Pakistan

Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi has hailed Pakistan’s security forces for successfully neutralising 22 Fitna al-Khawarij terrorists during an intelligence-based operation in Dera Ismail Khan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The Foreign Office (FO) has condemned the attack which claimed the lives of three Chinese workers in Tajikistan, saying that the use of armed drones in the incident underlined the “gravity of the threat emanating from Afghanistan and the brazenness of those behind it”. Tajik authorities said on Thursday that three Chinese workers in Tajikistan were killed in an attack launched from Afghanistan near the border. The foreign ministry said a drone and firearm attack hit workers of a Chinese company in the country’s south. “The attack, carried out with firearms and a drone loaded with grenades, claimed the lives of three employees of Chinese nationality,” it said in a statement. Dushanbe rarely comments officially on such incidents, and it did not say who it suspects carried out the attack. Subsequently, the FO, in a statement issued early on Friday, expressed Pakistan’s condolences and solidarity with China and Tajikistan over the lives lost in a “heinous terrorist attack in Tajikistan near its border with Afghan...

• LHCBA petition wants ICAs ‘restored to their original forum’ • Says 27th Amendment ‘unlawful, undermining judiciary’ • Fears parliament can ‘abolish or replace forum for constitutional adjudication at will’ if permitted ISLAMABAD: The Lah­ore High Court Bar Asso­ciation (LHCBA) on Thur­sday filed an application before the Federal Consti­tution Court (FCC), requ­esting that the pending intra-court appeals (ICAs) against the May 7, 2025 judgement on military trials of civilians be returned to the Supreme Court. The application has been moved under Order 35, Rule 6 of the Supreme Court Rules, 2025, which the FCC has adopted for the time being until it frames its own rules. On June 13, the LHCBA and the Lahore Bar Asso­ciation filed ICAs before the SC, seeking to revisit and set aside the May 7, 2025 judgement on the military trials of civilians. These appeals were filed through senior counsel Hamid Khan. In addition, former chief justice of Pakistan (CJP) Jawwad S. Khawaja and senior lawyer Barr­ister Aitzaz A...

Assert province inseparable part of Pakistan; Urge all to avoid making destabilising statements

Cites govt's pro-investor reforms, facilitations

FBI raids homes after two National Guard members shot near White House

Three Chinese workers killed in cross-border attack

K-P CM leads sit-in outside Adiala Jail

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Adviser to the Prime Minister on Political Affairs Rana Sanaullah and senior PTI leaders on Thursday dismissed reports of former premier Imran Khan’s ill health, with both sides stating that the PTI founder is ‘fine and nothing is wrong with him’. The PTI demanded a meeting with the incarcerated leader earlier today, saying the party was worried about his health as he has been barred from seeing his family and lawyers for over three weeks. Imran has been in jail since August 2023, serving a 14-year sentence on corruption charges. His family and party members have protested outside Adiala Jail in recent days, demanding a meeting. A party delegation visited the prison to see Imran today, but authorities again denied access. Amid media reports that the 73-year-old former international cricketer might be moved to a high-security prison to make meeting him more challenging, international media outlets such as Japan’s Nikkei and the BBC also covered the concern over his status. His well-being became a talking point...

The death toll from a massive blaze in a Hong Kong apartment complex rose to 65 on Thursday, with over 250 still missing, as police said the fire may have been caused by a “grossly negligent” construction firm using unsafe materials. Almost a full day after the fire began, firefighters were struggling to reach residents potentially trapped on the upper floors of the Wang Fuk Court housing complex due to intense heat and thick smoke from the blaze that erupted on Wednesday afternoon. Hong Kong’s government said the death toll from the fire had risen to 65. The fire had “claimed 65 lives and injured 70 people” by 8pm local time (5pm PKT), a government spokesperson told AFP, citing fire service figures, adding that 10 firefighters had been injured since the blaze broke out yesterday. The tightly packed complex in the northern Tai Po district has 2,000 apartments in eight blocks that are home to more than 4,600 people in a city struggling with chronic shortages of affordable housing. “We bought [a place] in this ...

Three high-profile Indian speakers who were set to take part in a much-anticipated Oxford Union debate on 27 November 2025 pulled out at the last minute, effectively handing an uncontested win to their Pakistani counterparts.

The most sweeping transformation of the higher defence organisation took effect at midnight on Thursday with the abolition of the post of chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee (CJCSC) under the 27th Constitutional Amendment, even as the government had yet to notify the appointment of the country’s first chief of defence forces under the new structure. The operationalisation of the amendment to Article 243 of the Constitution, passed by parliament on November 13 and signed into law by President Asif Ali Zardari, was timed to coincide with the retirement of the last CJCSC, General Sahir Shamshad Mirza. With his departure, the tri-service coordinating post created in 1976 stood dissolved, ending nearly five decades of institutional representation for the navy and air force at the apex of military decision-making. Gen Mirza retired as the 18th and final occupant of the CJCSC office, a position which critics argued never fully realised its intended role of ensuring robust coordination among the three ser...

ISLAMABAD - Ambassador of France to Pakistan Nicolas Galey yesterday unveiled Pakistan’s first-ever large-scale Urban Art Fresco, celebrating contemporary street art and cross-cultural artistic exchange.

ISLAMABAD - National Assembly Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq on Thursday administered the oath to five newly elected Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) members of National Assembly during the session.

ISLAMABAD - Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee (CJCSC), General Sahir Shamshad Mirza Nishan-e-Imtiaz (Military) on Thursday emphasized the coordination, mutual strategy, and cooperation between the armed forces.

ISLAMABAD - Chairman Senate Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani has said that Pakistan attaches great value to its brotherly relations with the United Arab Emirates, which are deeply rooted in shared faith, cultural affinity, and decades of close cooperation at the political, economic, social, and parliamentary levels.

RAWALPINDI - Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi here Thursday staged a sit-in along with Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) workers in protest against repeatedly denied a meeting with PTI founder Imran Khan in Adiala Jail.

Islamabad - A shooting incident at patrolling United States national guards, by Rahmanullah Lakanwal near the White House has reignited international concerns about the growing reach of Afghan-origin extremist networks and the broader global security implications of instability in Afghanistan.

The man suspected of shooting two National Guard soldiers near the White House on Wednesday was an Afghan national who worked alongside US forces in Afghanistan, US media reported. Washington has labeled the violence an “act of terror” and announced increased oversight of foreigners who entered the United States from Afghanistan in recent years. What we know about the suspected shooter Multiple media outlets, including CNN, The New York Times, CBS and NBC identified the man as 29-year old Rahmanullah Lakanwal and say he arrived in America in 2021. A relative of Lakanwal told NBC that he arrived after serving in the Afghan army for 10 years in support of US Special Forces. The relative told NBC that Lakanwal originally came from Afghanistan’s southeastern Khost province and had spent some of his military service at a base in the southern province of Kandahar. Kandahar is the birthplace of the Taliban and was the center of heavy fighting during the 20-year war between the then-insurgents and foreign-backed forc...