Pakistan

On a scorching day of fainting veterans and rifle-shot starts, a girl named Kainat Khalil from Sindh rewrote the meaning of endurance at the 35th National Games. Athletics at the Games began not with a traditional pistol’s pop, but with the sharp, unexpected report of a rifle cutting through the cool Monday morning at the NPT&SC. It was an omen. This would be a day of raw, unvarnished struggle, where the starting command itself felt like a call to battle. The dust from the inaugural men’s 5,000m had barely settled before the December sun perched mercilessly over the open field. It transformed the arena into a kiln, making the very air an opponent. In the women’s 10,000 metres, the drama was medical: Athletes wilted, fainted and were stretchered away — vanquished not by rivals, but by the searing haze. Wapda’s Maria Bibi, who would emerge the quickest in 44 minutes and 21 seconds ahead of Navy’s Mumtaz (47:10.11), later stated the obvious with exhausted clarity. “The heat felt extreme during the race and that’...

Saudi Arabia and Qatar on Monday signed a deal to construct a high-speed rail connecting the Gulf countries’ capitals, marking the latest sign of improved ties between the two nations that were once deeply at odds. According to a statement in the official Saudi press, the “high-speed electric passenger railway” would connect Riyadh and Doha. The Saudi cities of Al-Hofuf and Dammam are also expected to be on the network. The train would reach speeds exceeding 300 kilometres per hour and the trip would take roughly two hours between the two capitals. A direct flight between the cities clocks in at around 90 minutes. The project, set to be completed in six years, expects to serve 10 million passengers per year, the statement said. The agreement was signed by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani during the latter’s visit to Riyadh. The deal is just the latest in a series of moves marking the dramatic improvement in ties between the Gulf countries in recent years....

ISLAMABAD - National Assembly Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq on Monday inaugurated the “Kashmir Corner” at the National Assembly Library, a dedicated space designed to provide credible research material on the Kashmir dispute.

ISLAMABAD - Chief Justice of Pakistan Yahya Afridi Monday administered the oath of office to Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb upon his elevation as judge of the Supreme Court of Pakistan in a simple yet dignified ceremony.

ISLAMABAD - Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Monday accorded approval for electricity supply projects for port city Gwadar and Gilgit-Baltistan, and directed for immediate implementation.

ISLAMABAD - Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar yesterday chaired a high-level meeting on Monday to review Pakistan’s preparations for hosting the 9th OIC Ministerial Conference on Women scheduled for 2026.

ISLAMABAD - A joint meeting of the Parliamentary Party of opposition Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on Monday said that the military spokesperson overstepped its constitutional mandate by levelling allegations against former prime minister Imran Khan in his last week’s presser.

LAHORE - Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif on Monday directed a sweeping enhancement of security and digital monitoring across the province, ordering the installation of surveillance cameras outside all schools and educational institutions.

ISLAMABAD - Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto arrived in Islamabad on Monday for a two-day official visit to Pakistan.

ISLAMABAD - The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has approved $1.

ISLAMABAD - Chief of Defence Forces and Chief of the Army Staff Field Marshal Asim Munir on Monday cautioned India against any “delusion or miscalculation” and warned, “Next time, Pakistan’s response will be even swifter and more intense”.

Lahore - Transporters called off a Punjab-wide strike on Monday after talks with the provincial government representatives.

Peshawar - Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Sohail Afridi on Monday, visited the Peshawar Police Lines and formally handed over newly-procured bullet-proof vehicles, modern weapons, and other security gadgets to the police force.

Peshawar - Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Minister for Excise, Taxation and Narcotics Control, Syed Fakhar Jehan, has said that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf is the most popular political party in the country, firmly rooted among the poor and middle-class communities.

Peshawar - A weekly review meeting on governance affairs held under the chairmanship of Chief Secretary Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Shahab Ali Shah, which was attended by concerned administrative secretaries and senior officials.

Peshawar - Special Assistant to the Chief Minister (SACM) Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Information and Public Relations, Shafi Jan on Monday said that International Anti-Corruption Day is observed worldwide every year on December 9, reminding us that corruption is not merely a violation of the law but an assault on the nation’s.

As political tensions continue to escalate in the wake of a fiery press conference by the Pakistan Army’s spokesperson targeting former prime minister Imran Khan, the PTI parliamentary party on Monday said that excluding the party founder from politics would only weaken the political system. After the joint parliamentary party meeting held in the federal capital, the PTI leaders discussed the recent political developments concerning the former ruling party and the ban on meetings with Imran. The meeting was attended by PTI lawmakers from both houses of parliament, including party chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan, Barrister Ali Zafar, Ali Muhammad Khan and MNA Shahid Kattak. Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP) chief Mehmood Khan Achakzai, who is the PTI nominee for the National Assembly opposition leader slot, also participated. Barrister Syed Ali Zafar told Dawn that the meeting discussed the current political situation and recent developments, including the unannounced ban on meetings with Imran. He said ...

Minister of State for Law and Justice Barrister Aqeel Malik on Monday stated that Pakistan did not benefit from the PTI “project”, arguing that it aimed to destroy the country. In a blistering press conference on Friday, Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director General Lt Gen Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry assailed PTI founder and ex-premier Imran Khan for creating and spreading an “anti-army” rhetoric, stating that such narratives were now out of the realm of politics and had become a “national security threat”. The PTI emphatically deplored the “ridiculous” remarks by the military spokesperson, saying the party founder was “not a security threat” and lamented the weakening of democracy in the country following the passage of recent constitutional amendments. Speaking on Geo News programme ‘Capital Talk’, the minister highlighted that during its tenure, the PTI government “ran a campaign against the country, writing to the IMF and lobbying US politicians”. “Has the PTI taken a single beneficial step for Pakist...

The United States Chargé d’Affaires, Natalie A.

Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif has directed authorities to implement comprehensive digital surveillance outside all schools and educational institutions across the province to enhance security and closely monitor sensitive locations.