Pakistan

The Federal Constitutional Court has declared the increase in excise duty under the Balochistan Finance Act 2020 constitutional, dismissing a petition filed by Attock Cement.

Sindh Governor Kamran Khan Tessori has approved the Sindh Safe Cities Authority (Amendment) Bill 2025 under Article 116 of the Constitution.

The work on the Main Line-1 (ML-1) railway project is expected to begin in July 2026 from the Karachi Port, said Minister of Railways Hanif Abbasi on Tuesday. The ML-1 project aims to upgrade and modernise key infrastructure to enhance freight and passenger connectivity from Karachi to Peshawar. Last month, a review meeting on the key Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) projects was also informed that the project will begin in July this year. According to a press release issued today, Abbasi, in a meeting with the Chairman Karachi Port Trust (KPT) Rear Admiral (retd) Shahid Ahmed, on January 9, said that the construction of the project will begin from the Karachi Port, starting in July. During the meeting, he informed chairman KPT that under the project, a 54-kilometre railway section from “KPT to Pipri will be upgraded to ensure seamless cargo movement”. The two also discussed “measures for strengthening the railway system for efficient cargo transportation from Karachi Port”. Reduction of congestion ...

Petrol and other fuel prices in Pakistan are expected to be reduced for a fourth consecutive time from January 16, sources said.

Beijing has rejected New Delhi’s claim over the Shaksgam valley in Kashmir and said that the territory “belongs to China”. At a press conference on Monday, when asked by the Press Trust of India (PTI) for comment on the Indian criticism of China’s infrastructure development projects in the Shaksgam valley, China‘s Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Mao Ning said that it was “fully justified” for China to conduct infrastructure construction “on its own territory”. “The territory you mentioned belongs to China,” she said. India’s foreign ministry spokesperson had on Friday said that it reserved the right to take necessary measures to safeguard its interests as the Shaksgam valley was “an Indian territory”. “We have never recognised the so-called China-Pakistan boundary agreement that happened in 1963. We have consistently maintained that the agreement is illegal and invalid,” he said at a press conference in response to a question from India’s state-owned public television broadcaster Doordashan. The Indian spokespe...

The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) has decided to end its boycott of the National Assembly and will participate in today’s session.

The National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) has started providing identity documentation and CNIC renewal services through selected e-Sahulat franchises across the country to facilitate citizens and reduce pressure on its centres.

Heavy fog in plain areas of Punjab, Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on night between Monday and Tuesday forced closure of several motorway sections after visibility dropped.

Afghanistan’s Taliban government has appointed its first senior official in India since the group returned to power in 2021, charged with leading their embassy in Delhi. India has not officially recognised the Taliban government, but the move signals a deepening engagement, with New Delhi seeking to exploit divisions between Islamabad and Kabul. Noor Ahmad Noor, a Taliban foreign ministry official, assumed responsibility as charge d’affaires, and has already held meetings with Indian officials, the embassy said in a statement. “Both sides emphasised the importance of strengthening Afghanistan-India relations,” the Afghan Embassy said, in a post on X late Monday. India has not commented, but the Afghan embassy posted a photograph of Noor with senior Indian foreign ministry official Anand Prakash. The Taliban’s strict interpretation of Islamic law may appear an unlikely match for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist government, but India has sought to seize the opening. Nuclear-armed rivals India an...

Amid ongoing violent protests in different parts of Iran, Pakistani students studying at various universities and religious institutions, along with pilgrims visiting holy sites, have started returning to Pakistan through the Gwadar route.

Minister for Information and Broadcasting Attaullah Tarar has strongly condemned the remarks made by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi regarding Afghanistan, terming them irresponsible and against Pakistan’s national interests.

• Several neighbourhoods have to make do without gas for four days straight as temperatures drop to single digits • Households turn to costly LPG cylinders • PPP senator seeks PM’s intervention • SSGC says shortfall from two fields reaches 45MMcf/d KARACHI: The gas crisis that Karachiites have been facing for the past four days further intensified on Monday, as several neighbourhoods remained completely without gas, while other areas struggled with critically low gas pressure. While office-goers, schoolchildren and other people continue to endure the cold-induced agony of a crippled gas supply, the gas utility concedes the problem, saying it experienced a reduction in gas supply from one more field. City’s minimum average temperature remained in the single digit as the Met Office said it was 8.1 degrees Celsius on Monday. Residents across the city said that the winter freeze had once again exposed the complete failure of the gas utility’s distribution infrastructure and system, turning everyday life into a co...

LAHORE: Despite the passage of about three months, law enforcement agencies (LEAs) remain in the dark about the whereabouts of Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) chief Saad Hussain Rizvi and his brother Anas Rizvi. The issue resurfaced a couple of days ago, after an alleged statement attributed to the proscribed religious outfit surfaced, claiming that both were “in the custody of agencies”. However, senior law enforcement officials are sticking to their earlier stance, maintaining that the two are hiding somewhere in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK). They said the Rizvi brothers had fled on the day the Punjab police launched a pre-dawn operation in Muridke to dismantle the TLP protest camp along G.T. Road. “I give you my word that they are not in the custody of any security agency and are still in AJK. They are most likely sheltered by a loyal worker of the banned organisation somewhere in the hilly areas,” said a senior officer. Talking to Dawn, he rejected the alleged TLP statement, terming it a “false, funny an...

ISLAMABAD: The government has planned to announce an ‘export emergency’ in the country and create a special cell at PM Office to address problems and complaints of the business community on an urgent basis for increasing exports by 40pc in four years and by around 200pc by 2035 for sustainable economic growth and job creation. “We will have to transform the entire system and become an export nation on an emergency basis, otherwise, the dependence on the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and friendly countries for financial support would continue,” said Minister for Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal at a news conference on Monday. He conceded the country’s export performance in first four months (July-October) was not satisfactory even though exports grew by around 1pc. He also said there were genuine questions and impatience why GDP was not growing fast quickly but it was a pragmatism decision of the government not to rush for growth through consumerism as was done by the previous government in 2022. To ga...

• CJ Aminuddin inaugurates building, resumes hearing on super tax petitions • Lawyers complain about lack of facilities • CJP Afridi opens advocates’ room, Litigant Facilitation Centre at SC ISLAMABAD: The Federal Constitutional Court finally settled into its newly renovated building on Constitution Avenue on Monday, where FCC Chief Justice Amin­uddin Khan presided over a bench to resume hearing challenges to the imposition of the super tax inside the refurbished Courtroom No. 1. Before the hearing, Justice Aminuddin Khan inaugurated the new court building in a simple ceremony attended by Justices Syed Hasan Azhar Rizvi, Aamir Farooq, Ali Baqar Najafi and K.K. Agha, Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar, Attorney General for Pakistan Mansoor Usman Awan, Supreme Court Bar Association President Haroonur Rashid, FCC Registrar Hafeez Khan, along with lawyers and staff of the new establishment. The FCC has a total sanctioned strength of 13 judges. Soon after its establishment, the FCC was shifted to the Islamabad High Co...

ISLAMABAD - Pakistan is set to overhaul its pharmacy education system and regulatory framework as part of a broader effort to bring the sector in line with international standards, Federal Health Minister Syed Mustafa Kamal said on Monday.

ISLAMABAD - Lieutenant General Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin (Retd), Minister of Defence of the Republic of Indonesia, called on Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir, NI (M), HJ, COAS & CDF, at General Headquarters (GHQ), Rawalpindi on Monday.

ISLAMABAD - A high level defence delegation headed by Lt Gen (Retd) Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin, Minister of Defence, Indonesia held a meeting with Federal Minister for Defence Production, Muhammad Raza Hayat Harraj and high officials of MoDP at Rawalpindi on Monday.

ISLAMABAD - Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif on Monday expressing satisfaction over recent performance of National Vocational and Technical Training Commission (NAVTTC), directed to set new targets for technical and vocational training programmes to further improve outcomes in future and ensure implementation of the.

ISLAMABAD - Foreign Secretary Amna Baloch yesterday inaugurated the five-day Cyber Capacity-Building and Policy Training Programme in Islamabad.