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THE bombing of Darul Uloom Haqqania in KP’s Nowshera district on Friday marks a departure from the recent trend of militants targeting mostly security personnel and government officials. A number of victims lost their lives in the tragedy, including Maulana Hamidul Haq Haqqani , head of the institution, who appeared to be the religious heir of his murdered father, Maulana Samiul Haq. The latter, along with his involvement in Pakistani politics, was known as the ‘Father of the Taliban’; he had earned the moniker because numerous high-ranking Afghan Taliban leaders had attended his madressah. Media reports have quoted police officials as saying that it was a suicide blast , and that Hamid Haqqani was the apparent target. While no group has claimed responsibility for the terrorist attack, the Afghan Taliban have insinuated that the self-styled Islamic State may be involved. An Afghan interior ministry official, while condemning the attack, pinned the blame on “enemies of religion”...

ISLAMABAD: The government on Friday reduced the prices of all petroleum products by up to Rs5.31 per litre with immediate effect for the next fortnight ending March 15. On the other hand, the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) notified a decrease in the price of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) by Rs6.15 per kg for March. In a late-night an­­nouncement, the Ministry of Finance said Ogra had reviewed and adjusted prices for petroleum products in view of the fluctuations in the international market. The ex-depot price of high-speed diesel (HSD) was decreased by Rs5.31 (2 per cent) to Rs258.64 per litre for the next fortnight from Rs263.95. Most of the transport sector runs on HSD. Its price is considered inflationary as it is mostly used in heavy transport vehicles like trains, trucks, buses, tractors, tube wells and threshers and particularly adds to the prices of vegetables and other eatables. Transport fares seldom come down despite lower diesel rates. The ex-depot petrol price...

Four people, including a 10-year-old, were killed, while one was injured in three separate accidents across Karachi, police said on Friday. Rules restricting the movement of heavy vehicles were recently implemented in the metropolis amid rising traffic accidents involving dumpers and tankers and protests over the deaths of citizens. Earlier this month, the provincial government banned the entry of heavy vehicles into the city during the daytime, only allowing them to operate from 11pm to 6am. Exemptions, however, were granted to trucks carrying water, petroleum products, medicines, meat and other essential goods. The Sindh government has also made it mandatory for all heavy vehicles in Karachi to have a physical fitness certificate amid the rising number of traffic accidents involving dumper trucks. According to Aziz Bhatti police Station House Officer (SHO) Saeed Ahmed Dharejo, a man was killed, and his friend was injured when a water tanker hit them on main University Road ne...

THE Minister for Law, Justice and Human Rights, Azam Nazeer Tarar, sang a strange tune at the UN. As the country continues sliding in corruption perceptions, democratic standards, and political and civil liberties, as evidenced by the recent deterioration in its ranking in various global indices that track these social indicators, Mr Tarar on Wednesday told attendees at a high-level segment of the 58th Session of the UN Human Rights Council that Pakistan remains “strongly committed” to upholding “all human rights”. Surprisingly, he held up the 26th Amendment as an example of the “robust legislative and policy measures” taken towards protecting human rights in the country. Ever since it was enacted, the 26th Amendment has come to be known for many things. Upholding the Pakistani people’s rights is not one of them. Indeed, the consensus among most fair-minded folk seems to be that it has done quite the opposite. Ironically, on the same day that Mr Tarar was painting his rosy picture...

LONDON: Alarm is rising over Washington’s potential withdrawal from global institutions, including the Inter­national Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank (WB), with the no-show of US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent at G20 meetings adding to anxiety. So what would happen if Washington pulls out from these two institutions? To understand this, one has to go back in time, as both institutions were formed in the ashes of the Second World War to encourage global integration and forestall future wars. The IMF is often called a lender of last resort for countries in trouble. A swathe of emerging market countries rely heavily on the IMF: Argentina could not pay government workers without it, and others from Senegal to Sri Lanka also currently count on its cash. Pakistan, of course, has participated in more than 20 IMF programmes since 1958, including the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) and Extended Credit Facility (ECF), Standby Arrangements (SBA) and one Structural Adjustment Facility Com...

Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Inspector General of Police (IGP) Rana Abdul Jabbar on Thursday ordered the arrest of a policeman booked for the alleged sexual harassment of a British-Kashmiri woman and constituted a team of senior officers to conduct a transparent investigation into the allegations. According to a statement by the police department spokesperson, the IGP directed Poonch Deputy Inspector General of Police Chaudhry Sajjad to ensure a fair inquiry and personally oversee the case to its logical conclusion. However, Thothal Station House Officer Chaudhry Imran Ahmed, who was suspended on Tuesday, had already obtained pre-arrest bail from the district court earlier today and subsequently went into hiding The IGP ordered the police to locate and detain him without delay, the spokesperson said. Demand of judicial inquiry The woman rejected the police inquiry committee, insisting on a judicial investigation by a high court judge. At a press conference in Mirpur, accompanied...

THE State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has just released the draft Pakistan Green Taxonomy 2025, soliciting stakeholder comments. It is an important building block for shaping the nation’s financial architecture to address the climate crisis. It will facilitate transformative investments while recognising the complexities faced by our investment-hungry economy. By balancing environmental standards and domestic development priorities, the Taxonomy is expected to offer practical guidance for directing capital towards climate-resilient growth. This framework will help mobilise an estimated $348 billion needed by 2030 for climate response, while providing guidance for sustainable investments across key economic sectors. The Taxonomy establishes seven environmental objectives: climate mitigation, adaptation, sustainable water use, ecosystem protection, pollution prevention, circular economy promotion, and sustainable land management. The initial focus will, however, be on climate mitigation and ...

THE gap is huge, to say the least. And those who own Pakistani banks, and the bankers who work for them, do not seem to be cognisant of — let alone prepared for — the challenges being unleashed by rapid tech disruptions led by the emergence of AI. Not that they do not see what is coming — it is just that the banking model that makes them colossal profits through risk-free lending to the sovereign or a few scores of large corporations has made them complacent. But for how long can they survive by sticking to this model, and refusing to adjust to new socioeconomic realities? While industry leaders focused on the massive tax burden of 54pc on the banks and the billions of rupees taken from them by the FBR in the name of windfall levy at the recent Pakistan Banking Summit in Karachi, others kept reminding them how destructive it could be for the banking industry to delay the adoption of digital technology and AI, as well as investments in human resource, infrastructure, and product develo...

A Lahore sessions court sentenced a man to death on Wednesday for committing blasphemy against the Holy Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him), other Islamic figures and religious rituals. The first information report (FIR) — a copy of which is available with Dawn.com — of the case was filed at the Shahdara Town police station on September 29, 2020, by a member of the Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan party under Sections 295A (deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs) and 295C (use of derogatory remarks, etc, in respect of the Holy Prophet [PBUH]) of the Pakistan Penal Code. “I was informed that for the past several months [the convict] … has been mocking the Holy Prophet [PBUH] and burning religious symbols and images of religious sites,” the FIR said. “When I met the man, he used blasphemous words in my presence.” The FIR said the man also disrespected Islamic rituals and obligations. According to the court o...

WASHINGTON: Pakistan and New York City officials are set to begin negotiations regarding the future of the Roosevelt Hotel in Manhattan, after the city’s mayor anno­unced the early termination of an agreement that repurposed the prime property into a shelter for refugees . The hotel, which opened in 1924, is named after former US President Theodore Roosevelt. It is located next to the Grand Central Terminal, the main train station in the Big Apple. In 2023, Pakistan Interna­tional Airlines (PIA) — which owns the iconic property —signed a three-year lease with the city, worth around $220 million. Under the lease, the city was to have control of the hotel until June 2026, after which it would be returned to PIA. The arrangement was initially made to accommodate the increasing number of migrants arriving in New York due to the humanitarian crisis at the US-Mexico border. Mayor Eric Adams says facility housing migrants to close in June this year; authorities set to hold talks with Pa...

Several parts of Karachi on Tuesday witnessed serious traffic, law and order issues mainly due to protests against ongoing work on water and power infrastructure with authorities fearing an escalation in public anger, according to officials. Citizens are likely to suffer a water crisis till Friday mainly due to the disruption of the water line on University Road near old Sabzi Mandi during ongoing construction activity for the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system. Residents of the metropolis faced difficulty in reaching their homes as both tracks of several roads in various areas were blocked by protesters, forcing traffic authorities to divert traffic on alternative routes where slow movement of vehicles was reported, as per updates from the Karachi Traffic Police (KTP). According to a statement from the KTP spokesperson, there were several protests and sit-ins on main roads across the city. Barring main MA Jinnah Road where retired employees of Karachi Metropolitan Corporation held demo...

ISLAMABAD: The federal government on Monday alleged that an SC bench, headed by senior puisne judge Syed Mansoor Ali Shah, ‘overreached the jurisdiction’ in contempt matter, undermining the Supreme Court’s (Practice and Procedure Act) committee and thus disrupting the handling of constitutional cases. In an intra-court appeal filed under Section 19 of the Contempt of Court Ordinance 2003, the federal government challenged the jurisdiction and actions of the bench, headed by Justice Mansoor Ali Shah, in a case involving constitutional interpretation and contempt proceedings. The appeal arises from an SC order in the contempt proceedings where the court discharged a show-cause notice issued against Additional Registrar (Judicial) Nazar Abbas . The law secretary, representing the federation, expressed dissatisfaction over the court decision, arguing that the order overreached the court’s contempt jurisdiction under Article 204. Govt accuses Justice Mansoor-led SC bench of undermini...

QUETTA: Eight people, including six security personnel, were injured in a bomb attack on a truck convoy guarding the copper project in the Mangochar area of Kalat district on Monday. According to officials, a convoy of 29 trucks, transporting blaster copper from the Saindak project to Karachi, was targeted on the Quetta-Karachi National Highway in Mangochar. Unknown armed men planted an improvised explosive device in front of the Nadra office on the main highway, and when the convoy, guarded by personnel from the FC, reached the site, a powerful explosion occurred, hitting a security vehicle. A heavy exchange of gunfire ensued and continued for some time. As a result of the blast, eight security personnel and a truck driver were injured. “A total of six security personnel and a civilian driver have been injured in the blast,” a senior official of the Kalat administration told Dawn, adding that security personnel transferred the injured to the district hospital in Kalat. The offici...

Information Minister Attaullah Tarar on Monday said that the country was “peacefully and very ably” hosting the Champions Trophy as he rubbished Indian media reports of an alleged terror threat to foreigners travelling to Pakistan. Earlier today, a report by Indian media outlet News18 said: “Pakistan’s Intelligence Bureau issued a high alert on Monday, warning the country’s security forces about an alleged plot by ‘active covert groups’ to abduct foreign guests attending the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 for ransom.” It reported that sources told the outlet about an alert issued against several terror outfits, including the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan, Islamic State and other Balochistan-based groups. “In response to the intelligence warning, Pakistan’s security forces have deployed high-level protection teams, including rangers and local police, to ensure the safety of players and their accompanying staff,” it added. Another report by India Today singled out the Islamic State...

KURRAM: Police and law-enforcement agencies arrested 20 more people, including suspected terrorists and their facilitators, during an ongoing operation in Kurram district on Sunday. On Monday (Feb 17), over 30 trucks carrying food supplies to Kurram were looted while 19 trucks were set on fire after a convoy came under an attack at the Bagan, Charkhel, Ochat and Mandori areas. Several people, including security personnel and drivers, lost their lives in the incident. According to the Regional Police Officer (RPO) Kohat, Abbas Majid Marwat, the operation against terrorists continued at Charkhel, Ochat, Bagan, Mandori, Dad Kamar and adjacent areas and 20 more suspected insurgents and their facilitators were arrested, raising the number of detained militants to 85. A statement issued from the RPO office stated that heavy weapons and looted items were also recovered from the arrested terrorists. The recovered weapons included 81 SMGs (submachine guns), 2 HMGs (heavy machine guns)...

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Sunday he was willing to give up his position if it meant peace in Ukraine, adding that he could exchange his departure for his country’s entry into the Nato military alliance. “If [it means] peace for Ukraine, if you really need me to leave my post, I am ready,” an irritated-looking Zelensky said when asked during a press conference whether he was ready to leave his post if it meant securing peace. “I can exchange this for Nato (membership), if that condition is there, immediately,” the president added. US President Donald Trump has pushed for elections to take place in Ukraine, having branded Zelensky a “ dictator ”, an apparent reference to the Ukrainian leader’s official five-year term running out in 2024. Russia has cited this in the past to assert that he is an illegitimate leader. Ukrainian legislation prohibits holding elections during a state of martial law, which Ukraine declared the day Russia invaded in February 2022. Trum...

ISLAMABAD: Pakis­tan has reported another case of wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1), taking the total to three cases in 2025. According to an official of the Regional Reference Laboratory for Polio Era­d­i­cation, the case has been reported from Larkana, Sindh. The official said that the victim is a 54-month-old girl. This is the second polio case reported from Sindh this year, with the third one detected in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa . Pakistan is facing a res­u­r­gence of poliovirus, as 74 cases were reported in 2024. Of these, 27 were from Balochistan, 22 from KP, 23 from Sindh, and one each from Punjab and Islamabad. This year’s first nationwide polio vaccination campaign was held earlier this month. It was followed by a fractional IPV-OPV Polio [injectable polio vaccine] campaign in Quetta and Karachi on Feb 20 and 22, respectively. Around one million children were targeted for vaccination in this campaign, according to the officials. Moreover, a vaccination campaign in 104 uni...

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa authorities arrested a suspect allegedly involved in trafficking human organs in Peshawar, according to a statement from the provincial excise department on Saturday. According to the KP Excise Department, joint operations with other institutions to curb smuggling are ongoing “against the illegal spectrum” on the instructions of the provincial apex committee. “An operation was conducted under the command of Narcotics Control Excise Taxation Officer Faisal Khursheed at the Joint Check Post on the M-1,” the statement reads, adding that a gang involved in removing and selling human organs, including kidneys, was arrested“. The statement said that the suspect brought two people from Multan to Peshawar, where he allegedly removed their kidneys. It did not elaborate on when this took place. “The rate for selling the kidneys of both the individuals was fixed at Rs280,000,” the department said. “The gang takes advantage of struggling people, removes their organs and is i...

IT has now come to this: five judges versus the president, the federation, the Judicial Commission, the registrars of the Supreme Court and the high courts of Sindh, Punjab, Balochistan and Islamabad, and three of their fellow judges. The five, who are “serving confirmed judges” of the Islamabad High Court, have formally challenged the manner in which three justices were recently transplanted to the IHC from other high courts, how the IHC’s seniority list was subsequently changed, and how far more senior, confirmed IHC judges were summarily replaced on important committees by the freshly transferred judges. The petitioners have called on the apex court to exercise its original jurisdiction under Article 184(3) to hear their pleas, as they believe what happened at the IHC is tantamount to a “dismantling of the salient features of the Constitution”; specifically, “the independence of judiciary, separation of powers and federalism”. They seem to have made a strong case. It may ...

KARACHI: The Pakis­tan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) has announced a new undersea fibre-optic cable, set to come online by 2026. The Africa-1 Submarine Cable will be connected to PTCL’s landing station at Karachi Seaview today (Saturday), the company said in a notice to the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX). The $59.5 million project, approved in Nov­ember 2020, will take another year before it becomes operational for end users. “The initiative is designed to enhance connectivity between the UAE, Europe, and Africa, featuring multiple landing stations along the route.” According to sources, after the landing, it will take approximately one more year to develop the necessary internet infrastructure within the country to make the cable operational. This includes the installation of various equipment and the construction of supporting facilities, they said. The project will be “ready for service” in the first quarter of 2026, said the PTCL notice. This is the second cable to...

THOUGH Donald Trump has not been able to fulfil his promise of ending the Ukraine conflict “24 hours” after taking office, the American president is clearly not interested in pumping more US funds into this war. Moreover, his overtures to Russia — and use of scathing language to target the Ukrainian president — have sent shockwaves through Kyiv and European capitals. Mr Trump is not a man known to indulge in diplomatic niceties, but the language he has used for the Ukrainian president has been unforgiving. He has termed Volodymyr Zelensky a “dictator” and a “moderately successful comedian” intent on keeping the American “gravy train” going. This is as clear a signal as any that the flow of American funds and weapons to Kyiv is coming to an end. In fact, the Russian foreign minister and his American counterpart met in Riyadh on Tuesday to restart bilateral engagement, which had practically come to a stop under the Biden administration. All this signals that US involvement in t...

A man was arrested and detained for impersonating an officer of a law enforcement agency to seek personal favours at the Senate Secretariat, the police said on Thursday. A first information report (FIR) was registered at the Secretariat police station on January 23 on the complaint of Senate Joint Secretary Hyder Ali under Sections 170 (personating a public servant), 171 (wearing garb or carrying token used by public servant with fraudulent intent) and 419 (punishment for cheating by personation) of the Pakistan Penal Code. The FIR, a copy of which is available with Dawn.com , said the suspect was impersonating a “serving officer of the law enforcement agency” and had visited the Senate Secretariat numerous times over the past few days seeking “personal favours through criminal intimidation”. The FIR added that an inquiry revealed that the person was using a fake identity to gain “unlawful favours”. It requested the police to investigate the matter and take legal action against the ...

LAST month’s $420m current account deficit reflects the pressure of debt payment and a rising import bill on Pakistan’s balance-of-payments position, amid drying up foreign loans and falling foreign private investment. This gap most likely marks a temporary reversal of the earlier trend of continuous surplus posted for five consecutive months — August to December — on account of a substantial boost in remittances from overseas Pakistanis. The remittances have recorded a surge of $5bn between July and January from a year ago. The January gap slashes the accumulated current account surplus from $1.2bn to $628m — still significant progress from the deficit of $1.8bn posted in the same period last year, spawning hopes that the current account surplus/ deficit will remain range-bound between +0.5pc and -0.5pc of GDP during FY25. The gap in the current account is not surprising, given the 38pc decline in foreign loan inflows to $4.58bn in the first seven months of the present fiscal year fr...

AS bodies continue to fall in Kurram despite a state-sanctioned ceasefire , one wonders how long local militants’ challenges to the state’s writ will be tolerated before a full-throttled response is launched. Another spate of attacks on an aid convoy, which eyewitnesses said was instigated by locals, has threatened to undo the attempts to stabilise the region. Shortly after noon on Monday, the aid convoy, which was destined for Parachinar, came under attack in Lower Kurram. A firefight ensued, which continued for two hours, leaving a Pakistan Army soldier martyred and seven others injured. A few hours later, there was an attempt to loot the stranded trucks, triggering another gunfight between the security escort and looters. Five Frontier Corps personnel were left injured. Finally, another couple of hours later, an FC Quick Response Force dispatched to rescue the injured was ambushed near a local government school. Four FC personnel were martyred in the attack. Kurram District ha...

ISLAMABAD: A day after a controversial move to block the passage of the State Bank of Pakistan (Am­e­ndment) bill, moved by a PTI lawmaker, acting Senate Chairman Syedaal Khan Nasar on Tuesday sus­pended three PTI lawmakers for the current session. The decision followed hullabaloo over Mr Nasar’s move to withhold the result of a vote count on Monday, on a motion seeking the immediate consideration of Senator Mohsin Aziz’s bill. The bill had already been passed by the Senate Standing Committee on Finance. Syedaal Khan annou­nced the decision before abruptly adjourning the House to meet on Friday, just after Question Hour, while a noisy protest by the opposition saw calls for his resignation. He also ordered the sergeant-at-arms to expel senators Aon Abbas Buppi, Humayun Moh­mand and Falak Naz from the House. These members are considered suspended for the remaining sittings of the (ongoing) session, the acting chairman said after taking a sense of the Senate thro­ugh a voice vote,...

• Govt opposes bill introduced by PTI member, backed by some PPP, PML-N & BAP senators • Ministers say govt consent required to amend SBP law; movers insist it’s not a ‘money bill’ • House also clears bill meant to increase parliamentarians’ salaries ISLAMABAD: The opposition in the Senate staged a protest after the chair set a new precedent, withholding the results of the count after hesitantly allowing voting on a motion for the immediate consideration of the State Bank of Pakistan (Amendment) Bill. The bill, moved by PTI Senator Mohsin Aziz, proposes to raise the minimum credit limit extended to the private sector by banks in each province. Objecting to the bill, Minister of State for Finance and Revenue Ali Pervaiz Malik said Article 74 of the Constitution clearly states that the consent of the federal government is required for any bill seeking to amend the SBP Act and wondered how the bill came on the agenda without government consent. Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar ...