Pakistan

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar held a telephone conversation on Monday with Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong, focusing on regional diplomacy, ongoing dialogue efforts, and broader global economic challenges.

A new bill aimed at eliminating begging has been introduced in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly, proposing strict legal action against professional beggars and organized networks across the province.

“You have to admit that most women who do something with their lives have been disliked by almost everyone.” — Françoise Gilot, the French painter who loved Picasso, left him on her own terms, and refused to be remembered just as his muse. There are many who would assert that Pakistan’s former first lady Bushra Bibi should be dismissed as a woman of no substance. She did not, they argue, earn a place in the national imagination by winning over crowds with her speeches or marching for the downtrodden. They would rather say she just weasled her way to the top through wedlock. Her new husband, former Prime Minister Imran Khan, and her previous one, Khawar Maneka, were both men who loomed large in the public eye. One was a cricketing legend who had abandoned his storied appetite for pretty white women and the world’s attention in order to pursue political rebirth back home. The other was a shrine-through-town aristocrat from Pakpattan, known as much for his influence as for his oddities. Bushra Bibi’s effacement ...

The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX)’s benchmark index KSE-100 plunged by over 1,700 points on Monday amid uncertainty over the Middle East conflict. The KSE-100 declined by 1,742.31 points or 1 per cent to close at 172,196.70 from the previous close of 173,939.01 points. The KSE-100 rose to an intraday high of 174,523.76 points at around 11:55am, then declined to an intraday low of 169,226.56 points at 1:05pm, before settling at 172,196.70. According to Topline Securities, the trading began on a “subdued note, reversing the previous session’s upward momentum, with the benchmark index declining to an intraday low of 4,712 points”. “Investor sentiment remained cautious amid escalating geopolitical tensions,” it said, citing increased concerns due to the US seizure of an Iranian-flagged cargo vessel in the Strait of Hormuz and uncertainty over Iran’s participation in the 2nd round of US-Iran talks in Islamabad. “Earlier indications of potential diplomatic engagement, including the possibility of a US delegation vi...

Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi on Monday held separate meetings with the Iranian and US envoys to discuss arrangements made for a second round of Islamabad Talks between the two warring parties. Naqvi’s intensified efforts come as Islamabad continues to set the stage for a possible second round of negotiations between Washington and Tehran, after the first round ended without an agreement. The Ministry of Interior issued separate press releases detailing Naqvi’s interactions with US Charge d’Affaires to Pakistan Natalie Baker and Iran’s Ambassador to Pakistan Reza Amiri Moghadam. According to a statement issued later in the day, Naqvi discussed “arrangements for a second round of Islamabad Talks” with the Iranian envoy, telling him that the preparations for it were complete. “Foolproof security arrangements have been made for foreign delegations,” Naqvi told Moghadam. Iran said earlier on Monday that Tehran has yet to decide on whether to send its delegation, and there is no official confirmation so far that ...

India and South Korea said on Monday that they would boost their economic ties by expanding cooperation in energy, critical minerals, shipbuilding, semiconductors and steel as they seek to double their trade to $50 billion by 2030. New Delhi and Seoul also agreed to resume and step up negotiations to give new energy to their 2010 trade agreement as India wanted their trade to be more balanced and South Korea wanted greater market access to the world’s fastest-growing major economy. South Korean President Lee Jae Myung is in India for a three-day visit, the first South Korean presidential state visit to the country in eight years. “We decided to upgrade the framework of economic cooperation between the two countries to create a new engine for shared growth,” Lee told reporters after talks with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The two countries created a ministerial-level economic cooperation committee for the first time, Lee said, adding that they would strengthen cooperation in areas such as nuclear power...

The federal government has formally approached Punjab Chief Secretary Zahid Zaman, requesting a detailed update on the province’s progress under the “URAAN Pakistan” programme.

Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi met with Iranian Ambassador Dr Reza Amiri Moghadam in Islamabad on Monday to discuss arrangements for the second round of the Islamabad Talks.

Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah has directed authorities to accelerate wheat procurement across the province to meet the official target within the stipulated timeframe.

Security forces killed two militants during an intelligence-based operation in Bannu, according to the Inter-Services Public Relations.

Ministry of National Health Services has dismissed reports claiming a sharp rise in HIV/AIDS cases in Islamabad, terming them inaccurate and without factual basis.

A lady constable of the Levies Force was laid to rest with full state honours in Quetta on Monday, a day after she embraced martyrdom in a terrorist attack in the Bajoi area of Khuzdar district.

ISLAMABAD: The second nationwide anti-polio campaign of the ongoing year has missed its target of vaccination by around 300,000 children. The week-long campaign aimed to vaccinate more than 45 million children under the age of five. However, according to data released by the National Emergency Operations Centre (NEOC) on Monday, more than 44.7m children were vaccinated against polio. “Due to the tireless efforts of polio workers, the vaccine reached over 44.7m children across the country. In addition to polio drops, children were also administered Vitamin A supplements to help strengthen their immunity,” it said. The provincial breakdown showed that over 23m children were vaccinated in Punjab, over 10.4m in Sindh, over 7.2m in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and over 2.6m in Balochistan. Meanwhile, over 441,000 children were vaccinated in Islamabad, over 292,000 in Gilgit-Baltistan and around 717,000 in Azad Jammu and Kashmir. The NEOC highlighted that the strong support and cooperation of parents and communities played a...

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the foreign minister and the military on Monday condemned the desecration of a crucifix after it was smashed by an Israeli soldier in a Christian village in southern Lebanon. A photo that emerged online over the weekend shows a soldier taking the blunt side of an axe to a fallen sculpture of Jesus on the cross. It was posted by Younis Tirawi, who describes himself as a Palestinian reporter and has also posted images of Israeli soldiers’ misconduct in Gaza. Reuters verified the location of the image as Debel, one of the few villages in southern Lebanon where residents remained through an Israeli military campaign against Hezbollah that began on March 2. The cross was part of a small shrine in the garden of a family living on the edge of the village, said Fadi Falfel, a priest in Debel. “One of the Israeli soldiers broke the cross and did this horrible thing, this desecration of our holy symbols,” he said. Netanyahu said that the soldier’s actions went against Jewish ...

Pakistan and Egypt concluded a two-week-long military exercise focused on counter-terrorism, the military’s media wing said on Monday. In a press release, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said the “Pakistan-Egypt Joint Exercise Thunder-II” concluded in Cherat, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa — the military’s premier Special Operations School (SOS). “[The] two-week-long exercise was designed to enhance interoperability by refining drills, procedures, and techniques related to counterterrorism operations through joint training,” ISPR said. It added that “combat teams from the Special Services Group (SSG) of the Pakistan Army and the Egyptian Special Forces actively participated” in the exercise. The military’s media wing further said that the participants exhibited “exceptional professionalism and operational skill throughout the exercise”. The picture shows Pakistan-Egypt Joint Exercise Thunder-II underway. — ISPR General officer commanding SSG and Commander of Egyptian Paratroopers, Major General Mohamed Saad Ab...

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Monday engaged the International Finance Corporation (IFC) of the World Bank as transaction adviser for inducting private investors in the installation of 10 million smart meters across all electricity distribution companies (Discos). The Ministry of Energy (Power Division) had announced a large-scale rollout of smart meters across Discos in October 2025. On Monday, the Power Division said it has signed a Transaction Advisory Services Agreement (Tasa) with the IFC, a member of the World Bank Group. Under this agreement, the IFC will act as transaction advisor and conduct a comprehensive techno-commercial assessment for a service-provider model or public-private partnership framework to support the large-scale rollout of smart metering infrastructure for 10m single-phase connections. The initiative was intended to attract local and international investors to install, maintain, and operate the infrastructure, thereby advancing Pakistan’s digital transformation in the power sector. It said...

Federal Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi met Acting US Ambassador to Pakistan Natalie Baker on Monday to review security arrangements for the upcoming round of talks in Islamabad.

Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif has launched an ambitious initiative to convert barren land into productive economic zones through modern shrimp farming projects across the province.

Pakistan and Egypt have successfully concluded a two-week joint military exercise, “Thunder-II,” focused on enhancing counterterrorism capabilities, at Cherat.

An 80-centimetre tsunami wave hit a port in northern Japan on Monday after a powerful 7.4-magnitude earthquake struck the region, Japan’s Meteorological Agency (JMA) said. The wave was observed at 5:34pm (1:34pm PKT) at a port in Kuji, Iwate, JMA said. It previously said a 70-centimetre wave had struck at 5:32pm. A 7.4-magnitude earthquake struck northern Japan earlier, the country’s Meteorological Agency (JMA) said, issuing a tsunami warning for waves up to three metres. The quake hit at 4:53pm (12:53pm PKT) in Pacific waters off northern Iwate prefecture and the tremor was strong enough to shake large buildings as far as Tokyo, hundreds of kilometres away. “Evacuate immediately from coastal regions and riverside areas to a safer place such as high ground or an evacuation building,” it said, warning that damage due to tsunami waves was expected. “Tsunami waves are expected to hit repeatedly. Do not leave safe ground until the warning is lifted,” it said. Footage from national broadcaster NHK did not show any...