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ISLAMABAD: Promi­nent religious preacher Dr Zakir Naik arrived in the country on Monday on a month-long visit that will see him deliver lectures in major cities of the country including Kara­chi, Islamabad and Lahore. This is Naik’s first visit to Pakistan in three decades — the last time he visited was in 1992, when he met with religious scholar Dr Israr Ahmed in Lahore before returning to India. Although originally from India, the preacher currently resides in Malaysia due to legal troubles in his home country, which has sought his extradition in a number of cases. Upon his arrival at Islamabad International Airport, Naik was received by officials from the Ministry of Religious Affairs and PM’s aide Rana Mashhood. During his stay in Pakistan, Dr Naik is scheduled to address public gatherings, starting from Karachi on Oct 5. He will speak in Lahore on Oct 12 and Islamabad on Oct 19. In addition to public events, he is expected to meet senior government officials and particip

LAHORE: Khawaja Saad Rafique, another senior PML-N leader who appears discontent with the path of ‘power politics’ chosen by his party’s leadership, said on Monday that democracy cannot function ‘under remote control’, nor can it be sustained by billionaires. “Flattery and false praise ruin even the most capable political leader. Gaining power with the support of the establishment has long been a favorite pastime for political leaders,” the PML-N leader said on Monday, in a tone similar to former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi , whose reason for quitting the Sharif-led PML-N was a focus on ‘power politics’ rather than self-accountability and democracy. Previously, such sentiments were echoed by other PML-N defectors such as Miftah Ismail , Mohammad Zubair and Asif Karmani . While addressing a ceremony held to commemorate the death anniversary of ex-CM Ghulam Haider Wynne, he said, “Parties prefer sycophants and flatterers over genuine political workers. They [leadership] see t

The Mandi Bahauddin police on Monday said two people were arrested as they busted a suspected gang of child predators who allegedly molested children and filmed the assaults. District Police Officer (DPO) Ahmad Mohiuddin told Dawn.com that the action was taken after he took notice of four cases registered at the Civil Lines police station from September 24-29 under Sections 375A (gang rape), 376iii (punishment for rape of a minor) and 511 (attempting to commit offences punishable by life imprisonment) of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC). DPO Mohiuddin said he immediately took notice and ordered the district superintendent of police (DSP) to arrest the suspects and submit an incident report at the earliest, after which two suspects were arrested from the areas of Makhanwala and Tariqabad with raid teams seizing a mobile phone, a laptop and a USB drive. He added that one suspect secured interim bail and that a fourth suspect was on the run. “Police teams are currently searching for him

NEW YORK: The Quadrilateral Group comprising Pakistan, China, Iran and Russia has called on Afghanistan’s Taliban government to take “visible and verifiable actions” to dismantle terrorist groups operating from Afghan soil. A joint statement issued by the group after a ministerial-level meeting held on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) identified several terrorist organisations operating in Afghanistan, including Daesh, Al-Qaida, the Eastern Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM), Jaish ul-Adl, the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), and the TTP. It mentioned that these outfits “pose a serious threat to regional and global security”. The Taliban leadership was urged to “dismantle and eliminate all terrorist groups equally and non-discriminatory” and to prevent Afghan territory from being used to launch attacks against neighbouring countries and beyond. The Quadrilateral Group expressed grave concerns about the security challenges posed by these outfits, warning t

The management of the Russian-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station said on Sunday that Ukrainian forces had launched a new attack on a nearby electricity substation, destroying a transformer. The Zaporizhzhia station , Europe’s largest with six reactors, was seized by Russian forces in the early days of Russia’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Each side regularly accuses the other of attacking or plotting to attack the plant. The plant’s management, writing on Telegram, said an artillery strike had hit the transformer at the “Raduga” substation in the town of Enerhodar in southeastern Ukraine. It described the incident as “yet another terrorist act aimed at destabilising the situation in the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant’s satellite city”. Also posted was a photograph showing smoke billowing from the top of a building. It said power supplies to Enerhodar had not been interrupted. The plant’s management accused the Ukrainian military on September 20 of attacking a second substat

ISRAEL may have killed Hezbollah leader Sey­yed Hassan Nasrallah but what the world thinks of its occupation of Palestine, continued genocide in Gaza and provocative military action against Lebanon was evident at the UN General Assembly. As Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu got to the podium to address the assembly, there was a mass walkout by a large number of delegates and the only applause and cheering at his delusional speech came from the galleries that the Israeli delegation ensured were filled with genocide supporters. One commentator remarked, “It seemed the galleries were taken up entirely by members of the US Congress”, in a reference to the multiple standing ovations for Israel’s extreme right-wing leader during a recent address to the US Congress. The most embarrassing moment for Netanyahu came when he was talking about eliminating ‘terrorism’ and then building a peaceful region with partners such as Saudi Arabia. The camera panned to the seating area of the Saudi dele

• Police use teargas, batons to disperse protesters; PTI activists hurl rocks at cops • Pindi’s entry points sealed; Gandapur’s caravan braves shelling, but was stopped near Burhan interchange; Gohar, Raja briefly detained RAWALPINDI: As PTI supporters took to the streets to converge on Liaquat Bagh for their demonstration , Punjab police arrested over 110 supporters, including party leaders, after clashes while the smell of teargas used to disperse the protesters permeated the air. The garrison town remained ‘under virtual siege’ on Saturday, with containers placed on every route leading to the protest site as well as Murree Road, which passes through the heart of the city. On more than 25 ‘blocking points’, contingents of the anti-riot police armed with teargas grenades and rubber bullets were stationed to stop the PTI protesters. In total, more than 4,200 police officials were deployed to counter the demonstration. A senior police official said PTI leaders, including Seemabia Ta

• Punjab govt bans gatherings in Rawalpindi, neighbouring districts • 4,000 police personnel deployed, Rangers called to help maintain law & order • Party leaders vow to gather at Liaquat Bagh ‘despite all hurdles’ LAHORE / RAWALPINDI: In an attempt to thwart PTI’s protest on Saturday (today), the provincial government has banned all public gatherings and stationed paramilitary forces in Rawalpindi. The party has announced Liaquat Bagh as the venue for the protest, which was earlier planned to be a jalsa . However, the PTI founder changed the decision, saying that the government would not allow his party to hold the event in the city and designate a venue in the suburbs. In a video message on Friday, PTI Punjab acting president Hammad Azhar said the party would hold a “massive but peaceful political public gathering” at 2pm. He urged the supporters to reach the venue well in time, as the party’s previous gathering in Lahore last week was forcibly cleared by the police

The family of Dr Shahnawaz Kunbhar — who was killed by Mirpurkhas police in a staged encounter over a blasphemy accusation — filed a first information report (FIR) on Friday against 45 suspects, including top police officials and a cleric, over his killing. The doctor hailing from Umerkot was shot dead by police in an alleged extra-judicial killing in Mirpurkhas on September 19, a day after being booked on allegations of blasphemy. After the encounter, the body was handed over to the family, who brought it to Janhero — the native village of the suspect — for burial. However, they had to escape after a mob descended on them to snatch the body, which they later burned . An inquiry into the incident was launched and Sindh Home Minister Ziaul Hassan Lanjar on Thursday presented the findings , saying the probe found that police “staged the encounter”. Lanjar announced the registration of the case today, attaching a copy of it to his statement on X. “In case number 147/2024, re

The National Emergency Operation Centre (NEOC) on Friday said that a new polio case was reported in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, taking the total number of cases for 2024 to 23. Pakistan is one of the last two countries in the world, alongside Afghanistan, where polio remains endemic. Despite global efforts to eradicate the virus, challenges such as security issues, vaccine hesitancy, and misinformation have slowed progress. A statement from the NEOC said the case was reported in a 10-month-old girl in KP’s Kohat, taking the provincial tally to two. “The rapid spread of poliovirus is a constant threat to children’s health. Children should be given polio vaccine as well as a complete immunisation course in a timely manner,” the NEOC said. The government has updated its National Polio Eradication Emergency Operations Plan to target critical gaps in access, campaign quality, and vaccine acceptance. Two large-scale, door-to-door vaccination campaigns are planned for later this year to close

GILGIT: Pakistani climbers Sirbaz Khan and Shehroze Kashif started their journey to summit Shishapangma peak (8027m) in Tibet, China. Khan from Hunza and Kashif from Lahore have already scaled 13 over-eight thousand-metres-high peaks in the world, including five eight-thousanders in Gilgit-Baltistan. They will be the first Pakistani climbers to summit all the 14 eight-thousander peaks in the world after scaling the Shishapangma peak. On October 8 last year, Pakistani climbers Naila Kiani and Sirbaz Khan had survived an avalanche near the summit of Tibet’s Shishapangma peak. Two climbers from the US and Nepal died and two others from the same countries went missing after massive avalanches engulfed the main climbing route. No Pakistani climber has so far scaled the peak in Tibet. Kashif Salman, the father of Kashif, told Dawn that his son arrived in Tibet from Nepal on Tuesday while and Khan was already in Tibet. He said the climbers will start their summit push in the second we

Multiple users shared an image on social media platform X on Wednesday, claiming that an Islamabad doughnut shop was “sealed” after its employee allegedly disrespected the Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa. However, the picture being circulated dates back to September 11 when it was sealed for violating standard operating procedures (SOPs) related to the spread of dengue. Screenshot of Chief Justice of Pakistan Qazi Faez Isa from a video. A video involving CJP Isa also began making rounds on social media on Wednesday. The video shows Chief Justice Isa standing at what appears to be a shop with two women. One of the women is seen speaking to a man, seemingly the shop’s employee whose face cannot be seen, regarding an order. According to the audio in the video, the employee apparently makes disrespectful remarks about the top judge after identifying him. The video going viral on social media platforms showed a watermark reading “EHTASHAMABBASI”. Ehtesham Ali Abbasi,

At least sixteen personnel were injured after an explosion ripped through the second floor of the city police station in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Swabi district on Thursday, police said. A statement from the Swabi police spokesperson said the explosion was caused by a short circuit in a room where material and case evidence were dumped, injuring 16-17 personnel and damaging the building. It added that a departmental inquiry would be initiated against the negligent police officers. The statement said Rescue 1122 managed to snuff the fire and senior police officials were present on the scene as activities were under way to remove the rubble. Mardan Regional Police Officer (RPO) Najibur Rehman told local media that the blast was caused by explosive material in the police station’s warehouse and left 17 police personnel injured. He added that bomb disposal personnel were investigating the incident, adding that further updates were incoming regarding the nature of the explosion. RPO Rehman

Passersby look at vehicles damaged in the blast that targeted a police van, near Eastern Bypass in Quetta, on Wednesday.—INP QUETTA: At least two policemen were among a dozen people injured by a bomb attack, which targeted a police vehicle in the provincial capital of Balochistan, on Wednesday. Officials said that unidentified miscreants had parked an explosives-laden motorcycle in the Bhosa Mandi area of Eastern Bypass. When a police vehicle reached the spot, an explosion was triggered, ostensibly using a remote-controlled device. The bomb blast injured a police constable, the driver of the police van and 10 other passersby. Soon after receiving information about the explosion, police rushed to the area and shifted the injured to the Quetta Civil Hospital. The condition of two injured people was stated to be serious. “The target of the miscreants was a police mobile vehicle which was slightly damaged in the explosion. The explosives-laden motorbike was detonated with a rem

People queue to vote under the watchful eye of security personnel, during the second phase of elections in Srinagar on Wednesday.—Reuters SRINAGAR: In a first, foreign diplomats from some 15 countries were allowed to observe voting in India-held Kashmir on Wednesday, the first electoral exercise in the disputed region since 2014. The visitors included diplomats from embassies of the US, Mexico, Singapore, Spain and South Korea, among others, officials in Srinagar and New Delhi said. Soldiers carrying rifles stood outside polling stations across India-held Kashmir as voters queued to participate in the second phase of elections, the first since New Delhi revoked its semi-autonomous status in 2019. The change by Hindu-nationalist PM Narendra Modi brought the disputed region under the government’s direct control and was accompanied by mass arrests and a long communications blackout. After 10 years without elections, locals say they are desperate for representation; ‘Black Day

KARACHI: Indus Motor Company (IMC), the assembler of Toyota vehicles, has announced that production operations will be temporarily suspended from Sept 26 to 30 due to parts shortage. In a stock filing on Wednesday, the company said it is currently experiencing low levels of raw materials and component inventory, besides facing ongoing supply chain challenges. This has resulted in a shortage of parts and components necessary for vehicle production. The company added that it is unable to meet its production requirements. IMC also closed its plant from Aug 6 to 8 for the same reasons. Siemens plans job cuts As certain employees will part ways, Siemens Pakistan Engineering Company has decided to transform one of its operational segments within Smart Infrastructure — Electrification and Automation Business. The estimated cost of a one-time transformation is approximately Rs556 million. In a regulatory filing, Siemens said this change better aligns the business to serve the local market

ISLAMABAD: Development partners and donors convened on Tuesday at the National Emergency Operations Centre to renew their commitment and resolve to support the government in its fight back against polio, a disease which has paralysed 21 children so far this year in Pakistan. According to a statement, the Pakistan Polio Eradication Initiative (PEI) under the leadership of Prime Minister’s Focal Person for Polio Eradication Ayesha Raza Farooq organised a briefing for partners and donors, where they were apprised of the current status of the eradication efforts in the country and the consensus national strategy devised to reverse the current disease trends. Welcoming polio eradication par­tners and donors, Ms Farooq appreciated their longstanding and un­­wavering dedication to protecting Pakistan’s children from the devastating effects of poliovirus and contributing to overall child survival. “The government has made polio eradication a national priority agenda, with the highest co

Shan Masood will continue to lead Pakistan in the upcoming series against England, despite losing his first five Tests as captain. Masood, a 34-year-old top-order batsman, was named captain in the 15-man squad announced on Tuesday for next month’s first Test in Multan. There had been media reports Masood faced an axe after Pakistan’s shocking 2-0 defeat against Bangladesh last month. Pakistan had never lost to Bangladesh before the twin defeats took Masood’s record to five losses since replacing Babar Azam as skipper in November last year. He lost his first series 3-0 in Australia. The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) stuck with Masood as Australian head coach Jason Gillespie sought consistency. The first of three Tests start in Multan from October 7, the second will be played in the same city from Oct 15 and the third in Rawalpindi from Oct 24. The PCB said the squad was for the first Test only. “The 15-man squad is for the first Test and based on the recommendation of head co

ISLAMABAD: Minister of State for Information Technology and Telecommunication Shaza Fatima Khwaja has announced that arrangements are underway to facilitate digital outward remittances for IT companies, saying the move will enable IT exporters to seamlessly pay international suppliers and vendors. Speaking at HBL-P@SHA ICT Awards 2024 here on Monday, she said the awards empowered innovators, startups, and students to shine on international platforms, such as the Asia-Pacific ICT Alliance (APICTA) Awards. She said that in order to facilitate IT companies to compete globally, arrangements were being made to make payments online to vendors abroad without involving the routine banking channels and seeking permission of State Bank of Pakistan for every transaction. “It will be a complete paradigm shift of the whole society, economy and the government in the country,” the minister said, adding that the new scheme to provide smartphones to the youth will empower them in becoming self-em

KARACHI: The stock market snapped a six-day winning streak on Monday amid mounting political tensions as the KSE 100 index faltered below 82,000 after reaching an all-time high in the previous session driven by optimism about imminent approval of the IMF loan . Ahsan Mehanti of Arif Habib Corporation said stocks tumbled on political uncertainty after the apex court supported the PTI’s bid for reserved seats in its detailed judgment and concerns about aggressive foreign selling. He noted that the uncertainty over the privatisation of state-owned enterprises, the government’s action on the IPP capacity payment issue to terminate purchasing power agree­ments and concerns over the terms of the new IMF programme played a catalyst role in the bearish close. The market came under selling pressure on the first day of the week as the benchmark index hit an intraday low of 81,548.65 on profit-taking by institutions and foreign investors. The profit-taking was seen mainly in Hub Power, Mari

As wars rage worldwide, with civilian casualties a daily occurrence, critics of the United Nations say the body is failing at its most basic job, while experts warn the organisation is being scapegoated for things that are beyond its control. Maintaining peace and international security is one of the UN’s central missions, but its record has been badly tarnished as bloodshed intensifies in conflicts across the world, including in Gaza , Ukraine and Sudan . The UN’s detractors point to those brutal conflicts, among others, as evidence that the global organisation — hosting its centrepiece gathering of world leaders in New York this week — has failed in its mission. The UN’s chief, however, has a different view. “It’s obvious that we are not having peace and security in the world, and it’s obvious that it’s not because of the UN as an institution that doesn’t happen,” UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres told AFP . “It’s because of member states.” The Security Council, the UN bod