a timeout: he’s reassigned as assistant pastor to a dwindling rural parish, Our Lady of Perpetual Fortitude. The pastor in charge is Monsignor Jefferson Wicks (Josh Brolin) — a foul-tempered, irksome man of God more interested in drinking and driving his few followers towards an early grave, albeit not literally. The regulars include Martha Delacroix (Glenn Close), a devout church fanatic (in the worst way possible) and Wicks’ diligent secretary; Dr Nat Sharp (Jeremy Renner), a local physician driven into alcoholism due to being a widower; Vera Draven (Kerry Washington), a lawyer quietly seething towards a reckoning; Cy Draven (Daryl McCormack), her adoptive son, a failed, aspiring politician who now vlogs; Lee Ross (Andrew Scott), a best-selling sci-fi novelist who has lost h...

Kinno grading in process at a plant in Sargodha.—Photo by the writer LAHORE: Despite being among the world’s largest producers of citrua, Pakistan is set to export only 400,000-450,000 tonnes of kinno during the 2025-26 season, well below its estimated potential of 700,000-800,000 tonnes, as growers and exporters struggle with high freight costs, border restrictions and the absence of effective government facilitation. During the 2024-25 season, kinno exports stood at around 350,000-400,000 tonnes, with Russia, Indonesia, the UAE, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia and Central Asian states as major destinations. For the current season, a slight improvement is expected due to better fruit size and quality in Sargodha and adjoining areas, but structural issues continue to cap growth. Former MPA and large kinno orchard owner Faisal Cheema said the crisis has deepened despite an excellent crop. “By the grace of God, this year’s kinno crop is outstanding in both quantity and quality, but it has become a pattern that whenev...

KARACHI: Despite authorities’ best efforts, there is a dire shortage of dollars in the open market, and many currency exchanges are “only selling what they buy”, causing consternation among those planning to travel abroad for the holidays, or in the new year. Visits to multiple exchange outlets across different parts of the metropolis revealed that currency dealers are facing a dearth of greenbacks in their accounts. Some have stopped selling dollars altogether, while others are rationing their supply, only allowing customers to purchase up to $100 at a time. In addition, a small number of exchanges only have old-design dollar notes in stock. These are not of much use to travellers who wish to exchange greenbacks for the local currency of their destination. As a result, a number of passengers have been forced to purchase exotic foreign currencies in Pakistan, leading to them getting a ‘bad deal’ in terms of the exchange rate. One such passenger, who was travelling to Malaysia at the end of November, told Dawn...

RAWALPINDI: As the Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) predicted rain in Rawalpindi and Islamabad and snowfall over the hills till December 22, the district administration of Murree said it had completed all arrangements to handle the situation. According to Met Office, landslides and snowfall may cause road closures/slippery conditions in Naran, Kaghan, Chitral, Dir, Swat, Kohistan, Mansehra, Abbottabad, Shangla, Gilgit, Astore, Hunza, Skardu, Murree, Galliyat, Neelum valley, Bagh, Poonch and Haveli on December 21. It stated that a westerly wave was affecting western and upper parts of the country. Rain (snowfall over mountains) is expected in north/west Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Gilgit-Baltistan, Kashmir, Islamabad and Potohar region. Cold and partly cloudy weather is likely in other parts of the country. Fog/smog is likely to persist over districts of eastern Punjab and upper Sindh. Talking to Dawn, Murree Deputy Commissioner Agha Zaheer Shirazi said the administration was on its toes to deal w...

QUETTA: The Quetta valley and several towns and cities across Balochistan received the first winter rainfall on Saturday, ending a prolonged dry spell and bringing much-needed relief to growers facing drought-like conditions. However, the rains also disrupted normal life, suspending power supply and mobile networks, flooding roads and houses, and triggering road accidents that left two women dead and several others injured. Clouds had been hovering over Quetta and adjoining areas for the past two days, though weather experts initially ruled out significant rainfall, describing the system over Balochistan as weak and unlikely to cause torrential rain. Contrary to these forecasts, rain began around noon in parts of the Quetta valley and soon intensified, spreading across the provincial capital. As the rainfall strengthened, roads in urban areas were inundated with rainwater, leading to widespread traffic congestion. Power supply to Quetta was suspended shortly after the rain began, plunging large parts of the c...

• PTI to challenge guilty ruling in high court, as ex-PM says ‘not surprised’ • Asad says left with no option but ‘resistance’; Raja insists verdict not based on evidence ISLAMABAD: As a court sentenced him to jail in the Toshakhana-II case, former prime minister Imran Khan on Saturday issued a call for a nationwide protest besides announcing his intention to challenge the verdict in the Islamabad High Court. The PTI chief does not have access to his social media handles in jail. “I have sent a message to [Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister] Sohail Afridi to prepare for the street movement. The entire nation will have to rise for its rights,” he said as per the account of the conversation between the PTI leader and his lawyer posted on X. He said his sentence in this case did not come as a surprise, but he had asked his legal team to move the high court against the decision. “Like the baseless decisions and sentences of the last three years, the Toshakhana-II decision is also nothing new to me. This decision w...