latest news

• Then IHC-CJ Minallah struck down Section 20 via short order, didn’t issue detailed judgement in three years • Files have now been sent back to IHC; legal experts believe he can’t give reasons now as SC judge ISLAMABAD: More than three years after then Islamabad High Court (IHC) chief justice Athar Minallah struck down Section 20 of the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act, 2016 (Peca), the decision has found itself in a legal limbo as the judge has yet to issue detailed reasoning for his verdict. In his order dated April 8, 2022, Justice Minallah declared illegal the provision — introduced by the PTI government — which expanded the definition of defamation to include criticism against institutions and state authorities and proposed an imprisonment of five years. “The criminalisation of defamation, protection of individual reputations through arrest and imprisonment and the resultant chilling effect violates the letter of the Constitution…,” Justice Minallah had noted in his short...

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has achieved its highest-ever coverage of diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis (DTP) at 87 per cent in 2024, and the UN specialised agencies hope Pakistan to launch its human papillomavirus (HPV) in 2025, according to data for 2024 released by Unicef and WHO on Tuesday. The data shows South Asia has reached its highest-ever immunisation coverage for children, according to new data released by WHO and Unicef for 2024. This marks a milestone in the region’s drive to protect every child from vaccine-preventable diseases, the UN agencies say. The new data shows strong government commitments, investments, and partnerships have propelled South Asia to achieve its highest-ever immunisation coverage. In 2024, 92pc of the infants in the region received their third dose of the diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis (DTP) vaccine, a crucial global indicator of vaccination progress. Pakistan may become the only country in the world having poliovirus, Health Minister Mustafa Kamal...

Three children were killed and five people were injured as roofs collapsed in two separate incidents in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Malakand division after heavy rains in the region. Last week, the Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) alerted the district administrations across KP to the possibility of floods due to a new spell of torrential rains from July 11 to 17. Heavy rainfall and flash floods have wreaked havoc in the province in June and are set to continue. Pakistan experiences monsoon rainfall from June to September every year. The heavy rains also trigger deadly floods, landslides and displacement, particularly in vulnerable, poorly drained, or densely populated areas. Lower Dir Rescue 1122 spokesperson Abdur Rehman told Dawn.com today, “An under-construction mud house roof collapsed, burying four children underneath debris.” He said the incident occurred at the Shahi Moro Barawal area along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border in Lower Dir. According to the Rescue 1122...

• JUI-F chief says that despite their differences, he won’t stoop to PTI’s level of discourse • Asks why state institutions have failed to ensure peace in KP CHARSADDA: Expressing his reluctance to join any attempt to bring about a regime change in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Maulana Fazlur Rehman said on Monday that a no-trust vote may not be possible, given how the fragmented nature of the opposition in the provincial assembly. “The opposition is busy trying to disqualify one another in courts. Even the PML-N has taken us to court,” the JUI-F chief mused during a visit to Charsadda. He was talking to reporters during a visit to the area where he inquired after the health of party’s district emir and former legislator Maulana Gohar Shah. “They should reflect on who is benefitting from their actions. One must think a hundred times before aligning with such an opposition,” he said. The JUI-F chief also downplayed the possibility of bringing a no-confidence motion against the incumbent PT...

OpenAI, Alphabet’s Google, Anthropic and Elon Musk’s AI firm xAI have won contracts of up to $200 million each, aimed at scaling up adoption of advanced AI capabilities in the United States Department of Defence (DoD), the government agency said on Monday. The contracts will enable the DoD to develop agentic AI workflows and use them to address critical national security challenges, the department’s Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office said. “The adoption of AI is transforming the [DoD’s] ability to support our warfighters and maintain strategic advantage over our adversaries,” Chief Digital and AI Officer Doug Matty said. US government agencies have been expanding their use of AI, driven by a White House order in April promoting adoption. President Donald Trump has also moved to soften regulations on technology by revoking a 2023 Biden-era executive order, which sought to reduce AI risks through mandatory data disclosures. Separately on Monday, xAI announced a suite ...

ISLAMABAD: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Governor Faisal Karim Kundi on Sunday met Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s (PML-N) KP President Amir Muqam at Governor House and discussed upcoming meeting of opposition leaders in the province. Amid reports of a possible change of PTI-led government in KP, a PML-N source told Dawn that Mr Kundi has planned a meeting of opposition leaders at Governor House soon. The Jamiat-i-Ulema-i-Islam-F (JUI-F) has opposed any change of provincial government through a presidential order, Governor’s Rule, but did not rule out a constitutional and parliamentary way like a ‘no-confidence motion’, JUI-F leader Maulana Ghafoor Haideri said on Sunday. The source said Gover­nor Kundi and Amir Muqam discussed the possible change in KP as Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif formed a committee to seek the support of oppo­sition leaders in the province to achieve the goal. Meanwhile, Mr Kundi visited the residence of former PTI leader and incumbent adviser to the PM Pervez ...

Jannik Sinner downed defending champion Carlos Alcaraz 4-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 on Sunday to win his first Wimbledon title, gaining sweet revenge for his painful defeat in the French Open final. The world number one is the first Italian to win at the All England Club and now has four Grand Slams to his name at the age of 23. The tennis world has been captivated by the emergence of the new rivalry to follow the storied “Big Three” era of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic. Sinner and two-time defending Wimbledon champion Alcaraz have now shared the past seven Grand Slam titles between them, with the Italian winning four of those. Defeat in Paris last month was a bitter blow for Sinner, who led by two sets and squandered three match points in the final. Prior to Sunday’s victory, he had lost five consecutive times against Alcaraz, including the final of the Italian Open in the first tournament he played after returning from a three-month doping ban . But this time, he turn...

A congressional inquiry into the attempt to assassinate US President Donald Trump at a campaign rally a year ago lamented on Sunday “inexcusable” failures in the Secret Service’s operations and response and called for more serious disciplinary action. On July 13, 2024, a gunman shot the then-Republican presidential candidate during a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, grazing his ear. One bystander was killed and two other people, in addition to Trump, were wounded before a government sniper killed the gunman, 20-year-old Thomas Crooks. “What happened was inexcusable, and the consequences imposed for the failures so far do not reflect the severity of the situation,” said the report released by the US Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. The dramatic incident energised Trump’s bid to return to the White House, with his campaign using a photo of him bloodied and pumping his fist as he was hurried offstage to woo voters. The report did not shed new light...

GENEVA: Emergency vaccination during outbreaks of diseases like cholera, Ebola and measles have over the past quarter-century reduced deaths from such illnesses by nearly 60 per cent, according to a new study. A similar number of infections are also believed to have been prevented, while billions of euros have been generated in estimated economic benefit. The Gavi vaccine alliance , which backed the study, said it collaborated with researchers at Burnet Institute in Australia to provide the world’s first look at the historical impact of emergency immunisation efforts on public health and global health security. “For the first time, we are able to comprehensively quantify the benefit, in human and economic terms, of deploying vaccines against outbreaks of some of the deadliest infectious diseases,” Gavi chief Sania Nishtar said in a statement. “This study demonstrates clearly the power of vaccines as a cost-effective countermeasure to the increasing risk the world faces from outbreak...

BANGKOK: More than 500 civilians and soldiers fled conflict in Myanmar and crossed into Thailand on Saturday after an assault by ethnic fighters on a military base, the Thai army said. Myanmar has been mired in civil conflict since a military coup in 2021, with the junta battling a coalition of ethnic armed groups and pro-democracy resistance forces. Saturday’s attack by the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) targeted a military base in Kayin state at around 3pm local time, Thailand’s military said in a statement. One hundred Myanmar soldiers and 467 civilians had crossed into Thailand on Saturday, where Thai military and police disarmed them and provided treatment and humanitarian aid, officials said. Three kids among 22 civilians killed in monastery bombing Saw Thamain Tun, a leader of the KNLA’s political wing, confirmed there had been fighting near the border and said that joint forces had “seized some front posts” from the army. “Some (Myanmar troops) defe­c­ted to...

A labourer was killed while two others were hospitalised on Saturday in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Bajaur district after inhaling toxic gas in an under-construction water well they were working on. The incident occurred in the Dabgay Shamozo area of Utman Khel in Bajaur. Bajaur Rescue 1122 spokesperson Amjad Ali told Dawn.com , “Three labourers were digging a water well in the Dabgay Shamozo area when they suddenly fell unconscious.” He said the Rescue 1122 team responded to the emergency and moved the labourers to the District Headquarters Hospital Bajaur in Khar. He said one of the labourers was declared dead by the doctors in the hospital emergency department while the remaining two were in critical condition. Last month, five men, including a sanitation worker and two brothers, died after inhaling toxic gases in an underground water tank in Karachi’s Ibrahim Hyderi. from The Dawn News - Home https://ift.tt/yVJHnIm

THE spiral of violence in Balochistan continues, with the barbaric murder of at least nine individuals on Thursday. The victims were pulled off two Punjab-bound buses travelling between Zhob and Loralai districts, and reportedly, the assailants checked their IDs before offloading them. The banned Balochistan Liberation Front has claimed responsibility for this atrocity. This is not the first outrage of its kind, as over the past few years, there have been several incidents where non-Baloch victims have been targeted by separatists. Most of the victims have hailed from Punjab. On Friday, the bodies of the slain passengers were sent to their native areas. Earlier on Thursday, the army, at the corps commanders’ conference, had vowed to take action against proxies they believed were linked to hostile foreign forces , including Fitna al-Khawarij and Fitna al-Hindustan , the terms the military uses for the banned TTP and Baloch separatist groups, respectively. Both strands of milita...

GILGIT: Protesters on Thu­rsday blocked the Ka­­rakoram Highway (KKH) in Nagar to demand the release of imprisoned Gil­git-Baltistan Awami Ac­­t­ion Committee (AAC) leaders. The demo announced by the family members of imprisoned AAC leader Mumtaz Nagari was attended by a large number of people from all walks of life, including the members of the religious outfits. They organised a rally from Budulas Nagar and staged a protest at Harapu, the district headquarters of Nagar, blocking the highway for all kinds of traffic. On May 15, the GB police arrested a dozen AAC leaders for alleged anti-state activities and hate speech during the recent Pakistan-India tensions and sent them on judicial remand. The protesters chanted slogans for the release of detained AAC leaders. Speaking at the protest, the speakers said that AAC leaders had been illegally arrested for raising their voice for the people. They said it was an injustice to arrest activists who raised their voice to highlight issues...

Zubeida Mustafa A PIONEER in women’s journalism in Pakistan and a dedicated voice for the marginalised, Zubeida Mustafa passed away on Wednesday evening in Karachi. She was 84. Known to her colleagues at Dawn as ‘Mrs Mustafa’ or ‘ZM’, she spent 33 years at the paper, retiring in 2008 after serving as assistant editor. During her over three-decade tenure at Dawn , Mrs Mustafa helped bring out numerous supplements and satellite publications such as the education page and Books & Authors, the first dedicated English-language magazine focusing on book reviews and literary matters brought out by a mainstream paper in the country. ZM was educated at St Joseph’s Convent in Karachi, and later attained a Master’s degree in International Relations from Karachi University. She also attended the London School of Economics, but could not complete her studies at that institution. She began her professional life at the Karachi-based Pakistan Institu­­te of International Affairs, and wa...

• Heavy rainfall exposes Lahore’s drainage system; city struggles with flooding, power outages • KKH reopens for traffic but heatwave persists in GB; glacial melting, floods cause severe damage LAHORE / GILGIT: At least 11 people lost their lives and many others sustained injuries as heavy monsoon rains lashed Lahore, its surrounding districts and some parts of Balochistan on Wednesday. The downpours caused widespread flooding and disrupted daily life in several areas. In Lahore, the heavy rainfall submerged low-lying areas and major roads, exposing the city’s inadequate drainage infrastructure. According to data from the Water and Sanitation Agency’s (Wasa) Monsoon Control Room, Lahore received an average of 58.8mm of rain, with some areas like Nishtar Town recording the highest 84mm, followed by Lakshmi Chowk (78mm) and Paniwala Talab (74mm). The first spell of rain lashed the city from 2:45am to 5:40am, with a second, more intense downpour hitting between 10:45am and 12:11pm. ...

Minister of State for Law and Justice Barrister Aqeel Malik on Wednesday warned that the government could deny entry to the sons of PTI founder Imran Khan if they travelled to Pakistan and “spread discord”. Imran’s sons — Suleman Khan (28) and Qasim Khan (26) — had called attention to their father’s incarceration in a rare public appearance in May. Imran, imprisoned since August 2023, is serving a sentence at the Adiala Jail in the £190 million corruption case and also faces pending trials under the Anti-Terrorism Act related to the May 9, 2023, protests. It was the first time the two had publicly talked about their father’s incarceration. On Monday, Qasim uploaded a post on X calling for his father’s release, saying that the PTI founder had been imprisoned for 700 days and cut off from his family and even his personal physician. Imran’s sister Aleema Khan told reporters a day ago outside Adiala Jail that the two would join an upcoming PTI protest movement. She claimed that t...

• Peshawar High Court orders ECP to modify notification of women seats in KP Assembly • Sets aside notification declaring JUI-F’s Gorpal Singh minority lawmaker • IHC also issues notice to Election Commission over KP reserved seats PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Tuesday barred two women MPAs-elect of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly from taking oath and directed the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to modify its last year’s notification on the allocation of these seats. A two-member bench comprising Justice Syed Arshad Ali and Justice Dr Khurshid Iqbal also set aside the ECP’s notification dated March 26, 2024, which had declared Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam Fazl (JUI-F) candidate Gorpal Singh as MPA-elect on a seat reserved for non-Muslims in the KP Assembly. The court directed the ECP to reallocate reserved seats for women and non-Muslims within 10 days in accordance with the law, after hearing all relevant political parties, their representatives and contesting candidat...

NAGAR KHAS: A view of a Glof flowing down Supultar nullah, damaging agricultural land, vegetation and irrigation infrastructure and blocking access to Hoper Valley.—Dawn • Rapid melting of glaciers due to record temperatures causes floods in Hunza, Diamer, Chilas, Nagar • Karakoram Highway blocked at multiple points; locals evacuated as homes damaged • Downpour leads to urban flooding in several parts of Punjab GILGIT / LAHORE: Record-high summer temperatures in Gilgit-Baltistan have accelerated the melting of glaciers, leading to heavy flooding in districts across the region. The melting of ice, which resulted in glacier lake outburst floods (Glofs), blocked roads, damaged homes and left people stranded across GB on Tuesday. According to the Gilgit-Baltistan Disaster Management Authority (GBDMA), high temperatures were recorded across GB last week. GBDMA DG Zakir Hussain told Dawn the situation in GB is “unusual” this year. He said high temperatures have increased the risk...

Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal on Tuesday said that this year’s Independence Day would be celebrated under the banner of “Marka-i-Haq” (Battle of Truth) to demonstrate the nation’s resilience, progress, and pride. The Pakistan Army had named the period of conflict with India since the April 22 Pahalgam attack to the May 10 conclusion of Operation Bunyanum Marsoos as “Marka-i-Haq” in May. The military confrontation between India and Pakistan came as the former blamed Islamabad for the April 22 Pahalgam attack without evidence. On the night of May 6-7, New Delhi launched a series of air strikes on Pakistan, resulting in civilian casualties. Both sides then exchanged missiles, which stretched over the week. It took a US-brokered ceasefire for both sides to finally drop their guns. Iqbal presided over a preliminary meeting today under the prime minister’s directions to celebrate this year’s Independence Day with “full national spirit and renewed resolve”. Senior representatives fro...

THE citizens of Pakistan have spoken. But is the state listening? In the aftermath of DawnMedia ’s Breathe Pakistan conference held earlier this year, a Climate Justice Declaration has now been drawn up. It outlines a clear path for how the country must rethink its relationship with the environment and respond to the climate crisis. But while the citizens call for transformation, the government continues to respond with tokenism. Labelled as Pakistan’s first-ever ‘ climate budget ’, the FY26 budget should have marked a turning point. Instead, it has revealed the government’s shallow engagement with the climate challenge. As noted, the budget resorts to greenwashing — using the language of sustainability to mask what are essentially tax measures. A Rs2.5 per litre carbon levy on petroleum products and a 10pc tax on imported solar panels are presented as climate-friendly, yet they disproportionately burden the poor and discourage renewable adoption. Meanwhile, coal-based power p...

• Seven die, almost two dozen homes damaged in Balochistan; six drown in Islamabad, Pindi • KP records six deaths in Malakand, Karak, Buner and Manshera • PM orders authorities to remain on their toes as NEOC forecasts ‘moderate to heavy monsoon rainfall’ till 10th ISLAMABAD: Amid heavy monsoon rains, the National Emergencies Operation Centre (NEOC) on Monday issued an alert for heavy rainfall and a flood-like situation in various parts of the country over the next two days, while 19 people lost their lives in Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the twin cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi due to extreme weather. Moderate to heavy monsoon rainfall is expected till July 10, particularly in the catchment areas of all major rivers, which will likely cause flash flooding in various regions of Pakistan, according to the NEOC. The alert also prompted the prime minister to order the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) and other authorities to remain on high alert to deal with pot...

Pakistan and Afghanistan recognised terrorism as a serious threat as the inaugural round of the Additional Secretary-Level Mechanism between the Foreign Ministries of Pakistan and Afghanistan was held in Islamabad on Monday. The talks are the latest in a series of steps between both nations to improve ties, such as the revival of the Joint Coordination Committee (JCC) and the upgrading of each country’s diplomats from the rank of chargé d’affaires to ambassador. According to a press release from the Foreign Office, the Pakistani delegation was led by Additional Secretary (Afghanistan and West Asia) Ambassador Syed Ali Asad Gillani, while the Afghan side was led by the Director General of the First Political Division at the Afghan Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mufti Noor Ahmad Noor.   “Discussions covered key areas of bilateral interest, including trade and transit cooperation, security, and connectivity. Both sides recognised terrorism as a serious threat to regional peace and ...

I SAW the ‘disturbing’ music video of Jatt Mehkma, a Punjabi hip-hop song that caused Britain’s MP Manuela Perteghella so much anguish that she lodged a complaint with the government. The song by Indian rapper Yo Yo Honey Singh features Pakistani actress Mehwish Hayat; they are gangsters at a party in the video. As they drive away, and are stopped by ‘bad guys’, young children emerge out of nowhere, surround Hayat and fire guns at their opponents. The MP was so disturbed by the violent content that she complained to the Home Office and called for a ban on the entry of Singh and Hayat. It is one of the silliest things I’ve read this past week. And a reminder of the gross hypocrisy we see on display every day. I don’t condone violence but I’m surprised this video released in November has caused anyone this kind of umbrage. I’m comparing it to Israel’s genocide of Palestinians being streamed on our screens 24/7 which doesn’t cause any concern. It’s almost expected that Palestinians dea...