ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s state utility has restored a hydropower station in the volatile tribal belt of South Waziristan to its full generating capacity after nearly a decade of running at half power, officials said on Thursday, in a rare infrastructure win for a region long troubled by militancy and neglect.
Latest
Pakistan marks Ashura with massive processions and heavy security presence nationwide
ISLAMABAD: Millions of Pakistanis took to the streets on Friday for Ashura, the most solemn day of the Islamic month of Muharram, as authorities deployed tens of thousands of security personnel across the country — a day after four people died from suffocation during a procession in the southern province of Sindh.
Pakistan’s one-time used-car import waiver splits govt, auto sector over cost and scale
ISLAMABAD: The Ministry of Commerce has issued twin directives to break a deepening customs logjam at the country’s ports, granting a conditional one-time waiver on pre-shipment inspection requirements for used vehicles imported from Japan — a move that has drawn fierce opposition from domestic automakers who warn of a $180 million haemorrhage from the country’s foreign exchange reserves and a systematic erosion of consumer road safety.
AJK police chief warns of AI-fuelled disinformation as territory’s protest shutdown enters new phase
MUZAFFARABAD: The police chief of Azad Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday warned residents at home and abroad to guard against AI-generated disinformation, as the government suspended more than a dozen state employees, lodged a formal complaint against a foreign media outlet and deployed law enforcement to clear roads blocked by a banned opposition group.
Pakistan’s digital payments hit Rs168.8 trillion in Q3 as mobile transactions surge
KARACHI: Pakistan processed 3.7 billion retail banking transactions worth 168.8 trillion rupees in the January-March quarter, with digital channels accounting for the vast majority of that activity, the State Bank of Pakistan said on Thursday, underscoring the sweeping transformation of the country’s payments landscape.
Pakistan plans encrypted govt mobile network as India conflict reveals digital vulnerabilities
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has ordered the development of a sovereign, airgapped mobile communications network for at least 10,000 government officials, citing critical information leakages identified after its recent conflict with India and drawing lessons from military engagements across the Middle East.
Coalition partners clash over local polls; PPP sets 90-day challenge for PML-N
ISLAMABAD: The ruling coalition partners exchanged increasingly sharp public rebukes on Thursday over local government elections, with the Pakistan Peoples Party announcing that Sindh province would hold polls in 2027 and challenging its federal ally, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, to do the same in Punjab and Islamabad within 90 days.
Pakistan says its quiet diplomacy in US-Iran conflict has elevated its global standing
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s foreign minister said on Thursday that Islamabad’s role in brokering a ceasefire between the United States and Iran had fundamentally transformed its international standing, describing the country as a newly recognised “middle power and net security provider” with ambitions to become an economic force.
Minor girl, 3, found raped and killed in sack outside family home; relatives among suspects
KARACHI: Police have taken DNA samples from 12 suspects, including relatives of the victim, as they investigate the rape and murder of a three-year-old girl whose body was found stuffed in a sack outside her home in Karachi, officials said on Thursday.
PTI rejects PM Sharif’s election legitimacy defence, calls for judicial scrutiny of 2024 vote
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s main opposition party on Wednesday sharply rejected Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s defence of his government’s electoral legitimacy, accusing him of implicitly conceding that the February 2024 general elections were fraudulent, and called for a judicially supervised audit of the vote.