Pakistan News

Recently, the debate on the need to create more provinces in Pakistan has reared its head again. This discourse ebbs and flows with time, and it has returned for yet another round. In his August 23, 2025 column in Dawn , the founder-president of the think-tank Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency (PILDAT) Ahmad Bilal Mehboob points out that those in favour of more provinces claim that “practically all our governance problems will be resolved once we create more provinces.” He rightly questions the practicality of such a sweeping conclusion.  The political analyst Najam Sethi — though in favour of more provinces — is realistic enough to remain sceptical about such a possibility. According to him, the sub-nationalist sentiments in most ethnic groups of the country are just too strong to allow the groups and their leaders to come to any settlement in this regard with the federal government.  Even the mainstream parties that often occupy the treasury ...

ISLAMABAD: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Saturday launched a formal inquiry into alleged financial irregularities in the multi-billion-rupee Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Cities Improvement Project (KPCIP) following concerns over procurement violations and suspected corruption. In a notice, seen by Dawn , issued to the project’s management unit of KPCIP, the NAB’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) chapter directed officials to furnish all records related to consultant hiring, contractor pre-qualification, bid submissions, audit reports and advertisements. The bureau cautioned that concealing or misreporting facts could lead to penal consequences under the National Acco­untability Ordin­ance, 1999. The move follows allegations by lawmakers in the KP Assembly of massive irregularities amounting to Rs32 billion in the project, which is funded by the Asian Development Bank and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank. Demands all records, cautions officials against hiding or misreporting f...

WASHINGTON: For nearly three decades, US presidents — both Democrat and Republican — courted New Delhi as an emerging ally, politely overlooking disagreements for the sake of larger goals. Donald Trump has abruptly changed that, slapping 50 per cent tariffs on many Indian products as he seeks to punish it for buying oil from Russia. India was a Cold War partner of Moscow, but since the 1990s US leaders have hoped for a joint front with fellow democracy India in the face of the rise of China. In striking timing, Indian PM Narendra Modi heads to China this weekend, the latest meeting bet­ween the world’s two most populous nations as they explore areas of common ground. The Modi-Trump bromance has faltered after the latter started taking credit for the ceasefire with Pakistan Trump has accused India of fueling Moscow’s deadly attacks on Ukraine by purchasing Russian oil. Trump trade adviser Peter Navarro even called Ukraine “Modi’s war” in a Bloomberg TV interview. Yet Trump ...

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said on Saturday he looked forward to meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping along with other world leaders as he departed for China to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit. The SCO summit, to be held in the northern port city of China’s Tianjin on Sunday and Monday, will gather more than 20 world leaders in a powerful show of Global South solidarity. Aside from Russian President Vladimir Putin, leaders from Central Asia, the Middle East, South Asia and Southeast Asia have also been invited to the summit. Terming his visit “historic”, PM Shehbaz said on X: “I look forward to meeting H.E. President Xi Jinping and other world leaders to further build upon our bilateral ties with China, our All Weather Strategic Cooperative Partner, as well as with other key countries of the region […]” The premier expressed his aim to “enhance regional cooperation, strengthen multilateralism, and advance shared goals for peace and prosperity”. ...

KARACHI: As Guddu Barrage is set to receive inflows of 700,000 to 800,000 cusecs next week, the Sindh government fears the displacement of hundreds of thousands of people living in areas along the Indus River’s banks due to the high flood . A meeting, chaired by Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah to review the flood situation in the province, was informed by the Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) and the irrigation department that a high flood was expected to hit Guddu Barrage between Sept 3 and 4, potentially displacing over 52,000 families. The CM instructed the PDMA and district administrations to get ready to establish more than 500 camps along river embankments to protect affected communities and livestock. “In case of a major flood wave, not a single life, human or animal, should be lost,” he stressed. He also directed the deployment of over 30,000 personnel of Rescue-1122 and 178 boats — 72 in northern districts and 106 in southern districts — to respond t...

The Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) Hyderabad has arrested three “most-wanted” terrorists affiliated with the banned Sindhu Desh Revolutionary Army (SRA) in Jamshoro district during an intelligence-based operation, a statement from CTD said on Friday. In 2020, the interior ministry banned the SRA, Jeay Sindh Qaumi Mahaz-Aresar Group (JSQM-A), and Sindhu Desh Liberation Army (SLA) under the Anti-Terrorism Act . “CTD Hyderabad established a network to eliminate these terrorists through which information about them was obtained,” the statement said, adding that they were planning to carry out bomb blasts and targeted killings in Hyderabad city. “The terrorists of the banned SRA were wanted in the cases related to firing on cargo trawlers going to Punjab, especially in the areas of district Sujawal.” The statement detailed that the terrorists were found to possess a hand grenade, explosive material, detonator, ball bearings, nut bolts, remote control, battery, and prohibited weapo...

ISLAMABAD: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has tightened compliance protocols by mandating quarterly return filings from couriers and payment intermediaries responsible for collecting or deducting withholding tax. The revenue authority issued draft amendments to the Income Tax Rules, 2002, through SRO 1634 of 2025. The draft will be finalised after receiving feedback from stakeholders. The proposed protocols will only apply to domestic e-commerce outfits and couriers. Under the proposed amendments, in line with Sub-Section 2 of Section 165 and Sub-Section 1 of section 165C, any courier or payment intermediary tasked with tax collection or deduction under Division II or Division III of Part V of Chapter X of the Ordinance, or under Chapter XII, must submit a quarterly statement. These are to be filed electronically using the format prescribed in Part X of the Second Schedule to the rules. The deadlines for filing are set as April 20 for the quarter ending March 31, July 20 for...

Washing and cooking at odd hours, storing food for days, timetabling routines — this is what the everyday life of hundreds of thousands of women looks like in Pakistan, who are forced to manage their lives around a tight electricity schedule. Like most other essentials, access to energy in Pakistan is not gender-neutral. And like every other instance, it is women who have to face the brunt of unreliable electricity, from interrupted housework to limited mobility and digital exclusion. Nowhere is this clearer than in Lahore, where neighbourhood boundaries and social hierarchies create starkly unequal “energy lives”. To dig deeper, I set out to understand how this gender-energy nexus actually plays out across the city with my colleagues at the University of Cambridge and the Lahore University of Management Sciences. Building on previous research on electricity demand in upper-class areas, we combined surveys, in-depth interviews, and neighbourhood walks to study five low-income neighbo...

KARACHI: As Punjab was severely hit by flooding after heavy rains and excess water released by India from its dams, the Sindh government on Wednesday braced for high flood risk and established ministerial committees comprising elected representatives to deal with the developing situation. Official sources told Dawn that the Pakistan Peoples Party government mobilised its elected representatives in Sindh, appointing provincial ministers as focal persons to oversee the right and left banks of the Indus River within their respective jurisdictions. Fearing mass evacuation, the government also instructed the Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) to arrange necessary logistics such as boats, tents, ration bags, medicines and machinery, the officials said. The health department has been asked to mobilise medical teams to counter potential outbreaks of waterborne diseases. KMC asked to arrange safe shelters in Karachi; Guddu and Sukkur barrages face ‘very high flood’ threat f...

Two men arrested for torturing two brothers in a Rs30 dispute with street vendors in Raiwind were killed in an “encounter” with the Crimes Control Department (CCD), the victims’ lawyer said on Thursday. The incident came to light after a video clip showing street vendors subjecting both brothers to torture went viral on social media. The suspected attackers were spotted holding clubs in their hands and beating the victims at a public place in Raiwind. One brother died of severe torture marks at the spot, while the other succumbed to his injuries on Sunday. Ali Ahmed Awan, the lawyer representing the victims’ father, told Dawn.com a day prior that a total of six suspects were named in the case, out of which three — including the main suspect — had been arrested. “Two of the suspects, Owais and Shahzad, were killed in a police encounter after their accomplices attempted to attack the police,” Awan said today. “The CCD is still searching for the rest of the suspects.” No case has be...

President Donald Trump’s administration moved Thursday to impose stricter limits on how long foreign students and journalists can stay in the United States, the latest bid to tighten legal immigration in the country. Under a proposed change, foreigners would not be allowed to stay for more than four years on student visas in the United States. Foreign journalists would be limited to stays of just 240 days, although they could apply to extend by additional 240-day periods — except for Chinese journalists who would get just 90 days. The United States, until now, has generally issued visas for the duration of a student’s educational programme or a journalist’s assignment, although no non-immigrant visas are valid for more than 10 years. The proposed changes were published in the Federal Register, initiating a short period for public comment before they can go into effect. Trump’s Department of Homeland Security alleged that an unspecified number of foreigners were indefinitely ext...

Carlos Alcaraz stormed into the third round of the US Open with a blistering straight-sets victory on Wednesday as Novak Djokovic overcame an early scare to advance. Alcaraz, who could meet Djokovic in the semi-finals at Flushing Meadows if the draw follows the seedings, blew away Italy’s Mattia Bellucci 6-1, 6-0, 6-3 in just one hour 36 minutes on the Arthur Ashe Stadium main court. The 22-year-old Spanish second seed unfurled a stream of 32 winners in a dominant display against the 65th-ranked Bellucci, whose best performance in a Grand Slam came with a run to the third round at Wimbledon earlier this year. “I played great to be honest, from the beginning until the last ball,” said Alcaraz, who will face another Italian, 32nd seed Luciano Darderi, in the next round. “The less time I spend on court the better for me, to go to bed early,” he added. Elsewhere on Wednesday, Serbian legend Djokovic kept his dream of a record 25th Grand Slam singles title alive after a four-set d...

In Quetta’s Kali Ismail area, near the Balochistan Board office on Samungli Road, 12-year-old Salman, a seminary student, rummaged through a garbage dumping site to pick up a baseball. He needed it for his next fastball to Akram, who stood poised to bat — right in the middle of the trash. “We’re used to playing here,” Salman shrugged. “We wash our hands with regular water.” Like many children in the area, he had no idea how hazardous the dumping ground could be to his health. “It’s been five months, and there’s been no action from the authorities,“ lamented Jameel Langove, who runs a flour mill nearby. “The dumping ground has become a haven for drug addicts and immoral activities. It’s affecting our neighbourhood and our children.” He recounted how a recent storm had blown heaps of garbage into nearby homes. Living so close to the site, residents, particularly the elderly, now struggle with asthma and other breathing problems caused by dust and waste polluting the air. Quetta, once f...

Floodwaters gushing through mountain villages, cities rendered swamps, mourners gathered at fresh graves — as Pakistan’s monsoon season once again delivers scenes of calamity, it also lays bare woeful preparedness. Without better regulation of construction and sewer maintenance, the annual downpours that have left hundreds dead in recent months will continue to kill, experts say. Even Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif appeared to agree as he toured flood-stricken Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province last week, where landslides killed more than 450 people. “Natural disasters are acts of God, but we cannot ignore the human blunders,” he said. “If we keep letting influence-peddling and corruption control building permits, neither the people nor the governments will be forgiven.” Pakistan is among the countries most vulnerable to climate change, with limited resources for adaptation. In the devastated mountain villages the prime minister visited, and beyond, residential areas are erected near r...

LAHORE: The Punjab government and opposition Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) have been wrangling over “exorbitant spendings, chartered jet and private persons in the delegation” of Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz’s Japan’s five-day tour. Ms Nawaz concluded her Japan visit on Monday and reached Thailand. Questions are also being raised on social media regarding CM Maryam’s ‘official visit’ to Japan, in which ‘private individuals’, including her family members, as also a part. It is being argued that even if such participants claim to bear their own expenses, the practice undermines the sanctity of official delegations and blurs the line between state affairs and personal interests. Questions are also being raised on social media platforms over the inclusion of private persons as part of her visit, causing a huge sum of money to the exchequer. Entourage comes under scrutiny; PTI’s Waqas claims bank borrowing spent on excursion; Azma says PTI will consume in its own frustration Punjab ...

• KCF convener stresses need for strong political will to fix most basic problems • City can’t handle even 10mm of rains with choked drains, says urban planner KARACHI: Expressing serious concerns over the way the metropolis has been governed for the past several decades, civil society representatives said on Monday that the death, devastation and public chaos Karachi experiences with every monsoon have more to do with bad governance — corruption, inefficiency and absence of political will — rather than climate change. The civil society held a press conference under the platform of the Karachi Citizens’ Forum (KCF) at the Pakistan Medical Association (PMA) House, where one of the speakers emphasised the need for what he called a supra provincial body to run Karachi. Describing the situation as “depressing”, the speakers said that cost-efficient solutions to urban flooding were available and that there was no dearth of skilled and talented manpower in the city to implement them to h...

India fears a planned Chinese mega-dam in Tibet will reduce water flows on a major river by up to 85 per cent during the dry season, according to four sources familiar with the matter and a government analysis seen by Reuters , prompting Delhi to fast-track plans for its own dam to mitigate the effects. The Indian government has been considering projects since the early 2000s to control the flow of water from Tibet’s Angsi Glacier, which sustains more than 100 million people downstream in China, India and Bangladesh. But the plans have been hindered by fierce and occasionally violent resistance from residents of the border state of Arunachal Pradesh, who fear their villages will be submerged and way of life destroyed by any dam. Then in December, China announced that it would build the world’s largest hydropower dam in a border county just before the Yarlung Zangbo river crosses into India. That triggered fears in New Delhi that its longtime strategic rival — which has some territ...