Dawn

India must better protect tribal peoples and disadvantaged castes subjected to extrajudicial killings, torture and violence by law enforcement, a United Nations watchdog said on Tuesday. The UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) said the world’s most populous country also urgently needed to address hate crimes against…

ISLAMABAD: The PTI on Tuesday resubmitted a contempt of court petition by PTI founder Imran Khan’s sister to the Supreme Court (SC) against the alleged violation of its August 18 order for the ex-premier’s transfer to a private hospital. Later, Imran’s sister Uzma Khan also filed an application for the…

Dawn breaks over Ghaggar Phatak on the edge of Karachi. In a cluster of huts stitched together from rough timber, patched canvas and weathered cloth, the morning begins much as it once did hundreds of kilometres away in the hills of Dera Bugti. Inside an otaak, sixty-five-year-old Meerdali Bugti sits…

Bangladesh has expressed interest in participating in the Makkah Joint Defence Agreement between Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkiye, a top diplomat said Monday. “We have expressed our interest in the Makkah Defence pact […] Bangladesh is now a country of recognition. The partners in West Asia (Middle East), the partners…

At an impromptu press conference last week, US President Donald Trump waxed lyrical about his helipad, his ballroom and his granite paving stones. The one thing he barely mentioned? The war on Iran Six months after launching what he expected to be a lightning offensive, Trump appears bored or even…

The five-day World Humanoid Robot Games – the latest and biggest incarnation of the Robot Olympics – began on Saturday in Beijing. It combines events modelled on human sports with those designed to test the robots in simulated factories, restaurants, ​offices and in emergency situations. Once a curiosity organised by…

Bitcoin rose above $80,000 to hit a more than three-month high on Tuesday as a soft US dollar, in the wake of the moves by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to calm the bond market, revived momentum in the crypto sector. US President Donald Trump last week called on Congress to…

ISLAMABAD: The families and legal team of incarcerated lawyers and human rights activists Imaan Zainab Mazari-Hazir and Hadi Ali Chatta have voiced concerns over the medical facilities available at Adiala jail. On January 24, rights lawyers Imaan and Hadi were sentenced by an Islamabad sessions court to a total of…

WASHINGTON: The United States on Monday delisted Syria as a state sponsor of terrorism, rescinding a decades-old designation that had severely impeded investment. The US Department of State also revoked its designation of al-Nusrah Front — also known as Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) — as a global terrorist organisation. The…

ISLAMABAD: At least three inma­tes of Adiala jail have approached the Isla­mabad High Court seeking treatment at private hospitals and greater access to their families, following the Supreme Court’s recent order directing authorities to shift former prime minister Imran Khan to a private hospital for medical examination and treatment. The…

RAWALPINDI: Regional Police Officer (RPO) Babar Sarfraz Alpa has disputed the impression that Hina Javaid’s death was a suicide. He categorically said “it was a murder”, adding her husband and a domestic servant are in police remand custody, while the father-in-law of the victim is under investigation. The RPO was…

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Pakistan’s Chief of Defence Forces Field Marshal Asim Munir exchanges views with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian during their meeting in Tehran.—Reuters • CDF Munir holds meetings with Pezeshkian, Ghalibaf and Rezaei • Iranian leaders stress commitment to Islamabad MoU; say Washington’s approach hindering regional stability, eroding trust in US •…

ISLAMABAD: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has announced new measures to streamline sales tax registration for businesses, particularly those considered low risk. Under the new system, applications filed through the IRIS portal will be screened using risk-based checks. The measures were notified through Sales Tax General Order No. 20…

PTI Secretary General Salman Akram Raja said on Monday that the incumbent “Form 47” government had no mandate to reshape the country’s governance structure, adding that the party would welcome anyone willing to ally with it “in principle” on the issue. Speaking on Geo News programme ‘Capital Talk’, Raja said…

Six Nordic football associations delivered a united blow to Fifa President Gianni Infantino on Sunday, declaring they had lost confidence in his leadership while demanding sweeping governance reforms at world football’s governing body. The ​six Nordic Fifa members — Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden and the Faroe Islands — met…

GILGIT: Snowfall at Spantik Peak on Sunday halted efforts to retrieve the body of Pakistani climber Dr Asma Mushtaq, who died while descending the 7,027m peak in Gilgit-Baltistan’s Shigar district. 34-year-old Dr Mushtaq died at an altitude of around 6,250 metres on Thursday while descending from the summit of Spantik…

India’s Coast Guard and Navy continued search-and-rescue operations off the eastern coast on Sunday after a Panama-flagged cargo vessel carrying 24 crew sank, with two Chinese nationals rescued, a senior official said. The two rescued Chinese seafarers said the vessel developed a list on Friday and sank within eight minutes,…

US President Donald Trump hit back at Canada on Sunday after Prime Minister Mark Carney announced retaliatory tariffs on the United States following a breakdown in trade negotiations. “Canada wants the benefits of being a state, without being one!!!” Trump said in a post on Truth Social. “They have also…

An irrepressible Mitchell Starc bagged four wickets and 10 for the match as he ripped through the Bangladesh batting to ensure a commanding innings and 51-run second Test victory for Australia inside two days on Sunday. The visitors headed into the Mackay showdown on a high after shocking the world’s…

DAMASCUS: Israel carried out a fresh strike in Syria on Saturday and lambasted US envoy Tom Barrack for criticising an earlier attack on an air base in the northwest, which Israel has accused Turkiye of seeking to use. US envoy for Syria Tom Barrack on Tuesday slammed Israel’s attack on…

KARACHI: Sindh Senior Minister Sharjeel Inam Memon has said that efforts are underway to make University Road “100 per cent motorable” by September 15. He said this while talking to the media at the site of the under-construction Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) Red Line project here on Saturday. Mr Memon…

LAST month, at its 49th meeting, the Law and Justice Commission of Pakistan, chaired by the chief justice, recommended establishing an ‘International Commercial Court of Pakistan’ through a new Article 212A in the Constitution. Its stated aims — swift resolution of commercial disputes, stronger enforcement of arbitral awar­­ds, investor confidence,…

KARACHI: The Pakistan Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (PVARA) has set Sept 5 as the deadline for existing virtual asset service providers (VASPs) to submit applications for no-objection certificates (NOCs), warning that those failing to do so would have to cease operations. “Existing virtual asset service providers must submit their NOC…

GILGIT: Pakistan Customs collected Rs15 billion in revenue on imports from China through the Khunjerab Pass during the fiscal year 2025-26, breaking the previous record, while goods worth Rs2.8bn were exported to China and Central Asian countries through the border crossing. Wajid Ali, Pakistan Customs Collector Gilgit-Baltistan, told Dawn that…

• Interior ministry says Punjab government requested for army deployment • Order comes over a month before PTI’s planned long march ISLAMABAD: The federal government has authorised the deployment of three companies of the Pakistan Army in Rawalpindi for six months to perform “sensitive security duties” and respond to any…

• Petitioners seek an effective age-verification mechanism for minors’ accounts • State urged to protect kids from cyberbullying, harassment and harmful online content ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court has been approached seeking directions to the federal government to introduce legislation and a comprehensive regulatory framework to regulate social media use…

QUETTA: A security official embraced martyrdom and six others sustained injuries in a roadside bomb explosion in the Khad Kocha area of Mastung district on Saturday, police said. Officials said that an explosive device planted in the Gro area of Khad Kocha along the Quetta-Karachi National Highway was detonated when…

In 2007, the so-called ‘Lawyers’ Movement’ in Pakistan mobilised immense pressure against then military ruler Gen Pervez Musharraf to reinstate Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry, whom Musharraf had arbitrarily dismissed. Backed by opposition parties, these protests catalysed a somewhat ‘fair’ 2008 general election, which brought the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) to…

MUZAFFARABAD: Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Prime Minister Faisal Mumtaz Rathore on Saturday said the biggest challenge for the incoming government would be to deal with the situation caused by the proscribed Joint Awami Action Committee’s (JAAC) movement, stressing that dialogue was the only way to resolve the crisis. Speaking…