Pakistan

Recent spell of rains sparks notable influx of travellers, adventure sports enthusiasts

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An anti-terrorism court (ATC) in Lahore on Wednesday granted bail to PTI founder Imran Khan’s nephew Shahrez Khan in a case pertaining to the Jinnah House attack during the May 9, 2023, riots. ATC Judge Manzer Ali Gill announced the verdict that was reserved earlier today on Shahrez’s bail petition and ordered his release subject to paying a surety bond set at Rs100,000. Shahrez’s lawyer, Advocate Rana Mudassar, confirmed the development to Dawn.com and PTI lawyer Taimur Malik also said the same. Lahore Police had picked up Shahrez, son of Imran’s sister Aleema Khan, from his mother’s Lahore residence on August 21. His brother Shershah Khan was also arrested the next day over similar allegations, and sent on physical remand and then to jail. Shahrez was sent on 14-day judicial remand by the Lahore ATC on August 30. During today’s hearing on Shahrez’s bail petition, Advocate Mudassar argued that the athlete was accused of inciting party workers, adding that the investigation was approached from multiple angles...

Around 40,500 children have suffered new war-related injuries in nearly two years of conflict

Posts from multiple Islamophobic, right-wing and Indian users on social media platform X since Tuesday were sharing a video of a small girl with a baby on a hospital bed, alleging that it showed a 12-year-old Pakistani girl with a newborn baby after being impregnated by a 60-year-old man. However, this video is not from Pakistan and shows two Vietnamese siblings. A day ago, a video showing a young girl with a baby was shared on X by a user sharing Islamophobic content, based on their past posts. The caption of the post said: “Pakistan: Islam is a Cult Religion. How sad … A shocking case has emerged in Pakistan where an 11-year-old girl was married to a 60-year-old man and gave birth at age 12. Really, Islam is sexual child abuse religion!” This post was viewed by over 16 million users. An Indian propaganda account on X also shared a similar post with the same claim, which received over 102,000 views. Additionally, several other users on X widely circulated the same claim as can be seen here, here, here, and h...

The Punjab Police said on Wednesday that several hideouts of bandits in Katcha Ronti of Punjab’s Rahim Yar Khan were bombed using drones to recover people kidnapped by the reverine gang. For decades, dozens of bandit gangs armed with sophisticated weaponry have operated with impunity in northern Sindh as well as southern Punjab. Kidnappings for ransom, extortion rackets, brutal killings and robberies on major highways occur on a daily basis. In a post on X, the Punjab Police said that “an operation against dacoit hideouts was carried out in Rahim Yar Khan’s Kacha Ronti, using drones”. “The operation left multiple dacoits injured,” the statement added. Punjab Inspector General of Police Dr Usman Anwar commended the efforts of the police and was quoted as saying, “Punjab Police is fully utilising drone technology not only to assist flood-affected people but also to eliminate criminal elements.” On August 1, five cops were martyred after bandits of the Katcha area attacked a police checkpoint in Rahim Yar Khan. ...

A prominent Norway-based Pakistani businessman Chaudhry Muhammad Afzal Dallo called on Governor Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Faisal Karim Kundi at Governor House on Wednesday.

Floodwaters in River Ravi at Head Sadhnai near Abdul Hakeem have struck a railway bridge, with water flowing over the tracks, prompting authorities to suspend train operations on the Khanewal–Faisalabad section as a precautionary measure.

Families huddled hungry and homeless days after a deadly earthquake hit eastern Afghanistan, not daring to set foot in the few remaining buildings for fear an aftershock could bring them down. The initial powerful 6.0-magnitude earthquake struck remote regions along the border with Pakistan, killing more than 1,400 people, with at least six strong aftershocks and countless smaller tremors. Some farming villages tucked among the green mountainsides were flattened, with people still under the rubble days later. Elsewhere, some houses were only partially destroyed, but residents preferred to brave the elements rather than risk being crushed. Still haunted by the “terrifying night” when the quake destroyed his house in the village of Dar-i-Nur in Nangarhar province, Emran Mohammad Aref said he had since slept with four other family members outside on a rough plastic mat. An Afghan man sits amid the remains of a damaged house, in the aftermath of an earthquake at the Dara-i-Nur district of Nangarhar province, Afgh...

The Rawalpindi Police on Wednesday said they had arrested the principal of a private academy over the alleged rape and forced abortion of a Grade 10 student. The student, a resident of Khayaban-i-Sir Syed of Rawalpindi’s Pirwadhai town, had lodged a first information report (FIR) with the police on Monday under Sections 338A (punishment for Isqat-i-haml) and 376i (punishment for rape) of the Pakistan Penal Code, alleging that her academy’s principal raped her multiple times and forced her to have an abortion. In her complaint, the victim alleged that the principal, who was childless, had offered to marry her while she was studying in Grade 10. She reportedly told him to approach her parents regarding the matter. She further said that the principal started coming closer to her and assured her that he would help her get good marks in the matriculation examination, convincing her to have physical relations with him. The complainant claimed that the man called her into his office and raped her. After a few months...

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Wednesday urged officials to replicate China’s technology-driven healthcare system in medical facilities across Pakistan.

Imane Khelif has the right to appeal World Boxing’s decision barring her from events unless she undergoes genetic sex testing but the Algerian is not competing at the world championships as she has not entered, World Boxing president Boris van der Vorst said. World Boxing, which will oversee boxing in the 2028 Olympics, introduced mandatory sex testing for all boxers in its competitions in May, less than a year after Khelif and Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting won gold in Paris amid a gender-eligibility row. But Khelif appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport — sport’s highest court — seeking to overturn World Boxing’s ruling asking boxers to undertake a PCR (polymerase chain reaction) genetic test. “She has the right to do this (appeal). For us, it’s important to stress that we introduced mandatory testing in order to have safe and competitive competitions, fair competitions,” Van der Vorst said on Wednesday. “We announced it in May. And for us, everyone is equal. Every woman here has to submit several documents, ...

Flooding across northern India killed at least five people on Wednesday, officials said, with more thunderstorms expected and local media reporting that 10,000 people have been evacuated from the river banks in capital Delhi. The monsoon season in India has been particularly intense this year, killing at least 130 people in August alone in north India, wiping out villages and destroying infrastructure. The latest round of flooding has hit northern areas of occupied Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Punjab, where the Chenab and Tawi rivers have risen above the danger mark at several spots. The swollen rivers have triggered landslides and damaged many roads, disconnecting parts of the mountainous regions of Jammu and Himachal from the rest of India. At least five people were killed today after landslides battered Rajouri and Mandi districts in Jammu and Himachal Pradesh, respectively, officials said. The India Meteorological Department warned of heavy to very heavy rain in the region today, w...

President Asif Ali Zardari on Wednesday held a detailed discussion with Punjab Governor Sardar Saleem Haider regarding the devastating flood situation across the province.

Punjab is facing severe flooding in major rivers, with authorities issuing urgent warnings to residents along riverbanks as water levels continue to rise.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, Russian President Vladimir Putin, and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif flanked Chinese President Xi Jinping at a massive parade of military might in Beijing on Wednesday, capping a week of diplomatic grandstanding by the Chinese president and his allies against the West. The event, ostensibly to mark 80 years since the end of World War II, was a chance for Xi to put on an extravaganza to showcase China’s military prowess and bring together friendly leaders to send a message to the rest of the world. Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese President Xi Jinping, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and the heads of foreign delegations arrive for a military parade marking the 80th anniversary of the end of World War Two in Beijing, China on September 3. — Reuters Kicking off the parade, President Xi warned the world was still “faced with a choice of peace or war”, but said China was “unstoppable”. China’s enormous new intercontinental ballistic missile DF-5C, with a range of 20,000 kil...

A terrorist commander, allegedly involved in carrying out bomb blasts and targeting law enforcement personnel, was killed during an intelligence-based operation in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa’s Lakki Marwat district, the police said on Wednesday. According to a statement issued by the Lakki Marwat police, the terrorist — identified as Kifayatullah — was killed during an exchange of fire with the cops. “The police, upon receiving information about a suspected hideout in Nawar Khel, led a Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) team and carried out the operation, during which one police constable was left injured due to an exchange of fire with the terrorists,” the statement said. Ammunition and a Kalashnikov were recovered from the slain terrorist, it added. According to the police statement, the “exchange of fire went on for a long time, during which the police retaliated bravely.” It added that a clearance operation was underway in Nawar Khel. Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Bannu region Sajjad Khan lauded the bravery of t...

Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah has said that the Hyderabad–Sukkur Motorway (M-6) and the Karachi Northern Bypass – Jamshoro Motorway (M-10) are crucial for the country’s economy and regional connectivity.

Federal Minister for Education Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui has said that providing quality education to students and comprehensive training for teachers remain among the government’s top priorities.