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Minab school strike violated humanitarian law: Amnesty

ISLAMABAD: An investigation by Amnesty International into an airstrike on an Iranian school – which claimed the lives of about 168 people, mostly children – has blamed the US for the deliberate, deadly attack and urged the authorities to ensure a transparent and thorough investigation to ensure accountability. In an in-depth report, the rights watchdog revealed that the US violated international humanitarian law by failing to take all feasible precautions to avoid civilian harm and sought accountability for the perpetrators. It said the school building was directly struck, alongside 12 other structures in an adjacent Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) compound, with guided weapons, adding that this showed that US forces did not take precautions to avoid civilian harm. “The fact that the school building was directly targeted and was previously part of the IRGC compound raises concerns that US forces may have relied on outdated intelligence and failed in their obligation t...
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Rebuttal on purchase of luxury vehicle for Yousaf Raza Gilani from Senate budget leaves questions unanswered

A rebuttal by the Senate Secretariat on reports of the purchase of a luxury vehicle for Senate Chairperson Yousaf Raza Gilani further confused the matter on Monday, essentially confirming the purchase and reiterating the details reported in this connection. The rebuttal was issued after it was reported that a vehicle worth Rs90 million was bought for Gilani from the Senate’s budget. The reports also quoted Gilani as explaining that the car was ordered in May last year, “using savings from the Senate’s budget of the previous year”. These details were also confirmed in the Senate’s rebuttal, which, however, did not mention the cost of the car. The rebuttal said: “The attention of the Senate Secretariat has been drawn to certain media reports regarding the purchase of a vehicle (Land Cruiser) for the honourable Senate chairman.” “These reports are misleading, factually incorrect, and appear to be based on incomplete information and mala fide intentions,” it said, without specifying w...
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‘When you burn our hearts, you do not stop us’: Iranian families weep as war dead are buried in Tehran cemetery

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As gravediggers prepared new burial plots for those killed in the US-Israeli attack on Iran , Marzia Razaei wept for her son Arfan Shamei, who died in a blast at a military training camp days before he was due home on leave. The war that began on February 28 with a blitz of air strikes on Tehran and other cities has killed more than 1,300 Iranians so far, according to Iranian officials, and plunged the Middle East into crisis. Marzia Rezaei reacts while standing near the grave of her son, Erfan, who was killed in strikes, amid the U.S.-Israeli conflict with Iran, at Behesht-e Zahra cemetery, in Tehran, Iran, March 16, 2026. — Reuters Tears streamed down Razaei’s face and she stared vacantly, hugging a large portrait of Shamei, 23, her voice breaking with grief as she recalled her last conversation with him when they discussed his coming trip back home to his family. “I hadn’t seen him for two months,” she said, adding that his last day before heading home was meant to have been...
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Situationer: PPP’s gubernatorial gambit ‘pays off’

IN sacking Kamran Tessori as Sindh governor, it is not just that the ruling PML-N has bowed to pressure from its coalition partner, the PPP. Rather, it appears that Mr Tessori had outlived his usefulness to those who brought him into office, as his “sacrifice” is being viewed as part of a larger gambit aimed at reshaping the Constitution and the resource distribution fram­ework between the provinces and the federation, rather than merely antagonising the MQM-Pakistan. For context, the Muttahida-nominated Mr Tessori was rem­oved from his office last week, and the PML-N replaced him with its senior leader, Nehal Hashmi, who took oath as governor on Friday. Mr Tessori was not a senior member of the MQM-P when on the advice of the Shehbaz Sharif-led Pakistan Democratic Move­ment (PDM) government in October 2022, then-president Arif Alvi app­ointed him the governor of Sindh. Insiders say Kamran Tessori was already on ‘borrowed time’, as PML-N had informed MQM-P of its decision to re...
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Eid holidays on 20th, 21st notified; first special train departs today

ISLAMABAD: The federal government has decl­ared March 20 and March 21 as public holidays for offices on the occasion of Eidul Fitr, according to a cabinet division notification issued on Sunday. “The prime minister has been pleased to dec­lare March 20 and 21, 2026 (Friday and Sat­urday) as public holidays on the occasion of Eidul Fitr, both for offices obse­rving five- and six-day workweeks,” the notification stated. Meanwhile, Pakistan Railways has decided to operate four special trains ahead of Eid from major stations to various destinations. The first will depart from Lahore for Karachi on Monday (today), the second will set off from Quetta for Rawalpindi on Tuesday, the third will depart from Karachi for Peshawar on March 17, and the fourth train will head from Karachi for Lahore on March 18. The Pakistan Space and Upper Atmosphere Rese­arch Commission (Supa­rco) has forecast that Eidul Fitr is expected to fall on March 21 as the chances of sighting the Shawwal moon on March ...
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Trump administration slams CNN over Iran war coverage

• Pete Hegseth calls reporting ‘patently ridiculous’ • Thompson says network will keep reporting ‘the truth’ WASHINGTON: The Pentagon and White House slammed CNN over its Iran war coverage on Friday — with Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth saying he looked forward to an ally of President Donald Trump taking over the news network. Hegseth spent part of a news conference on US military operations against Tehran criticising the media and CNN in particular, urging for what he called an “actual patriotic press”. The former Fox News host was particularly incensed by a story the channel ran suggesting Washington had underestimated Iran’s ability to disrupt global oil traffic in the Strait of Hormuz. “Patently ridiculous,” Hegseth told reporters, before adding: “The sooner David Ellison takes over that network, the better.” David Ellison is the head of Paramount Skydance, which is set to complete a landmark takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery, the current owner of CNN , after beating Netfl...
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Federal Constitutional Court sets aside Class-IV appointments at Karak DHQ Hospital

ISLAMABAD: Expressing serious concern over a disquieting state of affairs in public appointments in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the Federal Constitutional Court (FCC) on Friday ordered a departmental inquiry against delinquent officials of the District Headquarters (DHQ) Hospital in Karak to discourage such irregularities in the future. Headed by Justice Syed Hasan Azhar Rizvi, a two-judge FCC bench also set aside the appointments of several Class-IV employees at DHQ Hospital Karak and ordered a fresh recruitment process to be completed within two months. The FCC had taken up a set of appeals filed by Muhammad Bilal and others against the May 22, 2025, restraining order issued by the Bannu Bench of the Peshawar High Court (PHC) against these appointments. “It becomes evident that the case in hand exposes a deeply disquieting state of affairs in the realm of public appointments, giving rise to competing claims over the same public posts and leaving the fate of two distinct groups of individ...
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