Pakistan

Nation monitoring - The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has approved Mahmood Khan Achakzai and Allama Raja Nasir Abbas as the leaders of the opposition in the National Assembly and Senate, respectively.

ISLAMABAD - The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday said it was working tirelessly to secure the safe evacuation of former Senator Mushtaq Ahmad Khan.

LAHORE - A district and sessions court in Lahore on Monday granted a four-day physical remand of Falak Javed, who was arrested in connection with two cases, including one involving an alleged anti-state tweet.

ISLAMABAD - Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has formed a high-level cabinet committee which would hold business and economic talks with Saudi government leading to an economic cooperation pact.

ISLAMABAD - Federal Minister for Railways Muhammad Hanif Abbasi on Monday gave a 10-day ultimatum to railway authorities to restore train schedules, stressing that punctuality must be ensured without compromise.

The dissenting note in the reserved seats case, authored by Justice Ayesha A. Malik and Justice Aqeel Abbasi, was released on Monday, highlighting divisions within the bench over last year’s dismissal of government appeals. In June 2024, the Supreme Court of Pakistan declared Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) eligible for seats reserved for women and minorities, dealing a major setback to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s ruling coalition. The verdict was announced by a 13-member bench, headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa. Following the verdict, the PPP, PML-N and the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) filed review petitions, which were later rejected. Justice Abbasi and Justice Malik then released a dissent. The dissenting note stated that all three review petitions were filed against the brief verdict issued on July 9, 2024, and only the ECP submitted additional petitions based on the detailed verdict dated September 23, 2024. “All arguments raised by the petitioners had alrea...

The Sindh cabinet on Monday approved the waiver of the death certificate registration fee for the general public across the province at the municipal, union council and town committee levels. The decision was taken in a provincial cabinet presided over by Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah at the CM House. A press release issued today said that under the new arrangement, the Sindh government will bear the cost of the National Database & Registration Authority service charges, ensuring that citizens can obtain death certificates free of cost. “This step aims to facilitate citizens, promote digital registration of vital events under the Sindh Local Government Act, 2013, and strengthen the province’s CRVS (Civil Registration and Vital Statistics) system,” the press release said. It added that the decision followed the cabinet’s approval of free birth registration in September 2024 in line with the Sindh government’s commitment to the United Nations and international partners for improving CRVS coverage. In...

Following the brief military conflict with India in May, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif conducted a flurry of visits to other countries and international fora as part of a diplomatic push. The May conflict, the worst between the old foes in decades, was sparked by an attack on Hindu tourists in occupied Kashmir, which New Delhi, without evidence, said was backed by Pakistan. Pakistan denied involvement, with the foreign ministry having questioned the credibility of India’s account of the events, saying it was “replete with fabrications”. Both sides used fighter jets, missiles, artillery and drones during the four-day conflict, before agreeing to a ceasefire. PM Shehbaz is currently in Malaysia on an official visit. After tallying up press releases from the Foreign Office about the prime minister’s foreign visits, it emerges that he conducted 10 foreign visits from May to October — a period of five months. Tour of friendly nations — May 25-30 In his first foreign trip after the war, the PM toured the friendly n...

Swedish activist Greta Thunberg, who was arrested by Israel when they intercepted the Global Sumud Flotilla, called out world governments for continuing to enable Tel Aviv’s genocide in the Gaza Strip after she arrived in Greece on Monday. The 45-vessel flotilla, with activists and politicians on board, left Spain last month to break Israel’s blockade of Gaza, where the United Nations has warned of famine. The flotilla was intercepted by the Israeli navy, with commandos boarding the boats and arresting participants. Former Pakistani senator Mushtaq Ahmad Khan was also on board and is currently in Israeli custody. In her first public comments since her release by Israeli authorities, Greta emphasised that the real story is not the interception of the flotilla, but the genocide being carried out in the Gaza Strip. “The Global Sumud Flotilla was the biggest-ever attempt to break Israel’s illegal and inhumane siege by sea,” the Swedish activist said. “It is a story of global, international solidarity, of people s...

The Gilgit-Baltistan Police on Monday said they had arrested eight facilitators of an attack the previous day on a religious leader from the proscribed Ahl-e-Sunnat Wal Jamaat (ASWJ) near the Central Police Office (CPO). Maulana Qazi Nisar Ahmed, who is the emir of the group’s GB and Kohistan chapter, was travelling along with police guards and a driver when the convoy came under fire. Police officials said the guards retaliated immediately, injuring some of the attackers, who managed to escape with the help of accomplices. The same day, a judge of the Gilgit-Baltistan Chief Court had also survived a brazen gun attack. Following the incidents, protests erupted across the region. Demonstrators blocked main roads, including the Karakoram Highway, Gilgit–Shandur Road, and Baltistan Road, demanding the immediate arrest of the culprits. Shops and markets in Gilgit remained closed in protest. Addressing a press conference to provide further updates, Inspector General of Police (IG) Gilgit-Baltistan Afzal Mahmood Bu...

The Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) has forecast mainly dry weather for most parts of the country on Tuesday with chances of rain, wind, and thunderstorms at isolated places in Gilgit-Baltistan, Kashmir, and adjoining hilly areas.

Minister for Kashmir Affairs and Gilgit-Baltistan Amir Muqam on Monday pressed the international community to help Pakistan in repatriating Afghan refugees to their country. Muqam was speaking at the 76th Session of the Executive Committee of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Geneva, which is running from October 6-10, according to a press release from the ministry. “It is now our shared responsibility to facilitate safe and dignified return of displaced Afghans to their country. However, durable returns require investments, in countries of refugee origin for peace, stability, schools, clinics, and livelihoods to make return viable,” he was quoted as having said. Pakistan announced the phased repatriation of millions of Afghans in 2023 over security concerns and reasoning that the decades-long conflict had ended in Afghanistan. Currently, the repatriation of nearly 1.3 million registered Afghans is underway. Muqam said repeated calls for such support, alongside predict...

President Asif Ali Zardari on Monday called Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi to Karachi for an urgent meeting as tensions continued to rise between the Sindh and Punjab governments, with the PPP staging a walkout from the National Assembly and Senate. The PPP and PML-N are coalition partners in the Centre. A post on X from the presidency said today that Zardari and Naqvi held a telephonic conversation related to the ongoing row between the Sindh and Punjab governments. “President Asif Ali Zardari spoke to Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi over the phone to discuss the recent tensions between the Sindh and Punjab governments. The president has called the interior minister to Karachi for an urgent meeting in this regard,” the post said. The PPP and the PML-N’s Punjab leadership have been engaged in a war of words for the past many days over issues ranging from flood compensation to water rights in the context of the Cholistan canals project. The PPP, which is in power in Sindh, has been particularly incensed by Punj...

The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has finalized its nominees for leaders of the opposition in both the National Assembly and Senate, following formal approval from party founder Imran Khan.

British High Commissioner to Pakistan Jane Marriott has lauded the return of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) to UK airspace, calling it a historic moment that marks a new chapter in Pakistan-UK relations.

Violence has surged over the past three months due to a spike in militant attacks and intensified counter-terrorism operations, the Islamabad-based think tank Centre for Research and Security Studies (CRSS) said on Monday. In a quarterly report, CRSS reported a 46 per cent rise in fatalities, including civilians, security personnel and terrorists, compared to the previous quarter. The thick tank recorded 901 fatalities and 599 injuries resulting from 329 incidents of violence, including terrorist attacks and counter-terrorism operations. The report noted that this year is on track to be deadlier than 2024 — already the most violent year in a decade. The surge reflects an “intensification of militant violence and the expanded scale of counter-terrorism operations”, CRSS said. “With an entire quarter still remaining, … 2025 is on course to surpass last year’s toll,” the report read. “If the current trend continues, 2025 could mark one of the deadliest years in a decade.” There were 2,414 deaths in the first thr...

The fossil of a small reptile that inhabited Scotland during the age of dinosaurs, 167 million years ago, has scientists puzzled. It mixed snake-like traits and lizard-like traits. So was it an early ancestor of snakes or perhaps just an evolutionary oddball? Whatever the answer, it was a formidable little beast. Researchers said this creature, named Breugnathair elgolensis, possessed teeth that were sharply curved and hook-like, as in snakes. And the way its teeth were implanted into its jaws and the inward-leaning angle of them relative to the jaws were also snake-like. But its body and head proportions were more lizard-like, including its well-developed limbs. Breugnathair, which would have been around 12 inches (30 cm) long including its tail, lived in an environment similar to a mangrove swamp with tropical conditions during the Jurassic Period — much warmer than today’s Scotland. Breugnathair may have preyed on insects, small mammals, amphibians and other lizards. This represents one of the oldest relat...

Unfair imports undermine local manufacturing Anti-dumping measures stalled by legal challenges Deindustrialisati

Interior minister arrives in Karachi; PPP stages walkout from Senate, NA

Shehbaz, Anwar unveil $200m Halal export deal, vow to deepen economic, cultural cooperation