Pakistan

Initiative boosts Pak–Romania cultural ties, adds new dimension to artistic landscape

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Over 13,000 glaciers face rising threats; rapid glacier melt threatens northern regions

The organized return of Afghan refugees from across Pakistan is ongoing, with hundreds of individuals crossing back daily through the Chaman Border.

Light rainfall in Quetta and nearby areas has made the weather pleasant, while more showers are expected in several parts of Balochistan, according to the Meteorological Department.

Israel has approved the establishment of 34 new settlements in the occupied West Bank, according to Israeli media reports and the watchdog Peace Now, which said the decision was taken “secretly” in early April. “The security cabinet secretly decided to establish 34 new settlements,” Peace Now said in a statement released late on Thursday. The 34 settlements come on top of 68 others already approved since Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing government came to power in 2022. The decision has not been officially published by any government body, and the defence ministry, in charge of settlements in the occupied West Bank, declined to respond to AFP’s questions. “We are not addressing this issue,” a spokesperson for the ministry told AFP. According to news channel i24News, 10 of the 34 settlements are already existing outposts, which are illegal under Israeli law, but will now be retroactively legalised under the decision. The remaining 24 are yet to be built. All settlements are illegal under internat...

The first batch of Sikh pilgrims arrived in Pakistan from India via the Wagah border on Friday to celebrate the Baisakhi festival. Pakistan has issued visas to 2,800 Sikh pilgrims from India for the festival, which begins on Friday and will continue till April 19. The main ceremony of the festival is scheduled for April 14 at Gurdwara Panja Sahib in Hasan Abdal. The festival of Baisakhi is an ancient tradition of the Punjab region, a harvest festival which marks the beginning of a new year. It was once celebrated in Punjabi villages, on both sides of the border, with village fairs or melas. Baisakhi is especially important in Sikhism, as on this day in 1699, the 10th Guru of the Sikhs laid the foundation of the Panth Khalsa, the body of initiated Sikhs. Sikh pilgrims fulfil legal formalities as they arrive in Pakistan from India via Wagah border on April 10, 2026. — White Star/ Arif Ali A shuttle transports Sikh pilgrims as they arrive in Pakistan from India via Wagah border on April 10, 2026. — White Star/Ar...

US Vice President JD Vance has departed for Islamabad to lead the American delegation in the upcoming Iran–US negotiations being hosted under the mediation of Pakistan.

Sikh pilgrims from India have entered Pakistan through the Wagah Border to take part in the annual Vaisakhi celebrations.

President Asif Ali Zardari has congratulated To Lam on his election as President of Vietnam, stating that the unanimous support of the National Assembly reflects strong confidence in his leadership.

THE WEEKEND is just around the corner, and all eyes are on Islamabad. By the time the sun dips behind the lush green Margalla Hills, the federal capital’s skies will be buzzing with the landing of jets, bringing in delegations from Iran and the United States. After brokering a ceasefire, Pakistan is now set to host crucial talks between Iran and Washington on Saturday, April 11 — a dialogue that will very much decide the fate of the Middle East and the rest of the world. The teams that will likely arrive comprise political heavyweights, including US Vice President JD Vance and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi. Consequently, preparations in Islamabad are underway in full swing: a red alert has been issued, over 10,000 security personnel deployed, and all entry points closed. For Pakistan, this is a significant moment in its diplomatic history. Particularly with respect to the US, it has been a decade since a high-level American delegation, including the country’s vice president, visited Pakistan. Here, ...

The US-Israel war with Iran has shifted conflict from battlefields to data centres, software engineers and civilian technologies — turning them into both enablers of military power and its most vulnerable targets. As the line between military and civilian infrastructures blurs, urgent questions emerge about the laws and ethics of war. Meanwhile, rapid technological development draws an ever larger number of civilians into the expanding footprint of the war machine. The joint US-Israel strikes in February 2026 on Iran demonstrates how artificial intelligence has transformed modern warfare. Digital warrior to the fore Relying on AI systems that can rapidly analyse vast quantities of diverse data, the US Central Command conducted an initial wave of 900 strikes within a remarkably narrow 12-hour window in a feat that would have been logistically impossible under traditional human-centric planning. This unprecedented speed of kinetic operations arises from integrating commercial AI systems, such as Claude AI, prod...

China’s President Xi Jinping met Taiwan’s opposition party leader Cheng Li-wun in Beijing on Friday, telling the visiting delegation he had “full confidence” that Taiwanese and Chinese people would be united. Kuomintang (KMT) chairwoman Cheng is the party’s first leader to visit China in a decade, but her trip has sparked debate in Taiwan with critics accusing her of being too pro-Beijing. China severed high-level contact with Taiwan in 2016 after Tsai Ing-wen of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) won the presidency and rejected Beijing’s claims that the self-ruled island is part of its territory. Xi told Cheng as the two met on Friday that “the general trend of compatriots on both sides of the Strait getting closer, edging nearer and becoming united will not change”. “This is an inevitable part of history. We have full confidence in this,” Xi said during the talks carried by Taiwanese media. He also said China was willing to strengthen dialogue with groups in Taiwan, including the KMT, on the “common pol...

Nawaz Sharif has said that Pakistan has carved out a distinct place on the global stage as a voice for peace and stability.

On the occasion of Constitution Day, Syed Murad Ali Shah highlighted the importance of the 1973 Constitution as the cornerstone of Pakistan’s federal strength and citizens’ rights.

The federal capital is on ‘red alert’ ahead of crucial peace talks between the US and Iran, with more than 10,000 police and security personnel deployed to ensure the safety of visiting delegates. Sources say the multi-tiered security arrangement is being supervised by the military, assisted by paramilitary forces such as the Rangers, along with Islamabad Police and Punjab Police. The Islamabad Traffic Police and the National Highways and Motorways Police are deployed on roads to ensure smooth traffic flow. Below are some glimpses of the heavy security arrangements in Islamabad during the US-Iran talks. Pakistani army soldiers arrive for deployment at the Red Zone area of Islamabad on April 10, 2026. —AFP A US Air Force transport aircraft with “Charleston” written on its tail approaches PAF Base Nur Khan as Pakistan prepares to host the US and Iran for peace talks, in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, April 10, 2026. —AFP An army soldier disperses locals who arrive to visit Faisal Masjid, for security reasons, as Pakista...

All eyes are on Islamabad this weekend as the city braces to mediate one of the most consequential, high-stakes peace negotiations since the culmination of the Second World War. Starting today, American emissaries, led by Vice President JD Vance, will sit across the table from Iranian diplomats to negotiate a lasting settlement to a war that has rattled global power structures and stock markets alike. On the face of it, it is a welcome development from where the world found itself on Tuesday. As daylight drew to a close, the world watched in anticipation as Washington backed itself into an impossible corner, promising to annihilate “a whole civilisation” if Tehran did not give a safe passageway to traffic through the Strait of Hormuz. But a last-ditch diplomatic breakthrough by Pakistan managed to pull both sides from the brink of a potentially catastrophic escalation of unknowable consequences. For now, Islamabad seems to have bought both sides some time to turn a fragile truce into something akin to a durab...

The Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) on Friday expressed “deep concern” at the suspected suicide of a third-year medical student in Mirpurkhas. The 21-year-old student died in a suspected suicide on the night between April 8 and 9. According to media reports, her family has accused a teacher and fellow students of harassing her prior to her death. In a statement issued today, the regulatory body’s president, Dr Rizwan Taj, condemned the circumstances surrounding her death, “particularly the serious allegations of harassment”. He termed the loss of life “deeply alarming under such distressing circumstances,” expressing support for an inquiry by the Sindh government. As per the statement, the PMDC president said that the “investigation must thoroughly examine (the incident) and details be provided to the PMDC for further action”. The regulatory body asserted that its attitude towards harassment was “intolerable”, recalling that it had directed medical and dental colleges across the country last year t...

The Sindh government on Friday announced revised business hours under a new fuel conservation policy aimed at curbing energy consumption.

The four Artemis II astronauts, returning from the world’s first crewed moon voyage in over half a century, hurtled back toward Earth on Friday aboard their gumdrop-shaped Orion spacecraft, headed for a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean off Southern California. The finale to NASA’s celebrated 10-day mission was expected to begin with separation of Orion’s crew capsule from its service module, followed by a fiery re-entry through Earth’s atmosphere and a six-minute radio blackout before the capsule parachutes into the sea. If all goes well, US astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch, along with Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen, will end up bobbing safely in the ocean aboard their Orion capsule, dubbed Integrity, shortly after 8 pm ET (0000 GMT) off the coast of San Diego. The quartet blasted off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on April 1, lofted into an initial Earth orbit by NASA’s giant Space Launch System rocket before sailing on around the far side of the moon, venturing deeper into space tha...