Pakistan

A newlywed 18-year-old girl was found dead in Karachi’s Defence Housing Authority (DHA) area while the police detained her relatives for their suspected involvement for interrogation, officials said on Tuesday. “The girl was married to a government employee deputed at Malir Cantonment; she was found dead at the rooftop of a building in Badar Commercial in Phase 5,” South Deputy Inspector General Syed Asad Raza told Dawn. The senior officer added that a dupatta was knotted around her neck twice. She was immediately taken to a private clinic in DHA and later to a hospital in Clifton, where doctors pronounced her dead. Subsequently, DIG Raza detailed, her body was taken to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre for legal proceedings. The couple had arrived in Karachi from Sialkot two weeks ago and was residing at an aunt’s house in the Badar Commercial area. According to details shared by the DIG, the girl reportedly went to the rooftop on Monday evening and did not return. When her aunt went upstairs, she found...

Pakistan has dispatched its 25th humanitarian consignment to Gaza—a 100-ton cargo—raising its total relief assistance to 2,427 tons, the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) confirmed on Tuesday.

The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Tuesday barred the police from harassing an Indian woman who had filed a petition against them. The woman, formerly Sikh, had come to Pakistan for religious purposes but had converted to Islam to marry the second petitioner, her now-husband. She complained that the police had conducted an “illegal raid on their house in Farooqabad, Sheikhupura district, and pressured her to end the marriage.” The petition was heard by Justice Farooq Haider, who ordered the police to stop harassing the petitioners. The petition, a copy of which is available with Dawn, was filed on November 12 under Article 199 (jurisdiction of High Court) of the Constitution. It named both the woman and her husband as the petitioners and Punjab’s inspector general of police (IGP), the regional police officer of Sheikhupura, the district police officers (DPOs) of Sheikhupura and Nankana Sahib, the station house officers (SHOs) of the same, and another resident of Farooq Abad as respondents. The petition alleged th...

Pakistan’s plan to issue Panda Bonds in 2025 has been shelved, pushing the launch into early next year, according to official sources.

The United States is the biggest recipient of China’s lending activities globally, according to a study that tracked Beijing’s credit activities and found it is increasingly lending to higher-income countries over developing countries. The report, published on Tuesday by AidData, a research lab at US university William & Mary, said China’s lending and grant giving totalled $2.2 trillion across 200 countries in every region of the world from 2000 to 2023. During this period, Pakistan received $74 billion, the report shows, ranking it as the fifth largest recipient. China has long been seen as a creditor to developing countries through its Belt and Road initiative, but is shifting toward lending to advanced economies — backing strategic infrastructure and high‑tech supply chains in areas such as semiconductors, artificial intelligence and clean energy. Beijing’s portfolio size is two-to-four times larger than previous estimates suggest, AidData said, adding that China remains the world’s largest official credit...

Terrorists’ bid to blow up a bridge in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Bannu district failed on Tuesday when an improvised explosive device (IED) detonated prematurely while it was being installed, police said. Amir Khan, the spokesperson for the District Police Office in Bannu, told Dawn that two terrorists intended to blow up Doghoda Bridge. He said that one of them died on the spot when the IED detonated prematurely while it was being installed. The other terrorist was injured and escaped the scene, he added. The spokesperson said police had reached the spot and were collecting evidence. Meanwhile, the process for the identification of the dead terrorist had also been initiated, he said. A search operation was also under way to track down the other terrorist, he added. Today’s incident comes around a month after law enforcers foiled an attack by terrorists at a police station in Bannu. According to police, terrorists belonging to Fitna-al-Khawarij — a term the state uses for the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP...

The National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) has issued a warning to overseas Pakistanis—particularly those residing in the United Kingdom—about a fraudulent website impersonating its services.

Vitol and Cnergyico, Pakistan’s largest oil refiner, have delivered the country’s biggest single shipment of very low sulphur fuel oil (VLSFO) for ship refuelling, the global trading firm said in a statement late Monday. The move will enable large vessels refuelling in Pakistan to now sail longer routes from east to west without needing to stop elsewhere, while also giving the country a stronger local supply of environmentally compliant marine fuel. This shipment came from Cnergyico’s first large-scale batch of fuel that meets International Maritime Organisation (IMO) low-sulphur rules. The company began producing it after importing its first US crude oil cargoes earlier this year. Vitol delivered the VLSFO to a vessel owned and operated by shipping major MSC at Port Qasim, using a Singapore-flagged bunker barge Marine Ista that has the capacity to supply 6,800 metric tons of marine fuel in a single delivery. It was also the first barge to load fuel directly from the Karachi Port Trust’s Oil Pier rather than ...

Pakistan’s security forces have killed at least 15 suspected Fitna-al-Khawarij militants in two intelligence-based operations conducted in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

MUZAFFARABAD - The Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Assem­bly on Monday voted to remove Prime Minister Chaudhry Anwarul Haq from his post, replacing him with Pakistan Peo­ples Party’s (PPP) Raja Faisal Rathore.

• Two more judges sworn in • Seven courtrooms arranged on IHC floors • Three benches hear several cases on first working day ISLAMABAD: After the swearing-in of two more judges, the Federal Constitutional Court (FCC) finally commenced operations on Monday, hearing a number of cases within the Islamabad High Court (IHC) premises. The day began with the oath-taking ceremony of Justice Rozi Khan Barrech and Justice Arshad Hussain Shah inside the conference room on the ground floor of the IHC building on Constitution Avenue. The oath was administered by FCC Chief Justice Aminuddin Khan, bringing the court’s existing strength to seven judges. View this post on Instagram Earlier, the FCC chief justice had told the media that the total sanctioned strength of the court would be 13 judges. Seven courtrooms have been arranged for FCC judges on different floors of the IHC building. After the ceremony, the formal proceedings commenced with the recitation of the Holy Quran at the main FCC courtroom situated on the first f...

KARACHI: Pakistan’s current account deficit (CAD) widened by over 255 per cent year-on-year during the first four months of FY26, primarily driven by rising imports and falling exports. The latest data issued by the State Bank on Monday showed that the country posted a CAD of $733 million in July-October compared with $206m in the same period last year. Another vital change was that October posted a $112m deficit, compared with a $83m surplus in September. The pressure on the current account is directly related to higher imports, while the exports remained stagnant during the current fiscal year. Under pressure from the International Monetary Fund, the government had relaxed import curbs. The government is under severe criticism for failing to boost economic growth over the last three years, and financial circles believe it was a deliberate attempt to cut GDP growth to keep the current account under control. The government achieved a surplus of $1.9bn in FY25, but economic growth remained at 2.6pc, which was ...

The United Nations Security Council on Monday voted to adopt a US-drafted resolution endorsing President Donald Trump’s plan to end the war in Gaza and authorising an international stabilisation force for the Palestinian enclave. Israel and Hamas agreed last month to the first phase of Trump’s 20-point plan for Gaza — a ceasefire in their two-year war and a hostage-release deal — but the UN resolution is seen as vital to legitimising a transitional governance body and reassuring countries that are considering sending troops to Gaza. The text of the resolution says member states can take part in the Board of Peace, envisioned as a transitional authority that would oversee the reconstruction and economic recovery of Gaza. It also authorises the International Stabilisation Force (ISF), which would ensure a process of demilitarising Gaza, including by decommissioning weapons and destroying military infrastructure. Trump’s 20-point plan is included as an annexe to the resolution. Russia, which holds a veto on the ...

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ISLAMABAD - The Supreme Court on Monday adjourned the hearing on a bail plea filed by a courier company manager in a narcotics case, while directing the Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) to submit the accused’s CCTV footage in court.

ISLAMABAD - Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar will represent Pakistan at the upcoming meeting of the Council of Heads of Government (CHG) of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), scheduled for 17–18 November 2025 in Moscow.