PESHAWAR — Pakistan’s Ministry of Interior has ordered a nationwide crackdown on illegal foreign nationals, directing authorities to arrest Afghan citizens residing in the country without valid visas from July 10. According to an official notification issued by the ministry on Sunday, chief secretaries, inspectors general of police (IGPs) of all four provinces and the […]
KARACHI — Pakistan’s media regulator has suspended the broadcast licence of television channel Geo News for 15 days over content aired during a programme marking Muharram, one of the most sensitive periods in the Islamic calendar. The regulator said Geo News aired “religious visualisations” during a June 26 programme that could offend religious sentiments, undermine […]
DHAKA — Bangladesh’s fugitive former leader Sheikh Hasina has vowed to return to her country “this year”, according to an interview published on Sunday, months after she was sentenced to death in absentia for crimes against humanity. Hasina, 78, fled to neighbouring India in August 2024 after a student-led uprising ended her 15-year, iron-fisted rule. […]
KARACHI — At least three of Pakistan’s Sindh Rangers personnel were killed in an attack on the paramilitary forces building in Karachi, the Dawn newspaper reported on Saturday. Witnesses said they heard a loud blast followed by gunfire along a major road in Karachi’s Gulistan-i-Jauhar neighbourhood near several universities and Pakistan’s meteorological department. Three militants […]
KABUL — A strong earthquake struck Afghanistan’s Hindu Kush region on Saturday, the European Mediterranean Seismological Centre said, sending out tremors that could be felt from the capital Kabul across the border into neighbouring Pakistan. People ran out of their doors in panic in Swat district in northern Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, resident Daniyal Ahmad […]
KARACHI — At least five moderate-intensity earthquakes have struck Pakistan’s southeastern province of Balochistan since Friday, with the latest jolting Barkhan and adjoining areas on Saturday morning. Authorities have reported five injuries and damage to some houses in these earthquakes, which measured between magnitudes 5.2 and 4.3 on the Richter scale. Pakistan Meteorological Department’s Chief […]
QUETTA — A Pakistani anti-terrorism court has sentenced prominent civil rights activist Mahrang Baloch and an associate to life in prison over the killing of a paramilitary soldier during a July 2024 protest. Baloch’s lawyer said he would appeal against the verdict. Baloch, who has been detained since March 2025, has been a vocal opponent […]
PESHAWAR — Twin roadside blasts killed at least seven people in Pakistan’s northwest Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, police said on Saturday. “A private pickup truck carrying passengers was targeted with a remote-controlled IED,” said Yasir Afridi, a police officer in Bannu district, using a common acronym for a homemade bomb. “… the injured were being transported […]
ISLAMABAD — At least 22 military personnel, including three officers, were killed when an Mi-17 helicopter of Pakistan Army aviation crashed in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, a media report said on Thursday. The helicopter crashed “during take-off due to a technical fault” near Muzaffarabad in PoK on Wednesday, killing all personnel on board, the army said in […]
KABUL — Pakistan launched deadly new airstrikes on Afghanistan early Wednesday, ending a month of calm following what Islamabad previously described as “open war” between the neighbors that has defied international efforts to bring a lasting peace. Afghanistan said the strikes hit the eastern provinces of Khost, Kunar and Paktika, and government spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid […]