ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s spending on nuclear weapons rose 18 percent last year to an estimated $1.5 billion, outpacing the rate of increase by rival India and ranking as the second-steepest percentage jump among the world’s nine nuclear-armed states, according to a report published on Tuesday by the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons.
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Pakistan hosts back-to-back military diplomacy as Gulf and Lebanese commanders converge on Rawalpindi
RAWALPINDI: The commander of Bahrain’s National Guard held separate meetings with all three of Pakistan’s service chiefs on Tuesday, as Islamabad positioned itself at the centre of a busy round of military diplomacy with the Middle East against the backdrop of a fragile ceasefire in the US-Iran conflict.
Banned Kashmir group’s strike shutters markets; PM urges talks as sedition cases filed
MUZAFFARABAD: Streets fell quiet and markets shuttered across Azad Kashmir on Tuesday as a recently banned civil rights alliance pressed ahead with a strike, while the regional government ordered sedition proceedings against two of its leaders and the prime minister appealed for a return to negotiations.
One soldier martyred, 14 militants neutralised in Balochistan counter-terrorism raid
ISLAMABAD: A soldier was martyred and 14 militants killed in a security operation in the southwestern province of Balochistan on Sunday, the military said, as Islamabad intensified counter-terrorism sweeps it has attributed to Indian-backed proxy networks.
TTP militants storm Peshawar checkpoint, kill six paramilitary troops and abduct eight
PESHAWAR: Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan militants stormed a paramilitary checkpoint in Peshawar on Monday, killing six personnel, wounding four others and abducting eight more in one of the most brazen militant assaults on the provincial capital in recent months, security officials said.
ICC penalises Lord’s and Lahore’s Gaddafi Stadium for ‘unsatisfactory’ pitches
LAHORE: The International Cricket Council on Tuesday sanctioned two of cricket’s most storied venues, awarding demerit points to Lord’s in London and Lahore’s Gaddafi Stadium after match referees condemned the pitches used for recent internationals as heavily skewed in favour of bowlers.
Gilgit-Baltistan election results frozen as re-polling ordered at 26 polling stations
GILGIT: Gilgit-Baltistan Election Commission has ordered the suspension of final election results across all constituencies until re-polling is conducted at 26 polling stations spread across five seats, throwing the outcome of Saturday’s regional assembly vote into uncertainty even as the Pakistan Peoples Party held a commanding lead.
Pakistan sets June 12 for budget as provincial revenue standoff clouds NEC meeting
ISLAMABAD: The government plans to present its federal budget for fiscal year 2026-27 to the National Assembly on June 12, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Tariq Fazal Chaudhry said Tuesday, as Islamabad moved to lock in a date after weeks of delays driven by coalition friction and a deepening dispute with provincial governments over revenue sharing.
Pakistani and Lebanese military chiefs hold talks in Rawalpindi amid regional tensions
RAWALPINDI: The commanders of Pakistan and Lebanon’s armed forces met on Tuesday at Pakistan’s military headquarters to discuss deepening defence cooperation and the deteriorating security landscape across the Middle East, a meeting that came as Islamabad has sought to position itself as a diplomatic interlocutor in the widening conflict between Israel and Iran.
Pakistan warns Taliban at UN: ‘Window for course correction is narrowing’
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s ambassador to the United Nations issued an unambiguous warning to the Afghan Taliban on Monday, telling the Security Council that Islamabad’s patience was running out and that military action targeting terrorist infrastructure on Afghan soil would continue for as long as the Taliban refused to act against militant groups that Pakistan holds responsible for more than 1,200 deaths last year alone.