Pakistan

Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah on Thursday inaugurated the Student Attendance Monitoring and Redress System (SAMRS), calling it a landmark innovation in Pakistan’s education sector that integrates technology and data-driven governance.

The Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) has called on Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to ensure that local governments are fully empowered under the proposed 27th Constitutional Amendment, in line with earlier commitments.

Gunmen on motorbikes attacked a Bangladesh political rally, killing one person and wounding two others, including a candidate, officials said on Thursday, after parties began campaigning for landmark elections. Major parties opened their campaigns on Wednesday for the elections slated for February 2026, the first since a deadly uprising last year toppled the autocratic government of former ruler Sheikh Hasina. Campaigning turned violent almost immediately. The shooting took place at a rally on Wednesday for the powerful Bangladesh National Party (BNP) attended by hundreds in the port city of Chattogram, police said. Senior BNP leader Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury said, “It was an attempt to destabilise politics and disrupt the election”. Major parties have unveiled their candidate lists, with the BNP saying this week that 80-year-old leader and three-time prime minister Khaleda Zia will run again, as well as her son, Tarique Rahman. The BNP are widely seen as the frontrunner in the polls. Police said the gunme...

Pakistan resumed talks with Afghan Taliban representatives in Istanbul today in a third round of engagement aimed at ending cross-border terrorism and consolidating a fragile ceasefire that was initially agreed upon after border clashes last month. Since the skirmishes between October 11 and 15, Pakistan and Afghan Taliban representatives have held two rounds of talks — first in Doha and then in Istanbul — but a final agreement has not yet been achieved. For the third round, under the joint mediation of Turkiye and Qatar, delegations from both sides arrived in Istanbul on Wednesday. The talks are expected to continue for two days. In this round, Pakistan’s delegation is being led by Lt Gen Asim Malik, director general of the Inter-Services Intelligence, and includes senior officials from the military, intelligence agencies, and the Foreign Office. The Afghan Taliban’s delegation, meanwhile, includes General Directorate of Intelligence (GDI) chief Abdul Haq Waseq, Deputy Interior Minister Rehmatullah Najib, Ta...

Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif met a prominent delegation of Chinese investors on Thursday and welcomed their keen interest in exploring investment opportunities in the province.

An Islamabad court on Thursday withdrew non-bailable arrest warrants issued a day earlier against human rights activist and lawyer Imaan Zainab Mazari-Hazir and her husband, Advocate Hadi Ali Chattha, in a social media posts case, a day after. The National Cybercrime Investigation Agency (NCIA) had registered a case against Mazari and Chattha, accusing the two of attempting to incite divisions on linguistic grounds through social media posts and of creating the impression that the armed forces were engaged in terrorism within the country. Additional District and Sessions Judge (ADSJ) Muhammad Afzal Majoka had indicted the two in the case last week, in which both denied the charges. At yesterday’s hearing, the court issued non-bailable arrest warrants to the couple over repeated non-appearance. However, the accused alleged that they had appeared in front of the court and termed the hearing a “sham trial”. Today’s hearing, presided over by ADSJ Majoka, was called twice in the morning —first at 8:45am and later ...

Shafiullah Jan, the special assistant to the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chief minister on information and public relations, said on Thursday that only the provincial chief executive could make decisions for ensuring lasting peace in the province. “We have the mandate. Any decision for lasting peace in the province will be made by the chief minister, and the provincial government will implement it,” Jan said while addressing a news conference in Peshawar. He said law and order was the biggest challenge for the provincial government, adding that the KP government was making efforts to address the issue. Jan further said that a multiparty conference was scheduled to be held next week and that the finalised terms of reference (ToRs) would be presented to the chief minister for further discussion with the stakeholders, to decide a future course of action for lasting peace in the province. Meanwhile, PTI Provincial Secretary General Ali Asghar requested all the political parties to share their suggestions, adding that PTI ...

The Balochistan government has refused permission to Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) to stage a political rally in Quetta, citing serious security concerns and the current law and order situation in the province.

Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif on Wednesday held a meeting with a seven-member delegation of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P), led by Convener Dr.

Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah on Thursday stressed the need to digitalise processes as he inaugurated the Student Attendance Monitoring and Redress System (SAMRS) to keep track of pupils’ attendance. SAMRS, an initiative of the school education and literacy department (SELD), has been developed under the Sindh Early Learning Enhancement through Classroom Transformation (SELECT) project. It will be rolled out in 600 schools across 12 districts. In a statement on X, the Sindh information department said the initiative represented a “significant step toward greater transparency and the promotion of data-driven education across the province”. Addressing the launch ceremony in Karachi today, CM Murad stressed the need for Pakistan to have proper databases due to an increase in the population. “The numbers have become so large that you can’t just keep track.” Underscoring the need to utilise digital platforms, the chief minister said the SAMRS was the “perfect way of doing it”. “I have said that we will go to...

State-owned Qatar Airways has decided to sell its entire stake in Cathay Pacific Airways for about $897 million (HK$6.97 billion), marking its complete exit from Hong Kong’s flagship airline after eight years. Cathay said late on Wednesday that the Doha-based carrier had approached it about selling its entire 9.7 per cent stake, and it would repurchase the shareholding through a buyback at HK$10.8374 per share, roughly a 4pc discount to its last closing share price. The Gulf carrier had bought the stake in November 2017, making it the third-largest shareholder in Cathay after Swire Pacific and Air China. Cathay is paying roughly a 35pc premium over the price Qatar Airways originally paid for the stake to buy it back. The Hong Kong carrier said it would fund the deal through internal resources and existing credit lines. “I don’t think there’s anything special to read into it [buying back from Qatar]. I think it’s more likely about Qatar Airways having their own cash needs,” said Kenny Ng Lai-yin, securities st...

A Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) flight traveling from Lahore to Jeddah made an emergency landing at Karachi’s Jinnah International Airport on Thursday after a bird struck the aircraft midair.

The Accountability Court in Sukkur on Thursday dismissed a long-standing assets reference against senior PPP leader Syed Khurshid Shah and several co-accused, ordering the case to be transferred to the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA).

Continuing to comment on the brief military conflict between Pakistan and India earlier this year, US President Donald Trump has now stated that eight planes were “essentially” shot down. “In eight months I ended eight wars, including Kosovo and Serbia, the Congo and Rwanda … Pakistan and India,” he said during a speech at the American Business Forum in Miami late on Wednesday. “I was in the midst of a trade deal with both of them. And then I read on the front page of a certain newspaper — I won’t mention the newspaper because it’s usually fake news — but I heard they are going to war. Eight planes, seven planes were shot down — an eighth was really badly wounded [sic]. But eight planes were shot down essentially,” he said. He reiterated his previous claims that he threatened not to make trade deals unless the two countries agreed to peace. “I’m not trading with you; we are not making any deals with you if you are at war with each other,” he said. “A day later, I get a call, ‘We made peace’. They stopped. I s...

The Lahore Anti-Corruption Court on Monday accepted a request for exemption from appearance by former Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhry Parvez Elahi in the Punjab Assembly illegal recruitment case.

The Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) has launched a major initiative to simplify and speed up the process of opening corporate bank accounts for startups and newly registered companies.

US President Donald Trump’s administration has revoked around 80,000 non-immigrant visas since its inauguration on January 20 for offences ranging from driving under the influence to assault and theft, a senior State Department official said on Wednesday. The extent of the revocations, first reported by the Washington Examiner, reflects a broad immigration crackdown initiated when Trump came into office, deporting an unprecedented number of migrants, including some who held valid visas. The administration has also adopted a stricter policy on granting visas, with tightened social media vetting and expanded screening. Around 16,000 of the visa revocations were tied to cases of driving under the influence, while about 12,000 were for assault and another 8,000 for theft. “These three crimes accounted for almost half of revocations this year,” said the senior State Department official, speaking on the condition of anonymity. In August, a State Department spokesperson said Washington had revoked more than 6,000 st...

India’s Maharashtra state, home to the financial hub Mumbai, will be the first to roll out Elon Musk’s Starlink internet service in the world’s most populous country, the state’s chief minister said. The launch of Starlink, which provides high-speed internet to remote locations using low-orbit satellites, has sparked fierce debate in India over issues ranging from predatory pricing to spectrum allocation. India — projected to have more than 900 million internet users by year’s end — granted Starlink a licence in June. Maharashtra was “poised to become the first Indian state to formally collaborate with Starlink”, the state’s Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said on the Musk-owned platform X late Wednesday. “This collaboration … will ensure the state leads India in satellite-enabled digital infrastructure.” In March, India’s biggest telecom service providers — Jio Platforms and its rival Bharti Airtel — announced deals with SpaceX to offer Starlink internet to their customers. Starlink’s business operations Vi...

Lahore woke up to a pleasant change in weather on Monday, as temperatures dipped and a refreshing chill settled over the city.

PTI's Gohar calls it an 'attack on parliament'; Fazl warns coercive changes will erode public trust