Pakistan News

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PAKISTAN is currently in the global spotlight for mediating between the United States and Iran. Islamabad’s rigorous mediation efforts helped bring about a much-needed ceasefire between the US and Iran in April, which culminated in the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding in June 2026. Analysts see the current mediatory position as a new shift in Pakistan’s foreign policy priorities, with Islamabad attempting to assert itself as a middle power and a relevant strategic player in Middle Eastern geopolitics. However, a comprehensive historical analysis reveals that mediation has remained one of Pakistan’s most essential foreign policy imperatives. Pakistan has long adopted an active strategy of mediation to prevent, manage, and settle disputes in the Middle East and within its immediate western neighbourhood. Far from being a passive regional actor, Islamabad has often positioned itself as a mediator in conflicts ranging from great-power rivalries to intra-...

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage regained his parliamentary seat on Friday in an election he triggered to bolster his position against allegations of financial impropriety, a strategy that was undermined when his main challenger, a comedian dressed as a trash can, won more than a quarter of the vote. Farage, one of Britain’s leading Brexit campaigners, in a highly unusual move did not turn up at the count in the southern English seaside resort of Clacton because he said the police had advised him that there was a campaign to disrupt the result. “I am damned if I am going to stand on a stage, having won a resounding victory … and be demeaned and humiliated by nobodies,” Farage told supporters at a party before the result was announced. The election was triggered after Farage resigned from parliament last month to seek a fresh mandate from voters in what he described as a war against an establishment bent on discrediting him over taking und...

Hours after India made public assurances last week that its ethanol-blended petrol was safe, the country’s main auto lobby withdrew a complaint about fuel contamination it had sent to the government a week earlier. The group said some figures needed more checks. But separate communications between industry executives, reviewed by Reuters , showed that in the preceding days, top automakers Maruti Suzuki, Tata Motors and Mahindra discussed their concerns about contamination of petrol blended with 20 per cent ethanol, called E20. Their data compiled the most comprehensive fuel testing done by the industry since Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government started rolling out E20 nationwide from last year to help curb pollution and cut oil imports. With no other petrol available since April 1, consumer concerns have grown about the impact on vehicle performance. The carmakers’ emails show for the first time how they are privately worried about contaminants...

KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) directed the provincial government on Thursday to constitute a committee for an “independent, impartial and comprehensive” inquiry into the HIV outbreak among children at Karachi’s Kulsum Bai Valika Hospital. A two-member SHC bench, headed by Justice Adnanul Karim Memon and comprising Justice Muhammad Jaffer Raza, issued the directive as it announced its reserved judgement on a plea seeking an independent inquiry, registration of a case and lifelong medical treatment as well as appropriate compensation for the affected children. The outbreak was initially reported late last year, following which the Sindh government carried out screening at the Sindh Employees Social Security Institution-run hospital located in Karachi’s SITE area. According to data shared by the Sindh government, at least 78 children have been found infected with HIV at the hospital while a screening in the nearby area also confirmed 120 additional cases. But Advocate Tariq Ma...