Pakistan

KARACHI: The Sindh Assembly on Saturday passed a resolution declaring Karachi an “inseparable part” of the province and opposing any move that suggested otherwise. The resolution, tabled by CM Murad and passed with a majority, stated that the House “unequivocally condemns and rejects any conspiracy aimed at the division of Sindh or the creation of a separate province comprising Karachi”. “Karachi is, and shall forever remain, an integral and inseparable part of Sindh,” it declared. The chief minister’s move comes after the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) has repeatedly called for the Centre’s intervention in Karachi, demanding that the metropolis be made a “federal territory”. The resolution urged “all political stakeholders to refrain from divisive rhetoric or actions that threaten provincial harmony and national cohesion”. It reaffirmed that the “unity, territorial integrity, and historic identity of Sindh are sacred trusts inherited from our forefathers and shall be defended through constitutiona...

The Sindh government reinstated Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Syed Pir Muhammad Shah as the chief of the Karachi Traffic Police, it emerged on Saturday. According to a notification issued by the provincial government on Friday, Shah’s posting relieves Sindh’s Central Police Office Headquarters DIG Mazhar Nawaz Shaikh of his additional charge “with immediate effect”. “Syed Pir Muhammad Shah … is posted as Deputy Inspector General of Police, Traffic, Karachi, relieving Mr. Mazhar Nawaz Shaikh, an officer of PSP (BS-20) Deputy Inspector General of Police, Headquarters, Central Police Office, Sindh from the additional charge of the post,” the notification stated. A copy of the notification is available with Dawn. A notification issued by the Sindh government on Feb 20 reinstating Syed Pir Muhammad Shah as the chief of Karachi Traffic Police. — via Imtiaz Ali Shaikh was transferred and posted as the new traffic police chief after the government removed Shah as the chief of Karachi traffic police at the end of Jan...

A lieutenant colonel and a sepoy were martyred in a suicide attack during an intelligence-based operation (IBO) in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Bannu district on Saturday, Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said. In a press release, ISPR said a security forces’ convoy was “targeted by Indian proxy Fitna al Khawarij” while an IBO was being conducted on the reported presence of terrorists, including a suicide bomber. Fitna al Khawarij is a term the state uses for terrorists belonging to the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). The military’s media wing added that five terrorists were also killed during the operation. “A vehicle-borne suicide bomber was intercepted by the leading group, foiling his nefarious design to target innocent civilians/law enforcement personnel in Bannu City, averting major catastrophe,” the ISPR stated. It added that the terrorists were located during the operation and after an “intense fire exchange, five khwarij were sent to hell by the security forces”. The statement added: “However,...

PESHAWAR: A youth from North Waziristan who was reportedly abducted by unidentified individuals for sharing a viral video showing a young girl playing cricket in the region was released, it emerged on Saturday. A viral video showing young cricketer Aina Wazir bowling in North Waziristan drew widespread attention on mainstream and social media. However, the abduction of the young man who filmed and shared the clip on social media triggered concern across the region. According to local police, the man, Zafran Wazir, was allegedly abducted by unidentified individuals from the Shewa subdivision of the district. During his captivity, a video circulated on social media in which he termed sharing the cricket clip his “mistake” and stated that he was in the custody of unknown persons. In the same video, the abductors claimed that recording and circulating footage of a minor girl playing cricket was “against Islam and Pashtun traditions”. Following efforts by local tribal elders through a jirga, Zafran was safely reco...

Pakistan and the United States on Saturday expressed the desire to enhance economic cooperation, especially in the fields of trade and investment, according to the finance ministry. In a post on the social media platform X, the ministry said that a delegation led by Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb met US Commerce Secretary Howard A. Lutnick in Washington. It said that finance minister was accompanied by the commerce secretary, Pakistan’s ambassador to US, and trade and economic ministers. “Both sides expressed the desire to enhance our economic cooperation, especially in the fields of trade and investment, besides discussing the USA’s interest in investing in fields of information and communication technology, mining, minerals and energy,” the ministry said. According to the ministry, Aurangzeb appreciated the role of the US Chamber of Commerce in organising the US-Pakistan Trade and Investment Forum, which will take place on March 31 and will be attended by renowned companies and ministerial representati...

ISLAMABAD: A local court in Islamabad on Saturday once again reissued a non-bailable arrest warrant for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi after he failed to appear before it in a case pertaining to derogatory remarks against state institutions. The case was registered on Nov 9, 2025, by the National Cyber Crime Investigation Authority (NCCIA) under the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (Peca) 2016, following allegations that the KP CM made false and defamatory claims against state institutions. This is the fourth time the court has issued non-bailable arrest warrants for the KP chief minister in this case, with two issued in January and another on February 10. As during a previous hearing, Senior Civil Judge Muhammad Abbas Shah today ordered the immediate arrest and production of CM Afridi, noting that the latter had consistently ignored multiple summons and remained absent without any lawful justification. The court then adjourned the hearing until March 9. During the January 28 hearing, the ...

Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) chief Hafiz Naeemur Rehman on Saturday criticised the government for participating in the Boa­rd of Peace’s (BoP) first meeting over Gaza, terming it “unacceptable”. His remarks came after the inaugural BoP meeting on Thursday in Washington, where Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif praised the peacemaking efforts of United States President Donald Trump, who is heading the forum. Addressing the media in Lahore, the JI leader said it was “unacceptable at any cost” to ignore the country’s long-established policy on the Palestine issue. He emphasised that since the time of Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah, Pakistan’s policy had remained clear and that any deviation from it would be intolerable. Rehman also opposed any plan to send Pakistani troops to Gaza as part of an International Stabilisation Force (ISF) envisioned under Trump’s 20-point plan. He argued that the matter concerned Gaza’s internal affairs and should be handled only by local Palestinian police and security forces rather than forei...

The Sindh government has announced plans to add more buses to Karachi’s transport network in a fresh push to ease commuting challenges and modernize public transit across the city.

India and Brazil agreed to boost cooperation on critical minerals and rare earths on Saturday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said after talks in New Delhi with Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. “The agreement on critical minerals and rare earths [is] a major step towards building resilient supply chains,” Modi said. Brazil has the world’s second-largest reserves of critical minerals, which are used in everything from electric vehicles, solar panels and smartphones to jet engines and guided missiles. India, seeking to cut its dependence on top exporter China, has been expanding domestic production and recycling while scouting for new suppliers. “Increasing investments and cooperation in matters of renewable energies and critical minerals is at the core of the pioneering agreement that we have signed today,” Lula said. The details of the deal were not immediately available. Nine other agreements and memoranda of understanding were finalised on Saturday, the foreign ministry’s spokesman said, touchin...

Principals of private medical colleges across Punjab have approached authorities to push the deadline for filling remaining MBBS seats to February 28, citing a number of vacancies still unfilled after the earlier February 13 closing date.

Microsoft on Friday put out word that Xbox stalwart Phil Spencer is retiring, in a shakeup of leadership at the tech titan’s video game unit. Former Instacart chief operating officer Asha Sharma will take over as head of Microsoft Gaming, with Matt Booty becoming executive vice president and chief content officer. “As we celebrate Xbox’s 25th year, the opportunity and innovation agenda in front of us is expansive,” Microsoft chief executive Satya Nadella said in a message to employees. “I am long on gaming and its role at the centre of our consumer ambition.” Changes to the gaming team include Sarah Bond leaving her job as Xbox president “to begin a new chapter” away from Microsoft, according to the company. Booty was previously president of game content and studios at Microsoft, according to his LinkedIn page. The shakeup comes as cloud computing and artificial intelligence have become priorities at Microsoft, driving revenue growth but also massive spending on infrastructure to power the technology. “When I...

The US ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, has said that he would not be opposed to Tel Aviv taking over large swathes of the Middle East, reported Al-Jazeera. Huckabee, an evangelical Christian, is a staunch pro-Israel conservative. In a Friday interview with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson, the envoy asserted that Israel’s borders are based on the Bible when questioned about the country’s current boundaries. Carlson noted that the biblical verse includes the region between the Euphrates River in Iraq and the Nile in Egypt. “It would be fine if they took it all,” said Huckabee, who was appointed by President Donald Trump last year. Carlson, clearly surprised, questioned Huckabee on whether he truly endorsed Israel’s expansion across the entire region. “They don’t want to take it over. They’re not asking to take it over,” the ambassador replied. The US envoy then appeared to downplay his comments, describing them as “somewhat of a hyperbolic statement,” while still allowing for the possibility of Israeli...

ISLAMABAD: The prolonged legal saga surrounding the audio leak case involving PTI leader and former chief minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Ali Amin Gandapur, finally moved to the next stage on Saturday with an additional district and sessions judge indicting him and his co-accused. Additional District and Sessions Judge Nasr Minallah Baloch conducted the proceedings. Gandapur, accompanied by his counsel, Advocate Raja Zahoorul Hassan, appeared before the court, along with his co-accused, Asad Farooq Khan. At the outset of the hearing, the judge addressed the core issue that had stalled the proceedings: the repeated failure of the accused to appear. The court enquired why he had not been presenting himself before the law. Responding to the court’s query, Gandapur cited serious security concerns and logistical hurdles for his absence. “Due to the security situation and road closures, I could not appear,” the former chief minister explained, adding that there was a prevailing situation akin to a curfew in certain...

A 4.5-magnitude earthquake jolted parts of northern Pakistan on Saturday, alarming residents in Islamabad and Rawalpindi, with tremors also felt in nearby cities, including Swabi, Haripur and Khanpur. According to the United States Geological Survey (USGS), the earthquake occurred at a depth of 10 kilometres, with its epicentre located north of Mardan in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Residents reported that homes and office buildings swayed during the quake, prompting many people to step outside as a precaution. Seismologists said moderate earthquakes are common in northern Pakistan due to tectonic activity in the Himalayan region and advised residents to stay calm and follow safety precautions. Earlier on Friday, a 5.9-magnitude earthquake struck parts of KP, with its epicentre located in the Hindu Kush region of Afghanistan, according to the PMD. In Shangla, tremors were felt at the time of Iftar, prompting people to rush out of their homes. No casualties or damages were reported from the district. Earlier this week,...

RAWALPINDI: In a landmark judgment, the Lahore High Court (LHC) has ruled that profit-making subsidiaries of charitable trusts are not exempt from Zakat deduction. The LHC’s Rawalpindi Bench gave this ruling while dismissing a petition filed by Fauji Foundation’s educational entity Foundation University. The plea challenged the deduction of Zakat from its investments in National Saving Certificates. The bench, led by Justice Jawad Hassan, held that the university does not qualify for exemption as a charitable institution under the Zakat and Ushr Ordinance 1980. Justice Hassan ruled that the university, despite being established under the Foundation University Ordinance 2002 and sponsored by the Fauji Foundation, functions as an independent body corporate with financial autonomy, making it liable to compulsory Zakat deduction. The university had approached the court through counsel Sayyid Murtaza Ali Pirzada, seeking to set aside a letter issued by the Ministry of Religious Affairs on April 24, 2018, which hel...

Turning the house where Adolf Hitler was born into a police station has raised mixed emotions in his Austrian hometown. “It’s a double-edged sword,” said Sibylle Treiblmaier, outside the house in the town of Braunau am Inn on the border with Germany. While it might discourage far-right extremists from gathering at the site, it could have “been used better or differently”, the 53-year-old office assistant told AFP. The government wants to “neutralise” the site and passed a law in 2016 to take control of the dilapidated building from its private owner. Workers are finishing works at the birth house of former German dictator Adolf Hitler that is turned into a police station, pictured in Braunau am Inn, Austria on February 17, 2026. — AFP Austria — which was annexed by Hitler’s Germany in 1938 — has repeatedly been criticised in the past for not fully acknowledging its responsibility in the Holocaust. The far-right Freedom Party, founded by former Nazis, is ahead in the polls after getting the most votes in a nat...

Pakistan has reaffirmed its firm opposition to the creation of new permanent seats in the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), warning that such a move would deepen dysfunction within the 15-member body and undermine the principle of sovereign equality among member states.

US President Donald Trump will travel to China from March 31 to April 2 for a highly anticipated meeting between the leaders of the world’s two biggest economies, a trip announced as the Supreme Court overturned Trump’s sweeping tariffs on imported goods. A White House official confirmed the trip on Friday, just before the highest US court dealt Trump a stinging defeat by striking down many of the tariffs he has used in a global trade war, including some against rival China. Trump’s talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping on an extended visit to Beijing had been expected to revolve around extending a trade truce that kept both countries from further hiking tariffs. Ruling raises questions for US-China relations But the Supreme Court’s reversal created new questions for tense US-China relations that had recently stabilised after Trump trimmed tariffs on Chinese goods, in exchange for measures from Beijing, including cracking down on the illicit fentanyl trade and pausing export restrictions on critical mineral...

• MQM-P’s Shoukat Ali says he belongs to Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui’s group; accuses Shariq Jamal from former PSP group of threatening him • Speaker suspends Muttahida’s Engineer Usman over ruckus • Area SSP, SHO summoned to record MPA’s statement; leave assembly after two sides ‘reconcile’ KARACHI: The Sindh Assembly was on Friday rocked by unprecedented infighting within the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan when a party lawmaker, citing threats from a fellow member inside the house, appealed for protection. The atmosphere abruptly grew tense and dramatic when MQM-P lawmaker Shoukat Ali rose on a point of order, alleging that he had been threatened with dire consequences by his own party colleague, MPA Shariq Jamal. “Step outside and we’ll see you,” he quoted Mr Jamal as saying to him, and demanded that the relevant police station register a case and guarantee his security, warning that otherwise he would have no choice but to resign. Taking strong notice of the lawmaker’s allegation, Speaker Syed Awais Shah d...

COLOMBO: The struggles of stalwarts Babar Azam and Shaheen Shah Afridi have come under the spotlight as Pakistan eye a winning start to their T20 World Cup Super Eight campaign against New Zealand at the R. Premadasa Stadium here on Saturday. While Babar failed to deliver in his newly-assumed number four role — barring a decent outing against the USA — during the group stage, Shaheen has emerged as one of Pakistan’s weaker links throughout the tournament so far. The duo may well take a back seat against the BlackCaps, with the less experienced yet promising Khawaja Nafay and Salman Mirza expected to be entrusted with middle-order batting and new-ball bowling duties, respectively. On the eve of the fixture, Pakistan head coach Mike Hesson laid bare Babar’s vulnerabilities with the bat and hinted the former skipper could contribute only in a specific role, providing context as to why he was not sent in during the last group game against Namibia. “We think he’s a fine player through the middle, if required, in t...