Pakistan

Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) leader and Education Minister Dr Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui has been made a member of the Economic Coordination Committee, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) said on Thursday. The statement said that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had approved an increase in the number of ECC members. “Minister for Education Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui has been included as a member of the ECC,” the statement said. “I am hopeful that Siddiqui will play an active role as a member of the ECC and contribute fully to the progress and development of the country and the nation,” PM Shehbaz was quoted as saying. The development comes a day after an MQM-P delegation, led by Siddiqui, called on the premier and presented the party’s proposals for the upcoming budget. According to the PMO, detailed discussions were also held on public welfare and development projects being carried out in Sindh and Karachi under the federal government. The meeting also discussed the overall political situation in the count...

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) mission visiting Pakistan has concluded talks with authorities focusing on economic developments, fiscal plans for the next financial year, and progress on reforms under the country’s IMF-supported programmes, it said in a statement issued early on Thursday. The statement said that the mission visited Islamabad from May 13 to May 20, with the visit focusing on “recent economic developments, reform implementation, and the budget strategy for fiscal year 2027”. Iva Petrova, who led the IMF mission, was quoted as saying that “constructive discussions” were held with authorities on economic developments, including disruptions from the Middle East conflict, the upcoming budget formulation and progress on the reform agenda under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) and the Resilience and Sustainability Facility (RSF). “The authorities reaffirmed their commitment to a primary surplus target of two per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) in FY2027, which will support fiscal sustaina...

United States President Donald Trump’s administration threatened to revoke the visas of the Palestinian delegation to the United Nations if the Palestinian ambassador refuses to end his candidacy for the vice presidency of the UN General Assembly, according to an internal State Department cable seen by Reuters. In a cable dated Wednesday, US diplomats in its embassy in Jerusalem are instructed to deliver the message that Palestinian ambassador to the UN Riyad Mansour’s general assembly bid “fuels tensions”, risks undermining Trump’s Gaza peace plan and would therefore face consequences from Washington if it went ahead. “To be clear, we will hold the PA responsible if the Palestinian delegation does not withdraw its VPGA candidacy,” the cable, marked sensitive but unclassified, said, referring to the Palestinian Authority, which exercises limited self-rule in the West Bank. Among the talking points provided in the cable to US diplomats, the State Department’s September 2025 decision to waive visa sanctions for...

Pakistan has responded to claims by India during a meeting of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), saying that the neighbouring country stands exposed by “terrorism, occupation, aggression, repression and disregard for international law”. The development came during a UNSC debate on the protection of civilians. During the debate, India’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Harish Parvathaneni, accused Pakistan of ignoring international humanitarian obligations, targeting civilians and a “long-tainted record of genocidal acts”, Times of India reports. He also reiterated the Afghan Taliban’s claims of targeting a hospital in Kabul earlier this year. The statement by India came after Pakistan earlier highlighted the plight of the people of occupied Kashmir. In response to the Indian envoy’s remarks, Pakistan’s representative Saima Saleem said, “India once again came to this council wearing the mask of a victim — but the world can see the face behind that mask. “It is the face of a state that exports terro...

ISLAMABAD - Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Wednesday met a delegation of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) led by Federal Minister for Education and MQM Convener Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui and discussed the upcoming federal budget, public welfare projects in Sindh and Karachi, and the overall political situation in the country.

ISLAMABAD - A day after staging hours-long protest sit-in at a main intersection of Islamabad, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi on Wednesday warned of serious consequences if incarcerated PTI chief Imran Khan was not treated in the presence of his physicians at a hospital of his choice.

ISLAMABAD - President Asif Ali Zardari on Wednesday received Prince Rahim Aga Khan V upon his arrival at Nur Khan Airbase on an official visit to Pakistan, where First Lady Bibi Aseefa Bhutto Zardari accompanied the President.

LAHORE - Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif met Azerbaijan’s Economy Minister Mikayil Jabbarov and discussed expanding bilateral cooperation in trade, investment, urban development, agriculture, logistics, tourism and infrastructure.

LONDON: A former British pirate radio station on Wednesday apologised “for any distress caused” after accidentally announcing the death of King Charles III. The erroneous announcement was made on Tuesday afternoon due to a computer error at its main studio in Maldon in eastern Essex, Radio Caroline said in a post on social media. The error had triggered the so-called death of a monarch procedure “which all UK stations hold in readiness while hoping not to require”, wrote station manager Peter Moore. “Radio Caroline then fell silent as would be required, which alerted us to restore programming and issue an on-air apology,” he said on Facebook post. “Caroline has been pleased to broadcast Her Majesty the Queen’s and now the King’s, Christmas message and we hope to do so for many years to come,” he said, referring to the monarch’s traditional Christmas Day message to the nation. “We apologise to HM (his majesty) the king and to our listeners for any distress caused,” Moore added. The mishap on Tuesday came as Ch...

ISLAMABAD: Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Yahya Afridi on Wednesday assured the PTI leadership that its cases concerning access to a personal physician, family members and counsel representing the party’s founder and former premier, Imran Khan, would be fixed soon after the upcoming Eidul Azha. The assurance was given by the CJP during a meeting with PTI General Secretary Salman Akram Raja, who was leading a brief sit-in outside the Supreme Court building soon after attending an Islamabad High Court (IHC) hearing in the £190 million corruption case against the Imran and his wife, Bushra Bibi. Raja later told the media that the CJP had assured him that all petitions and applications relating to Imran would be scheduled for hearing after Eid falling on May 27. The PTI general secretary said he had informed the CJP about the pending appeal before the Supreme Court since October 2025 against the IHC order regarding permission to access Imran, who was incarcerated at Rawalpindi’s Adiala jail. Likewise, another ap...

ISLAMABAD: For the first time in nearly 20 years, the government on Wednesday awarded two dozen offshore blocks for exploration, attracting an initial investment of $82 million during the first phase of a three-year licensing period. According to an official statement from the petroleum ministry, the total investment is projected to reach $1 billion if exploration activities progress to the second phase. Petroleum Minister Ali Pervaiz Malik witnessed the signing of production sharing agreements (PSAs) and exploration licences (ELs) for blocks awarded in the Offshore Bid Round 2025, marking the formal reopening of the country’s maritime frontier after nearly two decades. The awarded blocks are located in the Indus and Makran offshore basins, adjoining the territorial waters of Sindh and Balochistan. The round attracted bids covering approximately 54,600 square kilometres of the country’s offshore area, resulting in the award of 23 blocks, according to an official press release. 23 blocks awarded after 20-year ...

• Naqvi travels to Tehran for 2nd time in a week to break deadlock, meets Iranian president, IRGC chief • Trump claims talks in ‘final stages’, warns of renewed hostilities if deal not reached • Iran warns confrontation will ‘go beyond Middle East’ if war resumes; Pezeshkian says ‘all paths’ for talks remain open • Saudi FM backs Pakistani mediation, praises Trump for giving diplomacy a chance ISLAMABAD: As the US and Iran continue to trade threats, putting their fragile ceasefire at risk, Pakistan has stepped up its diplomatic efforts to break the deadlock, sending its emissary — Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi — to Tehran for the second time in less than a week to resuscitate negotiations. The minister landed in the Iranian capital with a “crucial message” for the Iranian leadership, reflecting the urgency of the mediation efforts amid fears that the ceasefire could unravel if negotiations remained at a standstill. Diplomatic sources said Pakistan was continuing to relay messages between Tehran and Washingto...

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps threatened Monday to impose “permits” on submarine fibre-optic cables passing through the Strait of Hormuz. Here is what you need to know about cable infrastructure in the region and how the threats could play out: What cables run through Hormuz? Major connections running through Hormuz include a branch of AAE-1 (Asia, Africa, Europe), which connects points from Hong Kong to Italy and France. Meanwhile, the Falcon and Gulf Bridge cables connect countries in the Gulf — including Iran — with India and eastern Africa as far as Egypt. Data running over the cables includes “all kinds of traffic, any data you can think of — videos, email, social media, financial transactions, government communication,” Alan Mauldin, research director at specialist data firm TeleGeography, told AFP. The potential for global disruption is limited as data flowing between Asia and Europe on AAE-1 does not pass via the Gulf branch, Mauldin said. What’s more, “all of the Gulf countries using subma...

ISLAMABAD: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi and Imran Khan’s sister Aleema Khan on Wednesday claimed that shots were fired at sit-in participants on Tuesday night, injuring several people. On Tuesday, a caravan led by CM Afridi, which was on its way to Rawalpindi’s Adiala jail to meet Imran, was stopped from entering Islamabad, prompting the participants to stage a sit-in at the intersection of Srinagar Highway and G.T. Road — loca­lly referred to as Chungi No. 26. Addressing a press conference, Afridi claimed that shots were fired on Tuesday to disperse them. He said that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was supplying gas to the entire country, but in return, bullets were being fired at parliamentarians and wheat supplies to the province had been blocked. During the press conference, they also showed a video in which shots were allegedly fired at different participants in the sit-in. They also asked whether the state has any example in which the sisters of former prime ministers have faced the treatment bei...

ISLAMABAD: PTI on Wednesday finally agreed to sit with the government to resolve their differences, provided incarcerated PTI founder and former prime minister Imran Khan is released from jail. Previously, the party and its founder repeatedly refused to engage in dialogue, referring to the incumbent government as “thieves and dacoits” in public statements. “Let us sit together to jointly resolve our problems in an atmosphere in which Imran Khan is released from jail and Mian Sahib (PML-N President Nawaz Sharif) also comes forward for dialogue,” PTI MNA Ali Muhammad Khan said on the floor of the National Assembly on Wednesday. He said the NA opposition leader, Mehmood Achakzai, confirmed he had received an invitation from Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. “I asked Achakzai to go for dialogue. The entire PTI will support him so that the talk process will pave the way for political stability and resolution of our problems,” he said, adding that this may also lead to the release of Imran and his wife, Bushra Bibi, f...

In a tent in southern Gaza, Najia Abu Lehia mourns not only her husband but also their failure to perform the pilgrimage to Makkah, or Haj, together before he died a year ago because of war and border closures. Before the Israeli invasion of 2023, at least 3,000 Gazan pilgrims made the Haj every year. The signing of a ceasefire in October that halted major fighting raised Palestinian hopes for renewed travel, but they have been dashed by continued heavy restrictions on movement. Palestinian Najia Abu Lehia sits with her grandchildren inside a tent at a camp for displaced people, as she speaks about her wish to perform Haj amid restrictions on May 18, 2026. —REUTERS “We registered and our names got selected for the Haj before the war. Then the war broke out here and it became a barrier,” said 64-year-old Abu Lehia, who now lives in a tent encampment in Khan Younis. “I am worried I’ll follow him (die) while I’m longing to perform the Haj. But God willing, we hope to perform the Haj despite the constraints, desp...

Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir posted a video on Wednesday showing detained activists from a Gaza-bound flotilla kneeling with their hands tied behind their backs and foreheads on the ground. The footage, published on Ben Gvir’s X account and captioned “Welcome to Israel”, shows dozens of activists on the deck of a military boat with the Israeli national anthem blaring, and in detention in Israel, where the minister is seen waving an Israeli flag. In the video he shared, he is seen encouraging staff at the detention centre as they push down an activist who had stood up to say “free free Palestine” as he walked by. Saad Edhi, the son of prominent social worker Faisal Edhi and the grandson of late philanthropist Abdul Sattar Edhi, is reportedly among the activists detained. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu criticised Gvir over his handling of the activists, adding that he had ordered the activists’ deportation. “The way minister Ben Gvir dealt with the flotilla activists ...

ISLAMABAD: Balochistan’s government has told the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) that holding a by-election for NA-256 Khuzdar is not possible at present, citing the law and order situation in the district. During a meeting with ECP officials on Wednesday, the province’s chief secretary and inspector general of police briefed that the “presence of militants, tribal disputes, and the need to deploy police and other law enforcement personnel from other districts” had made it difficult to hold the polls. They said the constituency comprised mountainous terrain, the security situation was “unstable”, and complete security could not be provided to election staff and voters. Meanwhile, Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja, who chaired the meeting, said the commission was bound under the Constitution and law to hold the by-election. “The ECP will take an appropriate decision on the Khuzdar by-elections,” he said. The ECP maintained that it was ready to proceed with the by-election and had sought an...

President Asif Ali Zardari on Wednesday received Prince Rahim Aga Khan V upon his arrival at Nur Khan Airbase on an official visit to Pakistan, where First Lady Bibi Aseefa Bhutto Zardari accompanied the president.

Prince Rahim al-Hussaini Aga Khan V, on his first visit to Pakistan since being named the spiritual leader of the Ismaili community last year, reaffirmed the Aga Khan Development Network’s (AKDN) commitment to supporting humanitarian and development efforts in Pakistan during a meeting with President Asif Ali Zardari. According to a statement, Prince Rahim is visiting Pakistan from May 20 to 26. Upon his arrival at Nur Khan Air Base, Prince Rahim was received by President Asif Ali Zardari. He was presented with a guard of honour at Aiwan-i-Sadr, where he stood alongside the president as the national anthem was played. @dawn.today Prince Rahim Aga Khan V, the spiritual leader of the Ismaili community, arrived in Islamabad on Wednesday, the Presidency confirmed. On arrival at Nur Khan airbase, Prince Rahim was received by President Asif Ali Zardari. The Aga Khan received an honour guard at President House, where he was flanked by President Asif Ali Zardari as the national anthem was played. DawnToday ♬ original...