Dawn

Pakistan will privatise all state-owned enterprises, with the exception of strategic entities, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif announced on Tuesday, broadening its initial plans to take only loss-making state firms private.

Jammu Kashmir Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC), an alliance of civil rights group, on Tuesday called off a protest march in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) after several days of clashes over high prices in which four people were killed and over 100 injured, officials said.

Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Omar Ayub on Tuesday said Defence Minister Khawaja Asif’s “personal” remarks about former dictator Ayub Khan were “unwarranted”.

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Tuesday issued an injunction on the government’s decision to block the mobile phone SIMs of non-tax filers.

Cheering crowds greeted Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday as he submitted his candidacy for a Hindu holy city’s parliamentary seat in a general election his party is strongly favoured to win.

WASHINGTON: US national security adviser Jake Sullivan said on Monday that President Joe Biden’s administration did not view the killings of Palestinians in Gaza by Israel as genocide.

ANKARA: Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday that more than 1,000 members of Hamas were being treated in hospitals across Turkiye as he reiterated his stance that it was a “resistance movement”.

LOS ANGELES: Melinda French Gates on Monday announced she was leaving the mega philanthropy foundation which she established with her ex-husband (the co-founder of Microsoft), Bill Gates.

JERUSALEM: Israeli protesters blocked aid trucks headed for Gaza on Monday, strewing food packages on the road in the latest in a series of incidents that have come as Israel has pledged to allow uninterrupted humanitarian supplies into the besieged enclave.

SULAIMANIYAH: A migrant-smuggler known as “Scorpion”, wanted in several European countries, was arrested in Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan region on Sunday, local authorities said, after a BBC investigation tracked him down there.

Rehan Ahmed

• ECP suspends victory notifications of 77 lawmakers elected on reserved seats denied to SIC
• Fate of senators elected recently depends on apex court’s final verdict

KARACHI: Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) President Atif Ikram Sheikh has called for the immediate opening of the Chaman border as thousands of trucks and other vehicles have been stranded for over a week hampering economic activities.

ISLAMABAD: The incarcerated founding chairman of PTI and former prime minister Imran Khan on Monday warned the government that countrywide protests would be launched if the government would further increase power and gas tariff.

ISLAMABAD: Tensions between the judiciary and the legal fraternity are likely to escalate as a nationwide strike by lawyers continues, with senior counsel Naeem Bukhari accusing the Islamabad High Court Bar Association (IHCBA) president of restraining lawyers from entering the court premises.

QUETTA: Traders and politicians from Chaman protesting against the new visa regime on the Afghan border have vowed to continue demonstrations after talks with the government broke down on Monday.

KARACHI: Reminding the authorities that the national interests lie only in the Constitution, the Sindh High Court (SHC) on Monday rejected the government reports insisting that the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) could not be granted permission for holding a public meeting near the Mazar-i-Quaid in view of “security concerns”.

• Opposition, treasury members unanimously adopt 13 resolutions
• Body formed to introduce public-private partnership in KMC-run hospitals

LAHORE: PTI Punjab president Dr Yasmin Rashid has written a letter to the chief justice decrying “political victimisation” and repeated arrests of her party colleagues.

WASHINGTON: The US State Department said on Monday that India’s deal with Iran for developing and operating the Chabahar port was not exempted from US sanctions, but did not say if Washington plans to impose sanctions on New Delhi over this agreement.

ISLAMABAD: The Indus River System Authority (Irsa) on Monday increased water shares for Punjab and Sindh after an extended rainy spell, particularly in the upper catchments of the Kabul River and storage constraints at Tarbela Dam.

DUBAI: The death toll from Israel’s military offensive on Gaza since Oct7 has crossed 35,000, according to the health ministry, as Israel’s forces pushed further into north and south corners of the besieged enclave for fresh assault.

• ‘Charged’ protesters clash with Rangers exiting territory
• Price of flour reduced by Rs1,100 per 40kg; substantial dip in power tariff notified
• Rights movement to ‘legally examine’ notification due to ‘non-serious’ attitude of govt

FAIZABAD (Badakhshan): Clashes broke out on Monday between Taliban forces tasked with clearing poppy crops and farmers in Afghanistan’s northeastern Badak­hshan province, residents said.

ASTANA: A former minister of the economy from Kazakhstan has been sentenced to 24 years in prison. He has been charged with the murder of his wife after the conclusion of a widely watched trial. Certain individuals perceived the trial as ‘a litmus test’ of the president’s promise to improve women’s rights.

SAN FRANCISCO: OpenAI on Monday released a higher performing and more efficient version of the artificial intelligence technology that underpins its popular generative tool ChatGPT, making it free to all users.