Pakistan News

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said on Friday that durable peace and stability in the region can only be achieved by eliminating the threat of terrorism emanating from neighbouring Afghanistan. “Durable peace, stability and economic development can only be achieved with the eradication of the menace of terrorism emanating from Afghan soil,” he said while speaking at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Council of Foreign Ministers’ meeting. He said that Pakistan desired to see a “peaceful, stable, regionally integrated and prosperous Afghanistan which is at peace with itself and its neighbours”, adding that this would be in the best interest of all SCO member states and beyond. He said that currently, the threat of terrorism emanating from Afghanistan was one of the most serious security challenges for Pakistan. He said that terrorist organisations continued to recruit, train and operate from Afghan soil “under the watch and facilitation of the Afghan Ta...

Two people were stabbed in New York on Thursday, with police saying that they had arrested a suspect and were evaluating the incident as a possible hate crime. The two victims, who were targeted in separate attacks near Manhattan’s Central Park, were “an Asian male and a Jewish male,” New York City police commissioner Jessica Tisch said on X, adding that they were both hospitalised and “expected to survive”. The New York Police Department (NYPD) arrested the suspect, identified as 51-year-old Raul Morales. “Detectives are continuing to work the case and determine motive, but according to victim and witness statements, Morales yelled ‘Allahu Akbar’ during both attacks,” Tisch said. “The NYPD is currently evaluating whether this is a potential hate crime.” She further said that “at this time, there is no known link between Morales and either of the victims, nor between the victims and each other”. Tisch added that the suspect has no r...

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Friday settled a jurisdictional dispute by declaring that it could not hear bail applications in pending National Accountability Bureau (NAB) appeals, and all such pending criminal appeals stood transferred to the Federal Constitutional Court (FCC). “This court has no jurisdiction to take cognisance in the NAB cases in terms of Article 175F (a) of the Constitution, read with Section 32 and 32-A of the National Accountability Ordinance, 1999,” ruled Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar in a 30-page judgement he authored. The ruling came on two petitions taken up by a three-judge Supreme Court bench, which was headed by Justice Mazhar and comprised Justice Musarrat Hilali and Justice Shahid Bilal Hassan. One of the pleas was filed by the NAB, challenging an acquittal by the Peshawar High Court, and another by an under-trial prisoner, Aamir Mahmood, who challenged the Islamabad High Court’s refusal of his post-arrest bail. More to follow from Dawn - Home htt...

The world is entering a period of rapid geopolitical realignment. The conflicts unfolding in the Middle East and along Russia’s borders with the West are not merely regional disputes; they are symptomatic of a deeper contest between two poles of global power — China and the United States — over the shape of the emerging world order. In this environment, smaller and middle powers risk being viewed simply as territory to be absorbed into one bloc or another. Russia and Iran are two states that deserve closer attention in this context. It would be a mistake to assume that their geopolitical weight can simply be written out of a new order defined by US-China rivalry. The outcome of that rivalry will, in fact, help shape the strategic and economic options available to other countries in the years ahead — Pakistan and Russia among them. Both nations share a concern for economic and technological sovereignty, and both have an interest in building new channels of cooperation. Before any dee...

Pakistan on Thursday rejected India’s attempt to “distort facts” about the Indus Water Treaty (IWT) at a United Nations Security Council (UNSC) open debate, saying that New Delhi’s actions in the aftermath of the attack in occupied Kashmir’s Pulwama were “simply illegal”. At a UNSC debate on natural resource governance, Pakistan’s Permanent Representation to the UN Asim Iftikhar Ahmad had highlighted India’s unilateral decision to hold the treaty in abeyance, saying that “no state should be permitted to abuse shared water resources as an instrument of coercion or political pressure, much less when it breaches solemn treaty obligations”. Subsequently, India’s Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador Harish Parvathaneni had accused Pakistan of “state-sponsored cross-border terrorism”, saying that it had “eroded the basis for bilateral cooperation on the treaty”, according to Indian news agency ANI . He had also asserted New Delhi’s claim on occupied Kashmir. In response, Pakistan...

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi vowed on Thursday “stringent punishment” for those involved in exam fraud that has fuelled student anger, in his first direct comments tied to major protests challenging his government. The comments came after thousands of protesters, led by the social media-driven Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) movement, rallied in New Delhi on Wednesday, triggering fresh clashes with the police. “Nothing is more important than the welfare and future of our youth,” he said in a post on X, promising to set up fast-track courts to punish those involved in question paper leaks. “Those who try to harm the future of our youth will not be spared,” he added. The protesters, mostly young students, have been demanding the resignation of the education minister over exam paper leaks since last month. Protests snowballed on Monday after police fired tear gas and baton-charged tens of thousands of demonstrators as they tried to...

Tehran is red and black when I arrive. Millions of people in black mourning attire carried red flags, the stark emblem of blood and martyrdom, seeking revenge for their leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was assassinated on February 28. “We Must Rise,” declare the banners. War songs ricochet off the walls in streets punctuated by elegies on the martyrdom of Imam Husayn and his Companions at Karbala. This is collective grief channelled as state resilience. An elderly supporter I meet, Akbar Ali Jafari, puts it like this: “The war has given the Revolution a new lease on life.” The founding purpose is resurrected and its leadership cast as embattled defenders of the nation rather than an ageing, contested regime. A vehicle carrying coffins of Iran’s late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and his family members, makes its way as people attend a funeral procession for Khamenei. — Reuters In early July, a towering fist was constructed a few days before the f...

LOWER SOUTH WAZIRISTAN: The death toll from rain-related incidents during the ongoing monsoon spell and flash floods in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has risen to 18. According to the Pakistan Meteorological Department, the current rain spell, which began on July 19, is expected to last till July 23 in KP. The latest rain-related fatalities in the province were reported from Upper South Waziristan, where four people were killed in a roof collapse incident, Additional Deputy Commissioner Fazal Wadood told Dawn . He said the incident occurred in the Bangiwala village on the outskirts of Sararogha tehsil during heavy rainfall. The victims belonged to the same family, including a couple and their son and daughter, he added. Separately, a report released by the Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) this morning said that 14 people had died and 19 had been injured in rain-related incidents across the province since July 19. The report did not mention the South Waziristan fatalities, whi...

Thousands of supporters of India’s youth-led “cockroach” movement have been camping in the capital, New Delhi, to demand the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, in the biggest public challenge to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his third term. Here is a look at what sparked the protests and the situation now. Why do protesters want Pradhan to quit? The immediate trigger for the demonstrations was the cancellation of the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET), India’s undergraduate medical school entrance exam, after its question papers were found to have been leaked. About two million students across India took the exam on May 3, but it was later scrapped, with about a dozen student suicides linked to its cancellation. A re-test was held in June. Why is NEET important? The exam is the sole gateway to undergraduate medical courses across India, and millions of aspirants sit for it every year, competing for fewer than 150,000 seats, making it one of India...

Digitising a museum collection is often framed as a technical challenge. Procure high-resolution cameras and scanners, hire trained photographers and scanning technicians, build databases and upload images to the cloud. In Pakistan, however, museum, archive and heritage digitisation is as much about navigating governance structures, institutional histories and professional anxieties as it is about the technology being used. For more than two decades, the Lahore Museum has not been led by a museum professional. For the past 16 years, the Taxila Museum has lacked authority over the majority of its reserve collection. During those same periods, specialised expertise in collections management, conservation and museum documentation have steadily eroded across much of the country’s cultural sector. The result is that projects that should primarily be about technology have become exercises in navigating institutional uncertainty. The recent digitisation o...

The curtain has fallen on the 2026 FIFA World Cup, the grandest and most expansive edition yet, hosted across the United States, Canada and Mexico. Spain emerged triumphant in a tense final against Argentina, etching their name on the trophy in a display of technical brilliance. Yet as the echoes of the stadiums fade, the tournament departs with more than memories of footballing excellence. It leaves behind a trail of controversies and unanswered questions that may linger long after the final whistle. Sport, like politics, often mirrors the contradictions of its time. The 2026 World Cup was no different. Here are five questions that football must now confront. Did political interference undermine the integrity of the game? The most glaring shadow over the tournament was the alleged involvement of political figures in sporting matters, most notably US President Donald Trump’s intervention following the red card awarded to American forward Folarin Balogun. After receiving a red ca...

LAHORE: A judicial magistrate on Monday sent three suspects on 14-day judicial remand in a case pertaining to the kidnapping and rape of two foreign women. Defence C police produced the three suspects before the court on the expiry of their physical remand. The police asked the court to remand the suspects in judicial custody. The magistrate accepted the request and sent the suspects to the judicial lockup, directing police to submit their investigation report at the next hearing. A duty magistrate on Sunday had allowed the police five-day physical remand of a suspect identified as “Boss” by the complainant in the first information report (FIR). Separately, a Lahore High Court judge on Monday disposed of a habeas corpus petition filed by the mother of the aforementioned suspect seeking recovery of her son from police custody. A law officer told the court that the petitioner’s son was on physical remand, after which the LHC disposed of the petition. Four other suspects, including...