Pakistan

A Hong Kong court sentenced pro-democracy media mogul Jimmy Lai to 20 years in prison on Monday for national security crimes, a punishment rights groups condemned as “effectively a death sentence” and a symbol of the city’s shrivelling press freedoms. The 78-year-old founder of the now-defunct Apple Daily newspaper was found guilty in December on two counts of foreign collusion under a sweeping national security law imposed by Beijing, as well as one count of seditious publication. His sentence is by far the harshest handed out under the national security law, surpassing the previous record of 10 years given to legal scholar Benny Tai in 2024. A summary document from the judges said they had settled on 20 years’ imprisonment “after considering the serious and grave criminal conduct of Lai”. Two of those years will overlap with Lai’s existing prison term, meaning that he will serve an additional 18 years, the judges wrote. Lai, who has been behind bars since 2020, sat impassively in the dock as his sentence wa...

LAHORE: A judicial magistrate on Monday indicted YouTuber Saadur Rehman, alias Ducky Bhai, his wife Aroob Jatoi, and others over the alleged promotion of gambling apps on social media. All the accused pleaded not guilty to the charges and decided to contest the trial. Magistrate Naeem Wattoo ordered the prosecution to present its witnesses at the next hearing. Further proceedings will be held on Feb 23. The National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA) had registered the cases of several YouTubers and Tiktokers on charges of promoting gambling apps on their social media accounts. The agency had arrested Rehman in August of last year. The Lahore High Court (LHC) had released him on bail on Nov 24. The case is related to an inquiry dated June 13, 2025, and registered on the “receipt of information from reliable source(s)” that some YouTubers and social media influencers were promoting gambling and betting applications to the general public via their social media accounts for their own monetary benefits. It ...

Federal Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi has said that Pakistan stands as a protective shield for the world in the fight against terrorism and continues to play a frontline role in ensuring global security.

At least ten wagons of a freight train derailed near Mehrabpur in Sindh’s Naushahro Feroze district on Monday, disrupting railway operations on a key route.

A meeting between Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan and Pashtunkhwa Milli Awami Party chief Mahmood Achakzai is expected within the next one to two weeks, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PMLN) leader Ikhtiar Wali Khan said.

A white supremacist who shot and killed 51 worshippers at two New Zealand mosques in 2019 launched an appeal Monday seeking to overturn his conviction. Brenton Tarrant, an Australian former gym instructor, admitted carrying out New Zealand’s deadliest modern-day mass shooting before being sentenced to life in jail in August 2020. Now, the convicted killer argues that his “torturous and inhumane” detention conditions during his trial made him incapable of making rational decisions when he pleaded guilty, according to a court synopsis of the case. Tarrant is being held in a specialist unit for prisoners of extreme risk at Auckland Prison, seldom interacting with inmates or other people. “I did not have the mind frame or mental health required to be making informed decisions at that time,” Tarrant told the court, according to the New Zealand Herald. Tarrant said his state of mind was such that he had considered trying to implicate President Donald Trump in the crime. Life without parole “What I said at the time ...

• Punjab leads with Rs609bn cash surplus, followed by Sindh’s Rs354bn • KP transfers Rs175bn; Balochistan sends Rs41bn • Revenue-to-GDP ratio falls to 8.2pc in July-Dec despite reforms ISLAMABAD: Amid a decline in the revenue-to-GDP ratio despite purported reforms, the four provinces reached close to meeting their IMF-dictated annual target of delivering a cash surplus to the Centre within the first half of the current fiscal year. The official fiscal operations data released by the Ministry of Finance for July-December 2025 suggest the four provinces returned Rs1.18 trillion in cash to the Centre, just Rs285 billion short of the Rs1.464tr target set for the whole under the IMF’s $7bn Extended Fund Facility (EFF). During the same period last year, the provinces had jointly produced over 50 lower surpluses worth Rs775bn against the budgeted target of Rs1.2tr. With its larger fiscal muscle, Punjab led the provinces by providing Rs609bn budget surplus in six months, followed by Sindh’s Rs354bn. Khyber Pakhtunkhw...

• Opposition claims Modi surrendered to Trump over Epstein files • Growers fears the disastrous impact of the agreement; nationwide protests set for Feb 12 NEW DELHI: Indian farmers on Monday slammed a new US trade deal as “a surrender to multinational agricultural giants”, calling for the commerce minister’s resignation as Congress accused Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi of capitulating to US President Donald Trump over the “Epstein files” release. Congress leaders claimed an Indian minister, a businessman and individuals close to the prime minister were mentioned in the files, along with Modi. According to a report in The Hindu, the Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) demanded Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal’s immediate resignation as soon as he explained the details of the bilateral pact. Leaders of the union representing apple and cotton growers said any relaxation on the import of cotton would be disastrous for the economies of Jammu and Kashmir, Him­­­­achal Pradesh, Mah­ar­ashtra and Gujarat. Talking to repo...

A meeting between the International Cricket Council (ICC) and the Pakistan and Bangladesh cricket boards was held at Lahore’s Gaddafi Stadium on Sunday to discuss Pakistan’s decision to boycott the T20 World Cup match with India on February 15. The meeting was still in progress until late Sunday night, while the ICC, as well as the two cricket boards, decided not to speak to the media regarding the discussion. After a four-hour meeting, no joint declaration was issued. Per sources, there was a break for a late-night dinner, and a second round of talks was scheduled after that. Sources in the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) earlier told Dawn that the two sides will most likely announce the outcome of the meeting after receiving an endorsement from the Government of Pakistan. They added that the main concern of the PCB expressed during the meeting was related to the “politics rampant at a large-scale level across the ICC affairs and India’s excessive involvement in it.” The Board of Control for Cricket in India’s ...

ICC, BCB officials hold talks with Naqvi; Governing body urges Pakistan to play India; PCB passes decision to PM

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Plea seeks to halt construction of flyover outside Quetta hospital

CM Maryam mocks PTI over 'failure' to record protest

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Election disputes, PTI cases linger on amid legitimacy concerns

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Seven-foot diameter main line repair to cut 200 MGD from Dhabeji supply; several areas to face shortages

PESHAWAR: Police repulsed an attack by unidentified militants, who targeted a police checkpoint in the Passani village located on the outskirts of Peshawar, officials said. Peshawar Capital City Police Officer (CCPO) Dr Mian Saeed Ahmed told Dawn that “the militants attacked a police post and an exchange of fire also took place, but the policemen, deployed at the facility, retaliated, forcing the militants to escape.” The CCPO added that the situation was “under control”. No casualties or injuries were reported as a result of the attack; however, the nature of the attack and physical losses are yet to be ascertained. On November 26, unidentified persons blew up a gas pipeline in Hameed Khan Machine area, some five miles south of the police post in Passani. Residents said that an explosion had triggered a fire from the pipeline. A police official said that the pipeline was blown up for the second time. “The same pipeline was blown up two years ago by terrorists,” he added. On August 15 last year, police and se...