ISLAMABAD: Pakistan suffered its most violent year in a decade in 2025, with a sharp escalation in terrorist attacks and clashes that claimed more than 3,400 lives, even as a decision to seal its border with Afghanistan in October helped curb cross-border assaults in the year’s final months, according to a report by an independent think tank.
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Rivals swap nuclear site lists, but Pakistan flags concerns over Indian dam project
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and India exchanged lists of their nuclear installations on Thursday, adhering to a longstanding agreement aimed at preventing attacks on such facilities, even as Islamabad raised fresh concerns over New Delhi’s plans for a hydroelectric project that it said could violate a separate water-sharing treaty.
PTI seeks to oust defector senator who backed controversial constitutional change
ISLAMABAD: The opposition Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party formally moved on Thursday to disqualify one of its own senators, Saifullah Abro, accusing him of defection after he broke ranks to support a controversial constitutional amendment that has deepened divisions in the country’s fractured political landscape.
Inflation slow to 5.6 percent in December, matching government estimate
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s consumer prices inflation rose 5.6% in December from a year earlier, easing from November’s pace and landing within the government’s projected range as food costs dropped.
Pakistan begins 2026 with cuts to petrol and diesel prices
ISLAMABAD: The government rang in 2026 with fuel price cuts, slashing petrol and diesel rates for the next two weeks in a move that tracks softer global crude and delivers modest relief to consumers and transporters battered by high costs.
Pakistan expands biometric law to allow facial and iris scans for national identity checks
ISLAMABAD: The government has expanded the legal definition of biometrics to include facial and iris scans alongside fingerprints, paving the way for a new system of contactless identity verification that aims to ease longstanding hurdles for citizens whose prints have faded with age or illness.
Pakistan stands with Saudi Arabia, urges negotiations to avert Yemen fallout
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan voiced strong support for Saudi Arabia on Wednesday amid a sharp escalation in Yemen’s civil war, where a Saudi-led coalition has clashed with Emirati-backed separatists, threatening to unravel fragile regional alliances and revive the specter of a divided Yemen.
Army chief warns of ‘firm and decisive’ response to any breach of sovereignty
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s top military commander warned on Wednesday that any breach of the country’s territorial integrity, whether direct or indirect, would provoke a firm and decisive response, as he accused Indian-sponsored proxies of fomenting violence and disrupting development in the restive southwestern province of Balochistan.
At a funeral in Dhaka, a brief handshake signals a pause in India-Pakistan silence
ISLAMABAD: In a brief but symbolic encounter, the speaker of the National Assembly, Ayaz Sadiq, shook hands with India’s foreign minister, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, on Wednesday during a funeral in the Bangladeshi capital, marking the first high-level contact between officials from the two nuclear-armed neighbors since a military clash in May that brought relations to a new low.
Shaheen Afridi cut short BBL stint, heads home for knee rehab ahead of T20 world cup
LAHORE: Pakistan fast bowler Shaheen Shah Afridi will return home from Australia’s Big Bash League after suffering a knee injury while playing for the Brisbane Heat, the club said on Tuesday, dealing a blow to his preparations for the upcoming T20 World Cup.