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ISLAMABAD: The government has appointed Lt Gen Muhammad Asim Malik, the incumbent dire­ctor general of the country’s premier intelligence agency, as the new National Security Adviser (NSA). The Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) chief becomes the country’s tenth NSA. A notification issued by the Cabinet Division on Tuesday said that Gen Malik would retain his role as DG ISI, a position he has held since September 2024. “Lt Gen Muhammad Asim Malik HI(M), DG (I), shall hold the additional charge of the National Security Adviser, with immediate effect,” the notification stated. His appointment marks the first time a serving ISI chief will concurrently serve as the NSA. The posting comes amid heightened tensions with India following the recent Pahalgam attack . The NSA position had remained vacant since April 2022, when the PTI government was ousted after former Prime Minister Imran Khan lost a vote of confidence. At the time, Moeed Yusuf was serving as the NSA. The NSA holds the st...

The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) on Wednesday released its annual State of Human Rights in Pakistan report, which highlighted the country’s deteriorating security situation and democratic backsliding. Amnesty International, in a statement last year, observed that human rights abuses remained “rampant” in Pakistan. Reports of extra-judicial killings, harassment of human rights defenders, mass arrests, military trials of civilians and violation of freedom of the press were some of the concerns listed by the rights group. HRCP’s report was launched at an event held at a hotel in Islamabad, where the Commission’s Chairperson Asad Iqbal Butt, Co-chairperson Munizae Jahangir, General Secretary Haris Khalil and members Nasreen Azhar and Hina Jilani addressed the ceremony. The event was attended by journalists, human rights defenders, and transgender rights activists. Butt highlighted the pressing human rights concerns in the country and called for “national reconciliation t...

The federal government on Wednesday slashed the prices of petrol and high-speed diesel (HSD) by Rs2 per litre for the next fortnight. The new prices are Rs252.63 for petrol and Rs256.64 for HSD, according to a press release from the Finance Division. It did not mention any changes in the prices of kerosene oil and light diesel oil. The decision comes after the government last time burnt the midnight oil to block about a Rs10 per litre reduction in major petroleum products — petrol and diesel — by amending the Petroleum Products (Petroleum Levy) Ordinance 1961. Government officials had aid the government was already charging the maximum permissible petroleum levy on petrol, HS) and high-octane blending component (HOBC) at Rs70 per litre, which is why a new law was required to keep the prices unchanged at the existing level. This was done through an amendment to the petroleum levy law and an increase in the levy to Rs80 per litre. The government had decided not to let the petroleum...

The National Commission on the Rights of the Child (NCRC) on Wednesday launched its inaugural State of Children in Pakistan Report 2024 , the first report of its kind that highlights the situation children face in Pakistan. In January, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said over 22 million children are out of school in Pakistan, emphasising that out of the total figure, a disproportionate number were girls. The report was launched at a ceremony in Islamabad, attended by Federal Minister for Human Rights Azam Nazeer Tarar, as well as ambassadors, UN representatives, parliamentarians, civil society representatives and child rights advocates. This first-of-its-kind national report offers a comprehensive, evidence-based overview of the situation of children in Pakistan, covering key areas such as health, education, child protection, participation, and overall welfare. Developed to address the persistent gap in consolidated child-focused data, the report draws from a wide range of cred...

ISLAMABAD: Justice Shahid Bilal Hassan, a member of Supreme Court’s constitutional bench , on Tuesday questioned how the concept of public interest could be tied to the transfer of a judge from one high court to another, given that every judge is bound to administer justice in accordance with the law and the Constitution. He noted that it was also important to define “public interest” when a judge’s reputation is frequently debated within legal circles and at different bars, labelling such discussions as being in the public interest. Justice Hassan made these remarks while pointing toward senior counsel Muneer A. Malik, who commenced formal arguments on behalf of five judges of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) before the constitutional bench. The five-judge bench, headed by Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar, was hearing a set of petitions against inter-se seniority of five sitting judges of the IHC namely Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani, Justice Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri, Justice Babar Sattar...

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given India’s military “operational freedom” to respond to a deadly attack in occupied Kashmir last week, a senior government source told AFP on Tuesday, after New Delhi blamed it on arch-rival Pakistan, albeit without proof. A week after the deadliest attack on civilians in the contested region in years, Modi on Tuesday held a closed-door meeting with army and security chiefs, during which he told the armed forces that they had the “complete operational freedom to decide on the mode, targets and timing of our response to the terror attack”, said the government source, who was not authorised to speak to the media. The government released video images of a stern-faced Modi meeting with army chiefs, as well as Defence Minister Rajnath Singh. Also on Tuesday, India’s army said it had repeatedly traded gunfire with Pakistani troops across the Line of Control (LoC). The two neighbours have been trading fire across the LoC for five days now, with each ...

IT is official. Plans to build new canals on the Indus have been shelved till such time that all provinces can find themselves in agreement that they will serve the interests of the various claimants to the river’s waters. The Council of Common Interests finally convened yesterday evening, following months of demonstrations and protests in Sindh over canals that were proposed to be built in the Cholistan region, to formally endorse the federal government’s policy, namely: “that no new canals will be built without mutual understanding from the CCI”. Thereafter, “It has been decided that the federal government will not move further until mutual understanding is evolved among the provinces”. The PPP will take the decision back to Sindh as a major triumph for the province’s people, many of whom had seen the proposed canal projects as a direct encroachment on their rights to a vital natural resource shared with another province, and had taken a strong position against the state’s plans....

• Defence minister says military briefed govt on possible conflict with India, next few days ‘crucial’ • Beijing, Washington, Ankara and Doha urge measures to calm tensions as neighbours trade fire across Line of Control ISLAMABAD: As friends in foreign capitals continue to advocate for a de-escalation of tensions in South Asia, Pakistan’s defence min­ister said the country was ready for any incursion by India. The two neighbours have been trading fire across the Line of Control (LoC) for four days now, with each blaming the other for provocation. “We have reinforced our forces because it is something which is imminent now. So in that situation some strategic decisions have to be taken, so those decisions have been taken,” Khawaja Asif told Reuters on Monday. He said the military had briefed the government on the possibility of an Indian attack, but did not go into further details on his reasons for thinking an incursion was imminent. His remarks follow New Delhi’s increasingly ...

QUETTA: A driver lost his life, while around 60 people sustained injuries, including 20 with critical wounds, after a fuel truck exploded in Noshki, some 160km west of the provincial capital, on Monday. The truck was one of the vehicles that supplied Iranian petrol brought over by Zambad vehicles to local shops. The injured also included police personnel and several children. Officials said the truck was parked in the main bus and truck stand, when the driver discovered a leak in its fuel tank. After trying unsuccessfully to stop the leakage, the driver moved the truck away from a densely populated area towards an open space. The fuel tank was being welded when a fire broke out, leading to a big explosion that damaged a fire tender and injured several people gathered at the scene. “As a result of the huge fire, the driver was burnt to death on the spot, while over 60 people present at the site received burns,” Noshki Deputy Commissi­oner Amjad Somroo said while talking to the media...

PAKISTAN is in the midst of an intense heatwave , with temperatures soaring 4°C to 7°C above normal across much of the country. This extreme weather is expected to persist till the end of the month , with some regions already experiencing highs of 49°C . What was once considered rare has become alarmingly common, as climate change accelerates the frequency and severity of such events. Yet, despite repeated warnings from scientists and international bodies, Pakistan remains woefully unprepared for the escalating climate crisis. The effects of the heatwave are rippling through every sector. Agriculture, the backbone of Pakistan’s economy, is under severe stress as excess heat kills crops and worsens water scarcity . Reports of early wheat crop failures are already emerging, threatening both food security and rural livelihoods. At the same time, water resources are being strained to the limit. Faster-than-normal snowmelt in the northern mountains, spurred by high temperatures, rai...

Top officials in United States President Donald Trump’s administration on Sunday pressed Russia and Ukraine to make headway on a peace deal following a one-on-one meeting between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the Vatican a day earlier. “It needs to happen soon,” US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told NBC’s ‘Meet the Press’. “We cannot continue to dedicate time and resources to this effort if it’s not going to come to fruition.” Rubio said the US would consider in the coming week whether to continue mediating talks “or if it’s time to sort of focus on some other issues”. Trump and Zelensky, in Rome for the funeral of Pope Francis, met in a Vatican basilica on Saturday to try to revive faltering efforts to end Russia’s war with Ukraine. The meeting was the first between the two leaders since an angry encounter in the Oval Office in Washington in February and comes at a critical time in negotiations aimed at bringing an end to the conflict. In a Truth Soci...

QUETTA: Workers and supporters of the Pashtoonkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP) took out a rally in support of Afghan refugees and urged the government of Pakistan to stop their ‘ forced repatriation ’. The participants of the rally, led by PkMAP Secretary General Abdul Rahim Ziaratwal and Dr Hamid Achakzai, gathered in Quetta Metropolitan Corporation compound before the rally. They chanted slogans against the deportation of Afghan refugees and Peca Act. They marched on various streets of the provincial capital carrying party flags, placards and banners inscribed with their demands. The rally after reaching Manan Chowk converted into a public meeting which was addressed by Mr Ziaratwal, Dr Abdul Hamid Khan Achakzai, Abdul Haq Abdal, and others. The speakers told the protesters that Afghan refugees came to Pakistan through UNHCR and spent over 40 years in the country. They made social relations with local people, established their business along with the people of Pakistan and now the ...

YouTuber Saadur Rehman, known as “Ducky Bhai”, was booked for showing “extreme carelessness and recklessness” in a video where he was seen driving his vehicle using his feet, it emerged on Saturday. According to a first information report (FIR) filed at the Chakri police station in Rawalpindi on April 19, a copy of which is available with Dawn.com , at around 3:20pm, Rehman uploaded a video from his social media account in which he was seen driving a vehicle. View this post on Instagram Rehman, in the video, could be seen “driving his vehicle with the help of his feet, showing extreme carelessness and recklessness”, the FIR read. It added that the actions of the YouTuber not only endangered his own life and property, but also of the other people travelling on the motorway. The FIR said that the suspect had committed vandalism against whom the prosecution has filed the case. According to the FIR, the case against the YouTuber was...

• No official word after lawyers’ rep meets Bilawal to negotiate end to strike • Sindh CM implores protesters to ‘end public disruptions’ KARACHI: Demonstrators in Sindh have refused to end their protest against the controversial proposal to build new canals on the Indus, despite the federal government’s decision to pause the project . Their agitation has caused severe disruptions to the country’s supply chain, stranding thousands of goods carriers, transporters said on Friday. Tariq Gujjar, president of the Transport Goods Association (TGA), said more than 10,000 to 15,000 trawlers, containers, trucks and oil tankers remain stuck in the Sukkur-Larkana division and around Bahawalpur due to ongoing road blockades. “Drivers have reported that goods movement, especially from the Sukkur-Larkana region to the Bahawalpur area, is still paralyzed,” he said. Mr Gujjar told Dawn that lawyers are still not ready to call off their protests, and are reportedly waiting for the notifica...

Six people were successfully rescued on Friday after the supporting cable of a chairlift broke midway over the Indus River between Shangla and Torghar in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Cable cars and rickety rope bridges are commonly used in the mountainous regions of KP, offering the quickest means of travel between neighbouring villages separated by deep ravines and valleys. The chairlift, locally known as zangoo , serves as the only means for residents of Martung tehsil in Shangla and the adjacent Torghar district to cross the river. People from the same tribe reside on both sides, making the lift a vital means of commuting and transporting goods. Torghar Deputy Commissioner Safdar Azam, who personally supervised the rescue, told Dawn.com : “The administrations in Shangla and Torghar coordinated a successful rescue operation, and the stranded passengers were safely brought back to the riverbank.” According to Rasool Khan Sharif, spokesperson for Rescue 1122 in Shangla, the six passengers h...

• National Security Committee vows to answer Indian provocations with full force • Airspace closed for India’s planes, Wagah border shut, trade completely halted, all visas cancelled except for Sikh pilgrims • Islamabad to hold all treaties in abeyance if Delhi continues down path of escalation • NSC terms violence in held Kashmir ‘organic backlash to decades of state oppression’ • Defence minister says intel assessments apprehend Indian plans of ‘all-out terrorism in Pakistani cities’ ISLAMABAD: Pakis­tan on Thursday delivered a determined response to India’s sweeping punitive measures following the Pahalgam attack , unveiling a series of strong countermeasures — including an airspace ban on Indian airlines, the complete suspension of bilateral trade, and a stark warning that any disruption of Indus River flows would be treated as an “act of war”. The decisions, adopted during an emergency session of the National Sec­urity Committee (NSC), also included the potential suspensio...

A Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (JUI) leader was among three people killed on Thursday when their vehicle drove over a landmine in Balochistan’s Kalat district, according to provincial government spokesperson Shahid Rind. Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have faced increasing attacks by militants and terrorists. In a statement, Rind said that three people were killed and five people were injured in the incident. “A private vehicle hit a landmine in the Chori Bur Kaputo area of ​​​​Kalat,” Rind was quoted as saying. “Levies personnel reached the scene and carried out rescue operations. “JUI leader and ward councillor Abdullah is among the deceased,” the government spokesperson added. According to Rind, the government condemned the “terrorist incident” and added that the injured have been transported to the District Headquarters Hospital in Kalat. “The incident is being investigated. The law and order situation will be ensured at all costs,” the spokesperson added. Three policemen were ...

LAHORE: As the canals controversy continued to rile Sindh , the Punjab government on Wednesday said that though not a single canal had been constructed on the Indus River so far, the project was still under consideration. “Punjab does not need any external dictation regarding the use of river floodwater. Punjab is fully sovereign in utilising its own resources and that Sindh has no right to object to Punjab’s development projects,” Punjab Information Minister Azma Bokhari told a presser here on Wednesday. Flanked by Punjab Agriculture Minister Ashiq Hussain Kermani, Azma Bokhari said that the proposed canal project was still under consideration and only excess floodwater would be utilised for the purpose. “This initiative aims to benefit farmers and promote agricultural development,” she claimed. Earlier this week, the Sindh chief minister also claimed that work on the six canals project had been halted since July 2024. According to the minister, canals had not been constructed y...

Prosecutors opening Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein’s rape and sexual assault retrial described on Wednesday how he ignored his victims’ pleas to stop and abused his position to make them “feel small.” The trial, which began with jury selection last week, will force survivors who helped spark the “ MeToo ” movement to testify against Weinstein once more. The former Miramax studio boss is charged with the 2006 sexual assault of former production assistant Mimi Haleyi and the 2013 rape of aspiring actress Jessica Mann. He also faces a new count for an alleged sexual assault of a 16-year-old in 2006. Assistant District Attorney Shannon Lucey recounted Weinstein’s alleged attacks in graphic detail, saying all three women had begged him to stop, but that he had “all the power … He made all these women feel small.” The prosecutor described how Weinstein pestered Haleyi with multiple requests for massages and sexual favours before she found herself alone with him in an apartment one day...

• PTI, PPP present competing resolutions during fiery Senate session • PPP reiterates demands for immediate CCI meeting to address water crisis • Sherry says diverting water unilaterally is injustice, not cooperative federalism • Shibli Faraz criticises PPP’s ‘contradictory’ stance, terms parliament ‘rubber stamp’ ISLAMABAD: A fiery Senate session on Tuesday saw heated exchanges and walkouts amid tensions between the PTI and PPP over competing resolutions on the controversial Cholistan canal project , with Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar informing the upper house that the government was considering a multi-party consultation to address the issue. Responding to objections from both the PTI and PPP, Mr Tarar assured that the concerns surrounding the diversion of water for the Cholistan canal scheme would be resolved constitutionally and in consultation with the Sindh government. He insisted that the PML-N-led federal government had already taken up the issue with allied parties — p...