Category: 1. Pakistan

Pakistan Railways has announced plans to upgrade Shalimar Express, following the successful launch of Pak Business Express.

According to a PR spokesperson on Saturday, the Lahore-Karachi train service will soon feature modern coaches, an enhanced operational strategy, and multiple passenger-friendly facilities.

The booking process will be made more convenient through online reservations, while travelers will also enjoy WiFi internet service during their journey.

To further improve the travel experience, the Shalimar Express will offer quality, hygienic food onboard.

Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif has vowed to develop the urban centres of the province as per the concept of future cities.

Visiting the World Expo 2025 in Osaka on the final day of her tour of Japan, she praised the event’s theme of ‘Creating a future society for a better life’ as visionary and inspiring.

Expo Association Deputy Secretary General Manatsu Ichinoki informed the chief minister that 150 Japanese and international companies had set up stalls focusing on innovations aimed at saving lives and improving living standards.

He said that leading global experts would discuss the future of societies and present solutions to pressing challenges. He also highlighted a water and light show, which has become a major draw for visitors, according to a handout issued here.

Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz also visited the Pakistani Pavilion. She interacted with Pakistani and foreign visitors and appreciated the organisers for effectively showcasing the country’s culture and potential.

She said on the occasion, “Cities of Punjab will be developed on the concept of future city.”

She also visited an eco-friendly food and agriculture stall and commended the innovative ideas on display.

Later, the CM toured the ‘Grand Ring’ Osaka, the world’s largest wooden building constructed 20 metres above ground and spread over 61,000 square metres, which stands as an architectural landmark of the expo.

Minimum salary

Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz on Saturday expressed anger over denial of full salary to Suthra Punjab cleanliness programme workers.

She issued a final warning to the contractors for paying low salaries to the workers and directed them to ensure paying them the minimum salary fixed by the government in every city.

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Updated On: Sun, 24 Aug 2025

08:31:14 PKT

KARACHI (Dunya News) – Police on Saturday night arrested Farhan Ghani, the brother of PPP’s senior leader Saeed Ghani, for allegedly beating a government employee.

Ferozabad police took the accused in custody after registering a case on the complaint of a government employee, Hafiz Sohail. The case includes anti-terrorism, attempted murder, and other sections.

The complainant told the police that on August 22, he was supervising installation of a fiber optic cable on Shahrah-e-Faisal service road when 20 to 25 individuals including Farhan Ghani, Qamar Ahmed and Shakeel on three vehicles approached him.

He said they asked him who gave him permission to dig the ground, adding he told them that it was a government work, and the digging was being done with all necessary NOCs from relevant authorities.

He alleged that they assaulted him and pointed guns at him with the intent to kill.

The FIR stated that the complainant was taken to a room at a nearby petrol pump, where he was beaten. Later, a police mobile unit arrived, rescued him, and took him to the police station.

Saeed Ghani’s statement

Responding to the FIR against his brother, Sindh Minister Saeed Ghani said there had been a dispute between his brother and a person named Sohail, adding Sohail exercised his right to file a case against his brother.

Saeed Ghani added that Farhan Ghani and all others would face the law, and prove their innocence in a court of law.

 

LAHORE: Chief Minister Punjab Maryam Nawaz Sharif arrived at World Expo 2025 in Osaka, where Expo Association Deputy Secretary General Manatsu Ichinoki warmly welcomed her and briefed her about the exhibition. According to a message received here, Manatsu said, “150 Japanese and foreign companies have set up their stalls at World Expo 2025 which highlights the equipment and methods related to saving human lives and providing better facilities to improve upon their living standards.”

He highlighted, “Eminent experts from all over the world will discuss future of people, besides presenting solutions to the problems faced by societies. The exhibition also features a water and light show titled “Rainbow in the Dark Night” which is a center of attraction for the tourists.”

The Chief Minister appreciated the choice of title “Creating a Future Society for a Better Life” for ‘Osaka Expo 2025.’ She also visited Pakistani pavilion, and was warmly welcomed by the organisers there. She also spoke to Pakistani and foreign tourists visiting the pavilion.

Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif said, “Cities of Punjab will be developed on the concept of Future City.” She also visited the stall of eco-friendly food and agriculture (KUBOTO) in the exhibition.

The CM was also given a tour of the “Grand Ring” Osaka, which is the world’s largest wooden building, a unique building at 20 meters height and spread over 61,000 square meters.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2025

• FIR includes charges of attempted murder and terrorism. 
• FIR names Farhan and his aides over physical assault.
• Saeed Ghani says brother will prove innocence in court. 

KARACHI: Karachi police have registered a case against Farhan Ghani, a PPP leader and chairman of Chanesar Town, who is the brother of Sindh Local Government Minister Saeed Ghani.

The case has been filed at the Ferozabad police station on the complaint of a government employee, Hafiz Sohail, who alleged that he was attacked while supervising fibre cable work on a service road off Shahrah-e-Faisal on August 22.

The FIR named Farhan and his five associates under charges of attempted murder and terrorism, along with other provisions of the law.

The PPP leader and town chairman is currently in police custody as he, along with four of his aides, surrendered overnight.

The complainant said in the FIR that he is a government employee and was tasked to supervise underground fibre cable work. He said that he was present on the site when around 20 to 25 men, including Farhan, Qamar Ahmed and Shakeel, arrived in three vehicles.

The group allegedly confronted Sohail, asking him to stop the work and questioning whether he had permission to dig the road, says the FIR.

Sohail said that he told them he held all the relevant NOCs, stressing that the work was being carried out with the approval of all relevant authorities.

He claimed that Farhan’s men then assaulted him, pointed weapons at him with the intention to kill. He further said that they took him to a nearby petrol station office, where he was tortured.

In the meantime, a police van arrived at the scene, rescuing him from the group, took him to the police station, the FIR added.

Reacting to the report, the LG minister said that his brother, along with his associates, would face the law following the registration of a case against them.

In a statement issued in the early hours of Sunday, the minister confirmed that an altercation had taken place the previous day between Farhan and Sohail.

He said that Sohail had exercised his legal right by lodging an FIR over the incident.

The minister added that Farhan and the others involved would present themselves before the authorities and contest the case in court.

“They will prove their innocence before the court,” the minister said.

The Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has issued a flash flood warning as the Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) has forecast continued wet weather in different areas of the province.

In its weather advisory, the provincial body said that downpours are likely to swell local streams and rivers today, with the risk of flooding in districts including Chitral, Swat, Shangla, Buner, Kohistan and Abbottabad. Persistent rain is likely to cause landslides in mountainous areas, threatening road access and cutting off remote communities, it added.

It noted that low-lying parts of Peshawar, Nowshera and Mardan may also face urban flooding.

The PDMA has warned that strong winds and heavy showers could damage mud houses and fragile structures such as mud houses, walls, electricity poles, billboards, vehicles and solar panels.

Local administrations, police and rescue services have been placed on high alert, while the public and tourists have been advised to avoid unnecessary travel, keep away from riverbanks and stay updated to avoid any mishaps.

In its weather forecast, the PMD also warned of widespread heavy rains that could trigger flash floods and landslides in several parts of the country during the next 24 hours.

According to the forecast, strong downpours may cause flooding in local streams and rivers across Chitral, Swat, Shangla, Buner, Kohistan, Mansehra, Abbottabad, Charsadda, Nowshera, Swabi and Mardan.

Heavy showers are also expected in Murree, the Galliyat region.

In its weather forecast for other parts of the country, the Met Office said that heavy downpours are likely in Islamabad, Rawalpindi, north-eastern Punjab, Kashmir and Dera Ghazi Khan, raising the risk of overflowing seasonal waterways.

The national forecaster has cautioned that low-lying areas in Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Gujranwala, Lahore, Sialkot, Faisalabad, Sargodha, Peshawar, Nowshera and Mardan may also face waterlogging.

The Met Office said that north-eastern Punjab could see particularly intense showers, while southern Punjab, north-eastern Balochistan and south-eastern Sindh are also likely to receive rain with thunder during the evening and night.

In Punjab, the provincial PDMA has raised concerns over rising water levels in the Ravi, Chenab, Sutlej and Jhelum rivers.

The authority warned that flooding is possible in northern and north-eastern districts, with the Sutlej already flowing at a high level near Ganda Singh Wala and expected to remain elevated for at least 48 hours.

Rescue teams have been deployed to sensitive areas, while announcements are being made at mosques and through local authorities to alert communities at risk.

People have been advised to contact the PDMA helpline 1129 in case of emergencies.

According to the advisory, rivers including the Ravi, Chenab, Sutlej and Jhelum could experience medium to high levels of flooding, with the risk of flash floods in northern and north-eastern districts.

Instructions have been issued to ensure that all emergency arrangements are in place, with rescue units already deployed to vulnerable areas.

Supreme Court Justice Athar Minallah on Saturday elaborated on the difficulties judges faced regarding cases of missing persons and enforced disappearances in the face of non-cooperation by the state and lawmakers.

The judge was attending a documentary screening organised by rights group Defence for Human Rights Pakistan, where he delivered remarks to attendees and noted that cases regarding missing persons and disappearances were the most difficult he had come across.

Addressing the gathering, Justice Minallah said that when he ordered that disappearances be investigated or missing people be found, “the authorities would come and they would all say that we don’t know where they are.”

At this, the judge pointed out: “The judge and the court cannot do anything when you don’t have independent investigators.”

Minallah added: “Every judge of the Supreme Court is responsible personally for every violation of fundamental rights that takes place in Pakistan.”

The judge recounted an instance when he suddenly heard the sound of a child crying in his courtroom. Upon asking his staff, the child came forward with his grandmother.

“That was Mudassar Naaru’s child,” Minallah said, referring to the journalist who went missing in 2018. “His mother had passed away and the state had failed to at least let them know whether he was alive, he was dead, or where he was.

“Yes, I wanted to sensitise the issue because there was nothing else that I could do and I would go by the constitution,” he added.

“Under the Constitution, the executive head is the prime minister. I passed an order that this child and his grandmother be taken to the then-prime minister of Pakistan.

“It’s very, very difficult for the courts when the state is not cooperating with you. But the Constitution says that it is the prime minister, the cabinet and then the provinces, the chief minister and the ministers who are responsible. You can’t blame someone else.”

Minallah recalled that he summoned the then-PM to appear in court. “Naaru’s son was also there. He (the prime minister) also assured that child [in court], that his (Naaru’s) whereabouts would be known,” he stated.

“Well, I was in haste elevated to the Supreme Court. But before that, let me say to you, the Islamabad High Court, the first priority was to have competent and fearless judges,” Minallah said. “And for a judge or for a court, the only test is the confidence of the people in that court.”

The judge noted that it was the duty of the state to investigate these incidents and hold people accountable. Recalling the first judgment he gave, he stated that the directions he gave were “extremely effective during the four-year period that I served as the chief justice”.

“I had made it very clear to the executive that I will not tolerate a single incident of enforced disappearance from within my jurisdiction,” he said.

“But let me say a word. As a judge, I have always respected the parliament and the elected representatives,” he continued. “They have been victims for the past 77 years.”

However, the judge said that in his experience, “those who are in the government … don’t want to be told that this is an issue. And they also want to pretend that this is not an issue. It is an issue.

“It is for the political leadership. When they are in opposition, they are absolutely different.”

Minallah said that during the four years he served as the Islamabad High Court’s chief justice, students from Balochistan would approach the court about disappearances in the province.

“I knew I didn’t have the jurisdiction, but I assumed the jurisdiction,” he said, noting that the Supreme Court and other courts were there.

“When the Balochistan students came, I didn’t know what to do because it was out of my jurisdiction. The investigations had to take place in Balochistan. But the law did provide me with that jurisdiction.”

The judge urged the need for an independent judiciary, adding that the fact that women from Balochistan had to march in the streets for rights was a matter of “shame” for everyone and him.

Concluding his speech, he said: “Those holding exalted offices, I am afraid they haven’t spoken truth in the last 77 years. The day they start speaking the truth, things will change. We have heard some sitting ministers, some former ministers. I wish one day they will also speak the truth because we all know the truth. Everyone knows the truth, but we pretend that we do not know the truth.”

Earlier this week, Attorney General for Pakistan (AGP) Mansoor Awan assured the National Judicial Policy Making Committee that a mechanism for producing detained people in cases of enforced disappearances would be presented before the body in its next meeting.

Earlier this month, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) revealed that enforced disappearances and other issues were fuelling public alienation and political instability in Balochistan following a fact-finding mission to the province.

According to the report, titled Balochistan’s Crisis of Trust, the HRCP undertook the mission from July 9-12 to respond to the “escalating concerns over the deteriorating state of fundamental rights and civic freedoms in the province”.

The mission aimed to examine the state of fundamental freedoms in the province and the broader impact of conflict and militarisation on civilian life, the report said in its terms of reference.

In the first half of 2025, a total of 125 missing persons cases were submitted to the Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances. The total number of cases received up till June 2025 was 10,592, while 1,914 cases of them were disposed of and 6,786 were traced, the commission said.

In December 2024, the Cons­ti­tutional Bench of the Sup­reme Court emphasised that only parliament held the authority to add­ress and resolve the longstanding, yet unlawful, practice of enforced disappearances — a persistent issue that has plagued the nation for decades.