<figure class='media w-full sm:w-full media--center ' data-original-src='https://i.dawn.com/large/2026/07/030653160253768.webp'> <div class='media__item '><picture><img src='https://i.dawn.com/large/2026/07/030653160253768.webp' alt=' FLANKED by local PTI leaders, Salman Akram Raja addresses a press conference in Lahore.&mdash;PPI ' /></picture></div> <figcaption class='media__caption '>FLANKED by local PTI leaders, Salman Akram Raja addresses a press conference in Laho

<p>MUZAFFARABAD: In a widely anticipated move, the PTI on Thursday announced its decision to boycott the upcoming Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) general election, stating it would instead stand by the people amid the prevailing political and social unrest.</p> <p>The announcement was made by PTI regional president and former AJK prime minister Sardar Abdul Qayyum Niazi through a statement shared with <em>Dawn</em> by his press secretary.</p> <p>“Expressing unwavering solidarity with the aspirati

<figure class='media w-full sm:w-full media--center media--uneven media--stretch' data-original-src='https://i.dawn.com/large/2026/07/03064213cd0e337.webp'> <div class='media__item '><picture><img src='https://i.dawn.com/large/2026/07/03064213cd0e337.webp' alt=' Matteo Della Bordella, Mirco Grasso, Luca Ducoli and Giacomo Mauri at the K7 base camp.&mdash;Dawn ' /></picture></div> <figcaption class='media__caption '>Matteo Della Bordella, Mirco Grasso, Luca Ducoli and

<p>QUETTA: The Baloch­istan government has decided to introduce a convoy system on highways across the province to ensure the safety of cargo trucks, passenger coaches and people travelling by road.</p> <p>The decision was announced by Additional Chief Secretary Home Hamza Shafqaat during a meeting with representatives of the Quetta Chamber of Commerce and Industry (QCCI) on Thursday. Quetta Com­missioner Shahzeb Khan Kakar also attended the meeting.</p> <p>“Providing safe journeys and the s

<p><strong>• Chief ministers commit to reducing unnecessary incarceration, improving infrastructure<br>• CJP terms reforms ‘shared institutional responsibility’<br>• Maryam says prisons should be reflective of values, effectiveness of justice system<br>• Afridi calls for reforms to ‘start from Adiala’</strong></p> <p>ISLAMABAD: The provinces on Thursday reaffirmed their commitment to sustained prison reforms, with all the chief ministers acknowledging that these reforms were not

<p>LAHORE: A child was killed and at least five people were injured after the roof of an under-construction building collapsed in Lahore’s Baghbanpura neighbourhood on Thursday, police said.</p> <p>An update issued by the Baghbanpura police said an eight-year-old boy died, while four men and a child were injured.</p> <p>Speaking to the media, Baghbanpura Station House Officer (SHO) Rizwan Khan said the school administration was expanding its 14-marla building by constructing a two-marla struct

<p>ISLAMABAD: The government on Thursday decided to extend the Murree Expressway by 70 kilometres to Muzaffarabad during a National Highway Authority (NHA) meeting chaired by Communications Minister Abdul Aleem Khan.</p> <p>Work on the road has been <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1957450">ongoing</a> under Khan’s tenure, including when he visited the expressway last November to review beautification, rehabilitation and improvement works along the route.</p> <p>According to the communicatio

<p>MOHMAND: Two cops, including an additional station house officer (SHO), were martyred when <em>Fitna al Khawarij</em> terrorists attacked a police patrol in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Mohmand district on Thursday night, according to police.</p> <p><a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1849349/govt-proscribes-gul-bahadur-group-majeed-brigade#:~:text=TTP%20labelled%20as%20fitna"><em><u>Fitna al Khawarij</u></em></a> is a term the state uses for terrorists belonging to the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Paki

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will visit Iran and Turkiye from July 3 to July 5, Foreign Office (FO) spokesperson Tahir Andrabi confirmed on Thursday. Addressing a weekly briefing, Andrabi said that during his visit to Iran, the premier would...

Ministry of Finance drafts strategy for post-2027 Riba-free financial system Existing conventional loans to continue until maturity Majority foreign-owned banks may offer both Islamic, conventional products Cabinet nod will set legal transition in...