Pakistan

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Police recover four-year-old boy from Jhang, arrest adoptive father, his friend

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DERA ISMAIL KHAN/LAKKI MARWAT: Six cops were martyred on Monday as police vehicles were targeted in two separate incidents in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Tank and Lakki Marwat districts. “Six policemen were martyred in the IED blast,” said a statement from the Tank police spokesperson, adding that their armoured personnel carrier (APC) was targeted within the jurisdiction of the Gomal police station. “The blast occurred while the APC was on its way to Tank from the Gomal police station,” the statement added. The martyred included an additional station house officer (SHO), the police spokesperson said. The bodies were taken to the Tank District Headquarters Hospital by Rescue 1122. Police have sealed off the area and a “massive” security operation was underway, state-run APP reported. Separately, another IED blast took place near Darra Tang road in Lakki Marwat, which injured three police personnel, according to APP. According to a police statement, which did not specify the number of the wounded, a SHO and “police p...

ISLAMABAD: The Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP) recommended on Monday that three ad hoc judges of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) and one of the Balochistan High Court (BHC) be made permanent. The decision was taken during a meeting of the JCP — the key judicial body responsible for appointing judges to the superior judiciary — chaired by Chief Justice of Pakistan Yahya Afridi. A press release issued by the Supreme Court of Pakistan after the meeting said: “The commission also recommended, by majority, the confirmation of the following additional judges as judges of the Islamabad High Court … after due consideration of the relevant data form, antecedents and evaluation of material placed before it.” The commission has recommended the confirmation of Additional Judges Muhammad Azam Khan, Muhammad Asif and Inaam Ameen Minhas of the IHC. “Similarly, the commission also recommended, by consensus of the present members, the confirmation of Justice Najamuddin Mengal, additional judge, as judge of the High Court...

PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly Speaker Babar Saleem Swati has requested the Peshawar Corps Commander to give an in-camera briefing on military operations being carried out in the province’s merged districts, it emerged on Monday. In a letter dated January 8, a copy of which is available with Dawn, the speaker said that the KP Assembly had constituted a 40-member special house committee on September 8, 2025 to examine the overall security situation in KP. Swati said that the committee comprised more than 40 members, including the leader of the house, the leader of the opposition, provincial ministers, parliamentary leaders of respective political parties and members of the KP Assembly, reflecting a “broad-based and representative forum of the house”. The speaker said that in pursuance of the committee’s mandate, it had received detailed briefings from key stakeholders — including from the chief secretary, the additional chief secretary of the Home and Tribal Affairs Department and the provincial police ...

Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Attaullah Tarar on Monday said that terrorist elements would not be allowed to promote their narrative or ideology, reiterating the government’s resolve to eliminate the menace of terrorism.

The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting on Sunday strongly rejected claims circulating on social media that Pakistan is being used as a base or transit corridor to support the United States in a possible military strike against Iran, calling the reports “baseless disinformation”.

Minister of State for Interior Talal Chaudhry on Monday launched a sharp attack on Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) and the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government, accusing them of weakening the country’s counter-terrorism narrative by adopting what he termed a “soft and ambiguous” approach towards militant groups operating from.

The government on Monday took strong exception to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi saying the state should provide evidence of Kabul’s soil being used against Pakistan. In a media interaction at the home of PTI leader Alamgir Khan on Sunday night, Afridi said that the state should give evidence for the claim that Afghanistan’s soil was being used for terrorism in Pakistan. He said that other countries also shared a border with Afghanistan but they did not have the same complaints. The clip was also shared by state broadcaster PTV on the social media platform X. In a post on X, Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said that Afridi was speaking as Afghanistan’s “spokesperson“ which was highly “condemnable and shameful”. “The whole world has seen evidence of the Afghan Taliban regime’s support for terrorists, and there is also irrefutable evidence that Afghanistan’s soil is being used for terrorist activities,” Tarar said. “Sohail Afridi has reached the peak of lies and hypocrisy. The Pakistani na...

The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has rejected claims circulating on social media alleging that Pakistan is being used as a base or launch corridor to support the United States for a possible military strike on Iran, which has been rocked by protests in recent weeks. The ministry’s fact check account on X attributed the claims to “propaganda machineries in Afghanistan“ and Indian accounts, particularly identifying three handles — Khurasan Media Urdu, Baba Banaras and Afghan Defense. Among them, a post by Khurasan Media Urdu claimed that “special American aircraft have reached Pakistan for an attack on Iran”. The post also mentioned “unusual” flight activity of US aerial refuelling and surveillance aircraft between Pakistan and Iran. A post by Afghan Defense repeated the claim. Baba Banaras’ post made a similar claim, stating: “Multiple US reconnaissance aircraft and cargo planes with weapons landed at Dalbandin Airbase and Pasni Airbase of Pakistan. Looks like the game has been set for Iran.” The m...

Noor Zaman surged in the global squash rankings to break through in the Top 30 on Monday and reach a career best after a scintillating performance at last week’s Karachi Open that saw all six Pakistani players at the tournament improve in the PSA list. Noor reached world number 30 on the Professional Squash Association (PSA) rankings, having achieved his previous career best of 37 on October 27 after a series of international wins. The 21-year-old gave former world champion Mohamed Elshorbagy a run for his money as he took the Englishman to five intense games at the Karachi Open quarterfinals before being defeated 3-2, thereby ending Pakistan’s streak at the international championship. Noor, the U23 world champion at the same venue last year, is no stranger to strong comebacks and lengthy, five-game matches. He was narrowly defeated in the fifth game with a match scoreline of 11-2, 11-8, 6-11, 8-11, 11-9. Former world number one Elshorbagy called Noor one of the most focused players he’s ever seen. “It’s grea...

Britain’s media regulator launched an investigation into Elon Musk’s X on Monday to determine whether sexually intimate deepfakes produced by its Grok AI chatbot violated its duty to protect people in the UK from content that could be illegal. “There have been deeply concerning reports of the Grok AI chatbot account on X being used to create and share undressed images of people which may amount to intimate image abuse or pornography and sexualised images of children that may amount to child sexual abuse material,” Ofcom said in a statement. The regulator is under pressure to act after UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the images produced by Grok were “disgusting” and “unlawful”. When asked for comment on Monday on the launch of the formal investigation, X pointed to a previous statement in which it said it takes action against illegal content on the platform — including child sexual abuse material — by removing it, permanently suspending accounts, and working with local governments and law enforcement as ne...

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Chief Minister Sohail Afridi said on Monday that the Sindh government had not upheld the honour of the ajrak and topi and criticised its treatment of its “guests”. The chief minister is currently on a visit to Karachi, where he staged a rally at the Mazar-i-Quaid on Sunday. In an address to the Sindh High Court Bar Association (SHCBA) in Karachi on Monday, Afridi thanked all the SHCBA members for their warm welcome and generous hospitality, adding that people from all over Pakistan — including Pashtuns, Kashmiris, Balochis — of every school of thought were present there. In contrast to this welcome from the public, however, he decried the provincial government’s treatment of him and his guests in Karachi, saying that they had “desecrated” the honour of the Sindhi ajrak and topi. “I think every Sindhi will fully condemn this,” he said amid an outcry of support from the crowd. The KP CM also criticised the fact that the constitution and law were being “toyed with,” saying that it was not on...

Former Test cricketer and chief selector Mohammad Ilyas passed away at the age of 79 after fighting a prolonged illness, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) said on Monday. Ilyas — a right-hand batter and right-arm leg-spin bowler — played 10 Test matches along with 82 first-class and two List-A games between 1961 and 1976, PCB said in a statement as it expressed its grief following Ilyas’s passing. PCB Chairman Mohsin Naqvi also extended his heartfelt sympathies and condolences to the bereaved family, while also paying homage to the late Ilyas for his valuable services to the game of cricket in Pakistan. Ilyas made his Test debut against Australia at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on December 4, 1964 and played his last Test match against England at Dhaka from February 28 to March 3, 1969, according to the national board. Apart from one Test century, the opening batsman boasted a record of 12 first-class tons, having scored 4,607 runs in the format. His solitary Test century came in the third Test match of a 2-0 ...

Punjab Minister for Information and Culture Azma Bokhari on Monday refuted claims by PTI leaders that different and unrelated videos were submitted for a forensic report about the May 9, 2023 riots. KP Chief Minister Sohail Afridi has found himself in the centre of a legal controversy after a forensic report, submitted by the prosecution to the anti-terrorism court in the Radio Pakistan attack case, identified him as one of the suspects seen in the purported video clips of the incident. “There are two separate videos [of KP CM] and they should not be confused. One of the videos must be from Zaman Park. However, the other one showing [him] vandalising and lighting fire has been deleted [from the social media account],” she said while addressing a press conference in Lahore. “When KP chief minister realised that an effort to rebellion which he termed as revolution failed, he deleted the videos [of May 9, 2023] from social media. However, the videos remained in the record,” said Bokhari. She further claimed thei...

Officials from the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) and the Ministry of Interior on Monday briefed the Senate Standing Committee on Information Technology regarding data leaks and anomalies in Pakistani family trees.

President Asif Ali Zardari will undertake an official visit to Bahrain from January 13-16, the Foreign Office (FO) said in a statement on Monday. According to the FO, the president will be accompanied by a “high-level delegation”. It said that during the visit, the president will hold meeting with Bahrain’s King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, and Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, who is also the prime minister. “The discussions will focus on bilateral, regional, and international issues of mutual interest,” the FO said. “The visit seeks to reinforce Pakistan’s longstanding cooperation with the brotherly Gulf nation while expanding opportunities for collaboration in trade and economic partnership, defence and security, and people-to-people ties,” it added. Last year in November, Prime Mini­ster Shehbaz Sharif, during a two-day visit to Bahrain, had reiterated Pakis­tan’s commitment to deepening ties with the kingdom. Discussing economic relations, the prime minister had unde­r­lined Pakistan’s desire to exp...

President Asif Ali Zardari will undertake an official visit to the Kingdom of Bahrain from January 13 to 16, 2026, the Foreign Office announced on Monday.