<p>A RATHER damning indictment of the seventh NFC Award has just been <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/2012199/pakistan-made-meaningful-progress-in-fiscal-federalism-but-deviations-remain-wb">published </a>by the World Bank in a study titled <em>Strengthening Fiscal Federalism</em> in Pakistan. The study plugs a crucial gap in our understanding of the impact that the NFC Award has had on the state’s ability to function and deliver social services. The findings are not flattering for the perf

<p>ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Wednesday noted the “non-assistance” of the federal government among the reasons for the delay in local government polls for Islamabad, summoning the city’s chief and deputy commissioners on July 7.</p> <p>The term of the last local government in Islamabad <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1605873">expired</a> in February 2021, and since then, elections have been delayed under various pretexts.</p> <p>On Wednesday, a four-member E

&lt;p&gt;The Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) has written to the Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) seeking “guidance” on whether &lt;em&gt;Geo News’&lt;/em&gt; response to the recent suspension is adequate or requires further action, it emerged on Thursday.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;On June 28, Pemra &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.dawn.com/news/2011377&quot;&gt;suspended&lt;/a&gt; with “immediate effect” &lt;em&gt;Geo News&lt;/em&gt;’ licence for 15 days over airing a special transmission that the body said was “liable to hurt the

<figure class='media w-full sm:w-4/5 media--center media--uneven media--stretch' data-original-src='https://i.dawn.com/large/2026/07/030647248f4901c.webp'> <div class='media__item '><picture><img src='https://i.dawn.com/large/2026/07/030647248f4901c.webp' alt=' Source: FBR ' /></picture></div> <figcaption class='media__caption '>Source: FBR</figcaption> </figure> <p>THE first year of Pakistan’s unified agriculture income tax regime has exposed a stark gap bet

<p>LAHORE: Police on Thursday registered a case against five suspects on charges of kidnapping for ransom and sexually assaulting two foreign women.</p> <p>The Police Emergency Helpline 15 received a call from Spain, made by the father of one of the women, reporting the incident.</p> <p>The alleged victims, who are nationals of the Netherlands and Venezuela, had come to Pakistan to visit their ‘friends’.</p> <p>DIG Faisal Kamran told <em>Dawn</em> that police acted accordingly, dispatched a

<p>ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) said on Thursday it was closely monitoring internet traffic disruptions caused by a fault in the SEA-ME-WE 5 (SMW5) international submarine cable system, which was likely to cause intermittent degradation in service quality and connectivity.</p> <p>The telecom authority added that Transworld Associates (TWA) is coordinating with the SMW5 consortium to “identify the root cause of the fault” and determine the estimated time for resto

<p>THE recently revealed <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/2009327">QS World Universities Rankings 2027</a> have become a topic of considerable conversation for Pakistani social and print media. Reports and posts on the subject have mainly pointed out that no Pakistani university has been ranked among the world’s top 350 universities. The Quaid-i-Azam University (QAU), at 381, is our top entry in the QS rankings. However, we should remember that a number of individual programmes — though no

<p>THE landmark <a rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" class="link--external" href="http://beta.dawn.com/news/852442/senate-approves-18th-amendment-bill">18th Amendment</a> and <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1961230">seventh NFC Award</a> radically reshaped Pakistan’s fiscal federalism by transferring greater powers and financial resources to the provinces so that authority would eventually flow closer to citizens through local governments.</p> <p>Sixteen years later, a <a href="http

<p>The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) announced on Friday that internet services in the country were back to normal after issues with the SEA-ME-WE 5 (SMW5) international submarine cable system were resolved.</p> <p>In a statement, the authority said that the <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/2012491">fault</a> in the cable system, which had led to widespread connectivity issues in the country on Thursday night, had been resolved, adding that internet traffic had returned to normal.

<p><strong>• ECC approves 175,000 tonnes from 2026-27 crop<br /> • Defines ‘forced labour’ in line with ILO 1930 convention<br /> • Passco gets Rs4.188bn severance package</strong></p> <p>ISLAMABAD: The government on Thursday decided to supply 175,000 tonnes of 100 per cent fresh indigenous wheat to Pakistan Army and approved defining ‘forced labour’ in compliance with requirements of the International Labour Organisation (ILO).</p> <p>The decisions were taken at a meeting of the