Pakistan

ISLAMABAD - Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Attaullah Tarar on Thursday reiterated the government’s commitment to the protection of minority rights, saying consultations with representatives of minority and other communities play a vital role in ensuring that the views and needs of all citizens are effectively.

ISLAMABAD - The Supreme Court of Pakistan on Thursday turned down a review petition of Zahir Jaffer against the SC’s decision to award him death sentence in Noor Muqadam murder case.

• Field officers to lose powers to issue notices, conduct audits • Reforms aim to curb collusion, harassment • Phased rollout planned from October ISLAMABAD: The government has approved in principle a plan to introduce a centralised digital tax operating model, under which audits and assessments would be handled by “faceless” wings in Islamabad to reduce official discretion and direct contact between tax officials and taxpayers. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif approved Pakistan’s New Tax Operating Model on Thursday and commended the tax officials who developed the plan. The model is scheduled for a three-phase rollout beginning in October this year. The centralised and faceless tax model is similar to systems used in the UK, Australia, the Netherlands, Singapore and India. It is designed to eliminate physical contact between tax authorities and taxpayers to prevent corruption. The reforms have been driven by systemic leakages and widespread under-reporting detected by Pakistan Revenue Automation Limited (PRAL)....

ISLAMABAD - Sindh Senior Minister Sharjeel Inam Memon met with Federal Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi in Islamabad.

ISLAMABAD - Chairman Senate of Pakistan, Syed Yousaf Raza Gillani, attended the reception hosted to commemorate the 250th Independence Day of the United States of America and conveyed warm felicitations and best wishes to President Donald Trump, the Government, and the people of the United States on this historic occasion.

ISLAMABAD - A delegation of the Singapore International Mediation Centre (SIMC), led by its Chief Executive Officer Chuan Wee Meng, called on the Chief Justice of Pakistan at the Supreme Court on Thursday and discussed measures to strengthen the Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) system in Pakistan.

ISLAMABAD - Adviser to the Prime Minister Rana Sanaullah on Thursday expressed confidence that the upcoming Gilgit-Baltistan (G-B) elections would be conducted in a free, fair, and transparent manner.

ISLAMABAD - Members of the National Assembly Gul Asghar Khan and Raja Osama Sarwar on Thursday called on Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif here.

LAHORE - Punjab has expanded its agricultural mechanisation programme through a series of initiatives aimed at increasing farmers’ access to modern machinery, including subsidised tractors, combined harvesters and interest-free financing for advanced farm equipment.

NEW DELHI: Pakistan has decided not to send its team for the Asian Senior Fencing Championships to be held in New Delhi from June 19 despite the local organisers sending an invite to the neighbouring country to take part in the continental event, Press Trust of India (PTI) news agency reported on Thursday. India is hosting the championships for the first time. Fencers from more than 30 countries across Asia and Oceania will be seen in action. Nearly 100 delegates and technical officials will oversee the event. “We sent an invite to Pakistan, as well as Afghanistan, to participate in the championships but they chose not to send their fencers. The deadline for sending entries is long over and we are now in the process of procuring visas for the athletes and officials,” the Fencing Association of India (FAI) secretary general Rajeev Mehta told PTI. Last month, the Indian Sports Ministry had reiterated that the blanket ban on bilateral sporting ties with Pakistan that was imposed last year will remain in force, b...

SYDNEY: A Sydney man credited with saving dozens of lives during last year’s deadly mass shooting on Bondi Beach has been charged with assaulting his father, local media and police said on Thursday. Ahmed al Ahmed shot to fame in December when he wrested a gun from one of the attackers during Australia’s deadliest attack in decades. Local media including national broadcaster ABC said Ahmed, 44, had been charged after allegedly assaulting his father. Asked to confirm the reporting, New South Wales police said: “On Sunday 15 March 2026 police received a report of an alleged assault at a home in Bankstown on Monday 9 March 2026.” They added that a 44-year-old man had then been charged this week with assault and stalking. He will face court on June 29, police said. Australian police as a rule do not identify individuals charged with crimes to the media. Ahmed told the ABC that the alleged incident was “fake information… it’s not true at all”. “I don’t have any information at all,” he was quoted as saying. Ahmed w...

KARACHI: The foreign exchange reserves of the State Bank are inching close to the target of $18 billion for current fiscal year (FY26), but a widening trade deficit threatens to erase the growth in reserves and remittances. Data issued by the central bank on Thursday showed that the forex reserves increased by $43 million to $17.2bn during the week ending on May 29. Financial experts see the improvement in reserves as a good sign, but at the same time they fear the widening trade imbalance would lead to a large current account deficit this fiscal year. They also pointed out that substantial payments to foreign creditors are due this month. SBP forex reserves are nearing their annual target, but large payments are also due this month June which means still a month is available to the SBP to catch the target of $18bn. The State Bank has been purchasing dollars from the inter-bank market to improve reserves and make external payments, while the exchange rate is being managed through a steady uptick in the rupee’...

• Regulator allows Rs1.19 per unit FCA collection in June bills • Grants Rs1.99 per unit reduction for three months, until August ISLAMABAD: The National Ele­­ctric Power Regulatory Autho­rity (Nepra) on Thursday notified about 80 paisa per unit net reduction in national power rates for June and then Rs1.99 per unit for July and August, with a cumulative financial impact of about Rs56 billion. The unusual relief over the three months — June to August — has resulted owing to the combined effect of two concurrent tariff adjustments — one for the monthly fuel cost for April and another for quarterly tariff adjustments for the first quarter (January-March 2026). In its first determination relating to the monthly fuel cost adjustment for the consumption month of April, Nepra worked out and notified Rs1.19 per unit increase in fuel costs to be recovered from consumers in the current month’s (June) billing, with an additional fiscal gain to distribution companies (Discos) of Rs11bn. Nepra “has decided that positive ...

Spearhead Shaheen Shah Afridi and Shadab Khan starred in Pakistan’s four-wicket win in their decisive third and final one-day international against Australia in Lahore on Thursday. Shaheen grabbed 3-30 to bundle Australia out for 157 before Shadab added a fighting 29 not out to his two wickets, helping Pakistan to their winning target in 41.5 overs. That gave Pakistan a 2-1 series win — their third successive ODI series victory over Australia – after they won the first match by five wickets in Rawalpindi. Australia won the second by 41 runs, also in Lahore. Left-arm spinner Matthew Kuhnemann’s career best 3-38 — including Babar Azam’s wicket for 40 — had given the visitors some hope of an unlikely win. At 112-6, Pakistan were in a spot of bother but Shadab found an able partner in Abdul Samad as the duo added a match-winning 49 runs for the unbroken seventh wicket stand. Shadab’s second boundary sealed the win, while Samad’s 18 not out included one boundary. Shaheen praised a complete team effort. “All bowler...

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday hailed the “true and special relationship” between Pakistan and the United States, which has spanned nearly eight decades and covers bilateral interests in security, counter-terrorism, energy and science, among other fields. Addressing an event marking the US’s 250th anniversary, PM Shehbaz noted that Islamabad and Washington had “worked closely at the most consequential moments of our history, whether it be the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in the 1980s or the global war on terror from 2001–2021”. “Last year, following India’s unprovoked aggression after the Pahalgam incident, it was President [Donald] Trump’s timely and most decisive intervention that resulted in a ceasefire between Pakistan and India on May 10, last year,” he said, referring to a brief four-day war between the nuclear-armed neighbours. “We shall forever remain grateful to President Trump for restoring peace in South Asia and saving millions of people. In this context, he will always be remembered ...

Pakistan and the United States reaffirmed their commitment to strengthening bilateral ties during a ceremony in Islamabad marking the 250th anniversary of US Independence Day, attended by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and members of the diplomatic community.

WASHINGTON: Three senior Democratic leaders urged their colleagues in the US Senate on Thursday to support the move to prevent President Donald Trump from continuing the war against Iran without congressional approval. Democratic Whip Katherine Clark, Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, and Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar said in a joint statement that the House of Representatives on Wednesday “successfully passed a War Powers Resolution” and that it is “now time for Senate Republicans to do the right thing.” They reminded Republican lawmakers that the Iran war has now lasted more than 90 days. The 90-day period is significant because a US law designed to limit a president’s ability to wage war requires the “president to seek authorisation from Congress if military operations continue beyond that timeframe”. The statement comes as the legislation moves into the Senate, where lawmakers are expected to decide whether to take up and pass a companion measure or adopt the House-passed version directly. The resolution is pa...

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday affirmed that achieving export-led growth targets was the government’s top priority, directing the National Tariff Commission (NTC) to play an active role in facilitating investors, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) said. According to the PMO, Prime Minister Shehbaz chaired a review meeting on overall economic growth and the implementation of the National Tariff Policy 2025-30 on Thursday. Prime Minister Shehbaz emphasised that the “active and transparent performance of the NTC was essential for the promotion of industry, trade and investment in the country”, the PMO added. He directed the NTC to play an active role in facilitating investors and industrialists. According to the PMO, the prime minister said the NTC should be modernised by adopting international best practices and using modern technology, including information technology and artificial intelligence. The PMO further said that the meeting was briefed on the implementation of the National Tariff Policy 202...

The race to replace the ageing International Space Station (ISS) is heating up after US company Vast announced a mission to fly an astronaut to its planned Haven-1 station next year. If the repeatedly delayed Haven-1 is launched into orbit as scheduled in early 2027, it will become history’s first commercial space station, beating out several competitors. It would also mark a post-ISS era for humanity’s presence in space, as the West seeks independence from Russian space operations due to the war in Ukraine. After a quarter of a century of continuous habitation, the ISS is scheduled to be deorbited in 2030. On Tuesday, Vast became the first aerospace company to announce a crewed mission to its future station. “This is an important milestone in a new era in crewed spaceflight that is less expensive — and less reliant on Russia,” Vast CEO Max Haot told AFP in an interview. ‘Attractive prices’ French astronaut Arnaud Prost “is joining us on the crew of the inaugural mission of what will be the world’s first oper...

DERA ISMAIL KHAN: Inquiry reports have identified hundreds of suspicious degrees and questionable financial transactions in a major scandal involving alleged fake degrees, financial irregularities and embezzlement of public funds at Gomal University, it emerged on Thursday. According to official documents and inquiry reports seen by Dawn, the investigation was initiated on the directives of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Minister for Higher Education, Archives and Libraries Meena Khan Afridi as part of efforts to eliminate corruption and ensure transparency in higher education institutions across the province. The university administration constituted an inquiry committee on April 23, 2026, to examine affiliation accounts and financial records related to private affiliated colleges. The committee reportedly found evidence suggesting that some deposit slips appeared suspicious or forged, while in certain cases, university dues had been deposited into accounts other than the authorised university accounts. The inquiry repo...