Punjab Assembly passes controversial anti-terror law

The provincial assembly of Punjab on Monday passed the Punjab Anti-Terrorism (Amendment) Bill, 2026 amid protests and a walkout by opposition lawmakers. During the session, Punjab Assembly Speaker Malik Muhammad Ahmad Khan and Opposition Leader Moin Riaz Qureshi held a heated debate over the new legislation's legal and constitutional implications. Addressing the house, the speaker issued a ruling confirming that the bill could legally be placed on the agenda, citing Article 142 of the Constitution concerning criminal-law jurisdiction. Defending the move, the speaker recalled how terrorism claimed more than 100,000 lives in Pakistan during the war on terror, including those of high-profile figures, and led to attacks on places of worship. He argued that, in the past, terrorists often walked free due to a lack of witness protection and physical security. He noted that even democratic nations such as the US have established “faceless” or anonymous courts to deal with extreme terror threats, urging the opposition to propose constructive amendments rather than block the bill. Qureshi condemned the “draconian” law, which he claimed aimed at "crushing the citizens of Punjab”. He accused the ruling government of introducing the amendment to target political rivals, particularly PTI leaders and activists, much like previous defamation and National Accountability Bureau laws. He raised concerns about a provision under which a Grade-20-designated official would have the authority to advise the chief justice of the Lahore High Court on whether cases should be classified as “special security cases”. Joining the debate, opposition lawmaker Ahmar Rashid Bhatti read out on the floor of the House an opinion column he had written for a daily newspaper, comparing the proposed law to a 1909 British colonial-era act that Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah opposed. He warned that allowing the identities and voices of judges, prosecutors, defence lawyers and witnesses to be concealed or altered would violate Article 10-A of the Constitution, which guarantees the fundamental right to a fair and transparent trial. Following the intense debate, opposition members chanted slogans against the bill and walked out of the hall. As they exited, lawmaker Waqas Mann pointed out a lack of quorum, but the treasury benches successfully rallied enough members to maintain it. With the opposition absent, their proposed amendments were rejected, and the House voted to approve the Anti-Terrorism (Amendment) Bill, 2026. The bill seeks to insert a new Section 21AAA into the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997, creating a “special security case” mechanism for cases in which participants are considered to require extraordinary protection. Under the proposed law, a designated authority — an officer of at least BS-20 whose identity would itself remain confidential — could declare a case or a class of cases a special security case. At the authority’s request, the LHC chief justice would assign the case to an Anti-Terrorism Court judge. The bill also proposes that the identities of judges, public prosecutors, defence counsel, police officers, witnesses and other persons involved in such proceedings “shall not be disclosed”. Judicial orders would carry official titles instead of the judges’ names, while witnesses would be identified through codes issued by the designated authority. The proceedings could be held at secure premises or conducted through video links, including from prisons. The proposed provision would also allow the government to adopt other security measures it considers appropriate.

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Pakistani climber Asma Mushtaq’s body reportedly located beyond Camp-III on Spantik peak: Tarar

Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Attaullah Tarar said on Monday that a search and rescue team had reportedly located the body of Pakistani climber Dr Asma Mushtaq beyond Camp III on the Spantik peak of Gilgit-Baltistan. On August 20, Pakistani mountaineer Dr Asma died during the descent from Spantik peak (7,027 metres) in the Karakoram range, after suffering from high-altitude sickness. In a post on X, while sharing the latest update about the Spantik Peak Search and Rescue operation, Tarar said that “the team is assessing site conditions and finalising arrangements for safe recovery and controlled evacuation to Base Camp, considering the high-altitude terrain and associated risks”. SPANTIK PEAK SEARCH & RESCUE OPERATION – LATEST UPDATE Dated: 31 August 2026 Recovery of body of the deceased: The Search & Rescue Team has reportedly located the body of Dr. Asma Mushtaq beyond Camp-III. Recovery & Evacuation: The team is assessing site conditions and… https://t.co/wsRGmsg2IU — Attaullah Tarar (@TararAttaullah) August 31, 2026 Read: Snowfall forces suspension of rescue efforts to recover Dr Asma Mushtaq’s body from Spantik On August 23, snowfall at Spantik forced the suspension of efforts to recover the body with the recovery team reaching Camp 2 before being advised to return to base camp and wait for a suitable weather window, the Alpine Club of Pakistan (ACP) said on Sunday. According to an earlier statement, the ACP announced that Dr Asma had died during her descent from Spantik after successfully reaching the 7,027-metre summit. The club said, "she had suffered serious high-altitude sickness at around 6,400 metres, which apparently led to her death". In the latest statement, the club said Asma’s body remained at an altitude of about 6,400 metres, while approval for a helicopter “mercy mission” was also being sought on humanitarian grounds with the support of the Pakistan Army. In a post on X, Tarar said on August 23 that high-altitude porters were expected to reach Camp 3 and bring Dr Asma’s body down to Base Camp by Monday. However, the rescue team had reached almost Camp 3 before severe weather, heavy snowfall and strong winds forced it to turn back and return to Camp 2. Update on retrieval of Dr Asma's body from Spantik Mountain in the Karakoram range: High Altitude Porters were expected to reach Camp-3 for retrieval of the body of Dr.Asma and bring it down to base camp by tomorrow. The rescue team reached almost near Camp 3, but due to… https://t.co/ptpuCOcFQp — Attaullah Tarar (@TararAttaullah) August 23, 2026 “Heli has been authorised, and coordination has been done between G-B Government and FCNA,” Tarar said. He added that alternative arrangements were also in place and that “Whatever can be done in these circumstances will be done.”

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PDMA issues GLOF alert for upper K-P

The Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) has issued a Glacial Lake Outburst Flood (GLOF) alert for several upper districts of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. It has warned of an increased risk of sudden flooding following hot weather and intermittent rainfall expected from the night of August 31 through September 4. According to the PDMA, the prevailing hot conditions, coupled with intermittent rains, could accelerate glacier melting and increase the volume and water levels of glacial lakes. The bursting of these lakes could trigger sudden floods and rapid water flows in vulnerable mountainous areas. It has alerted the administrations of Upper Chitral, Lower Chitral, Upper Dir, Swat, Upper and Lower Kohistan and Mansehra and directed them to continuously monitor vulnerable GLOF locations and ensure timely warnings. The authority has also instructed the administrations to conduct evacuation drills in vulnerable areas and keep designated safe locations prepared. Residents of low-lying areas are to be informed promptly about the potential threat. The PDMA advised people to stay away from rivers, streams, glacial lakes and narrow mountain valleys. It has urged tourists to avoid unnecessary travel, camping and trekking in vulnerable areas. It warned that fast-flowing water could sweep away vehicles and advised citizens to remain vigilant for changes in the colour of water in streams or unusual sounds, which could signal an approaching flood. It advised residents in vulnerable areas to move livestock and essential belongings to elevated and safe locations and directed authorities to ensure the availability of rescue and emergency services. According to the alert, PDMA's Emergency Operations Centre is monitoring the situation round the clock. "The public has been advised to contact the PDMA's toll-free helpline 1700 in case of an emergency," it added.      

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Sindh lifts seven-year ban on commercialisation of residential plots

The Sindh Master Plan Authority has lifted a seven-year ban on the conversion of residential plots for commercial use following recent court decisions, while a new formula for distributing infrastructure fees collected on changes in land use has also come into effect. In light of recent decisions of the Supreme Court and the Federal Constitutional Court, the Authority has withdrawn the notification imposing the ban on conversion of residential plots for commercial purposes across the province, including Karachi and Hyderabad, since 2019. “The notification issued by the Sindh Building Control Authority in pursuance of the Order dated 22.01.2019, regarding the immediate ban on conversion (change of land use), is hereby withdrawn with immediate effect,” said the notification. Read: SC places ban on conversion of residential, amenity plots The process of changing land use, which had remained suspended for seven years, has consequently been restored with immediate effect. According to the notification, the Court’s decisions of 2018 and 2019, as well as the Sindh Building Control Authority’s restraining notification, have been declared void and withdrawn. All relevant institutions have been directed to implement the court orders in letter and spirit. Officials clarified that withdrawal of the ban did not mean that every residential plot would automatically become commercial, adding that any change in land use would still require compliance with relevant laws, zoning rules and the master plan, as well as a formal no-objection certificate and approval from the competent authority. Senior Director of the Sindh Master Plan Authority Shakeel Siddiqui said commercialisation would be allowed on Beach Avenue Road, Khayaban-e-Saadi, Khayaban-e-Rumi, Nishtar Road/Dhoraji Road, Alamgir Road, Shahrah-e-Noor Jehan, Stadium Road, Shahrah-e-Usman, Tipu Sultan Road, Shahrah-e-Humayun, Shahrah-e-Faisal, Tariq Road, Rashid Minhas Road, University Road, Shahrah-e-Pakistan, Nazimabad A Road, North Nazimabad 300-foot Road, Shahrah-e-Jahangir, Khayaban-e-Iqbal, Khayaban-e-Jami, Khalid bin Walid Road, Jamaluddin Afghani Road, Allama Iqbal Road, Sir Syed Ahmed Road, Shaheed-e-Millat Road and Chaudhry Khaliquzzaman Road. The court has also made it clear that amenity plots, including parks, hospitals, schools, mosques, playgrounds and graveyards, cannot be used for commercial or residential purposes under any circumstances. Also Read: KDA flouts top court ban on land commercialisation The ban on commercial use of residential land in Karachi had left several projects of builders and the business community pending for several years. New fee-sharing formula Alongside lifting of the ban, a new formula for distributing infrastructure fees collected for changes in land use has also been introduced and a notification issued. Siddiqui told Express Tribune that the Local Government and Housing, Town Planning Department had prepared the new formula for distributing infrastructure fees collected by the Sindh Master Plan Authority among various local government bodies and authorities. Under the notification, all previous orders and notifications regarding the distribution of the fees have been cancelled. According to the formula, districts and divisions across the province have essentially been divided into three categories for the collection and distribution of the fees. In Karachi division and Hyderabad district, 45 per cent of the infrastructure fee collected for a change in land use will go to the relevant Town Municipal Corporations, 25pc to the Sindh Master Plan Authority, 20pc to the Water and Sewerage Corporation and 10pc to the metropolitan or municipal corporation. A separate mechanism has been devised for urban and rural areas of the other divisional headquarters — Mirpurkhas, Shaheed Benazirabad, Sukkur and Larkana. Within the jurisdiction of a municipal corporation, the fee will be distributed according to the same pattern as in Karachi and Hyderabad: 45pc to Town Municipal Corporations, 25pc to the Sindh Master Plan Authority, 20pc to the Water and Sewerage Corporation and 10pc to the relevant municipal corporation. In areas where there is no corporation jurisdiction, 75pc of the total fee will go to the relevant municipal committee, town committee or district council, while the remaining 25pc will be transferred to the Master Plan Authority. Chairman of the Association of Builders and Developers (Abad) Hassan Bakshi welcomed the decision, saying the real estate sector had breathed a sigh of relief. “I welcome this decision,” he said, adding that allowing commercialisation indiscriminately without proper planning and improvements in infrastructure could further affect Karachi’s traffic, water, sewerage and other civic services. He said commercialisation had been suspended in Karachi at a time when it was allowed across the rest of the country. “Commercialisation on the 26 declared roads will create employment opportunities and increase options for ordinary buyers,” he added.

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Kundi questions Centre's K-P priorities

As the PTI-led Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government comes under fire over its alleged failure to improve the lives of people in the province, Governor Faisal Kareem Kundi on Saturday turned the question towards Islamabad, asking what the PML-N-led federal government had done for the province. "There is a lot of criticism of the PTI government in K-P for doing little to nothing for the people of the province, but what has the PML-N-led federal government done for K-P?" Governor Kundi asked during a conversation with The Express Tribune. Kundi questioned how many times Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had visited Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. According to preliminary research, the prime minister has visited the province twice. Kundi said the frequency of the premier's visits reflected the federal government's priorities towards the people of K-P. "Why are all the projects and the focus directed towards Punjab?" he asked, adding that if the PTI government in K-P was failing its people, the federal government could have stepped in to fill the gaps. The governor said he supported the K-P government's "genuine demands" from the federal government, particularly those relating to the province's fiscal and water shares. "Our province is not getting its due fiscal share," he said. "Not only that, K-P is not even getting its due water share." Kundi also raised the issue of the Chashma Right Bank Canal, saying K-P had been deprived of its due share while other provinces had received canals and water allocations. "Where is our Chashma Right Bank Canal? Every province has received its canals and is getting its due share of water, but not K-P," he said. According to Kundi, the canal could irrigate a large area in Dera Ismail Khan and help address the province's agricultural needs, including its wheat shortfall. Asked about Chief Minister K-P Sohail Afridi's performance, Kundi said there was "nothing to write home about" on the performance front. However, he described Afridi as a decent person who "minds his own business", unlike his predecessor. On the political situation in K-P, Kundi said PTI was fragmented and divided into five or six groups. This fragmentation, he added, had considerably weakened the party's political strength in the province. He predicted that PTI's planned September 27 rally would be "another flop show". Asked about reports that the PPP was considering moving to the opposition benches in the federal government, following remarks by PPP leader Hasan Murtaza, Kundi appeared to reject the possibility. "Why would PPP sit on the opposition benches? Will we sit behind PTI?" he asked. When asked whether the PPP could pursue an independent political course rather than joining an opposition bloc, given its political differences with PTI, Kundi reiterated his objection to sitting alongside PTI. "Why would we sit with PTI or share benches with them?" he said. His position, however, appears to differ from remarks made by some other PPP leaders regarding the party's possible political strategy in the federal government. On the question of creating new provinces, Kundi said the PPP was opposed to the proposal in principle, although the party supported the creation of a Saraiki province.

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The PIMS fire and the failures behind it: What the interim inquiry report says

The inquiry committee formed by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to investigate the fire that killed 14 newborns at Islamabad’s Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) has now laid out a grim account of what happened — and what, in the committee’s view, failed to happen before the flames took hold. After the committee presented its interim report, the premier approved the immediate suspension of eight officials and ordered departmental as well as criminal proceedings against those identified as responsible. The report found serious deficiencies in fire safety, emergency preparedness and supervision at the hospital, while stopping short of settling the precise source of the blaze. So what, exactly, did the committee find? The answer lies not only in the question of what started the fire, but in a more consequential one: why a fire that began in a hospital nursery was allowed to become a catastrophe. As directed by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif @CMShehbaz , Interim Inquiry Report of the extremely unfortunate PIMS Incident is posted below. PM had directed for the Interim Report to be made publichttps://t.co/qor6aSV6b0 — Ministry of Information & Broadcasting (@MoIB_Official) August 29, 2026 Two minutes to catastrophe The committee reconstructed the sequence of events primarily through CCTV footage. The footage became the central piece of evidence in reconstructing the final minutes before the nursery was overwhelmed. According to the report, Charge Nurse Nasreen was first seen rushing out of the nursery at about 6:38:15am on Aug 26 to seek help. Roughly 20 seconds later, she and security guard Maria re-entered the nursery, by which time flames were already visible. Staff Nurse Razia entered at 6:38:56am and emerged eight seconds later carrying a baby before attempting to go back inside. Dr Abdul Rehman appeared shortly afterwards. Within minutes, dense smoke had obscured the CCTV cameras. "The Nursery environment deteriorated catastrophically within approximately two minutes," the committee observed. It said the footage did not support claims that frontline doctors and nurses had abandoned the newborns. Instead, it showed medical, nursing and security staff making repeated rescue attempts as the fire spread. The committee, however, distinguished those efforts from the broader question of whether the institution had adequately prepared its staff to respond to such an emergency. The first spark remains a mystery The inquiry has yet to determine what ignited the fire. Investigators examined multiple possibilities — an air conditioner, an incubator or infant warmer, an electrical short circuit or an overloaded plug — while Iesco records showed no external feeder fault, shifting scrutiny to the hospital's internal electrical system. Maintenance records indicated that several incubators had recently been serviced and returned in working order. But the report noted that those records could not verify the safety of the plugs, sockets, wiring or circuits to which the equipment was connected. The committee therefore considered an internal electrical or equipment-related origin plausible, without attributing the blaze to any single device. "The precise ignition source remains technically unresolved," the report said. Yet the committee draws a distinction that underpins its findings: identifying the first spark is not the same as explaining the scale of the tragedy. "The cause of ignition and the causes of the consequences are related but analytically distinct," it observed. The central question, it suggests, was not simply what caught fire, but what allowed it to become catastrophic. The doors, the alarms and the call for help One of the most consequential questions concerned the hospital's ability to detect, contain and evacuate a fire. The inquiry found evidence that rescue and evacuation were attempted, but it could not establish that the MCH/Nursery had an approved, communicated, trained and rehearsed fire and neonatal evacuation procedure. The hospital had standard operating procedures, but the committee found no detailed plan for the most basic demands of a nursery fire: who raises the alarm, calls emergency services, assumes command, unlocks exits and carries critically ill newborns to safety. The omission was especially consequential. The infants could not flee on their own. The Capital Emergency Service also found fire and life-safety arrangements inadequate, with some emergency exits or escape routes locked or obstructed. Firefighters were reportedly forced to open locked exit doors. The committee has yet to determine responsibility or whether the blocked exits delayed evacuation. But it described the findings as serious prima facie deficiencies. An Overture to Disaster What makes the findings especially stark is that the warning had come before the fire. On July 6, PIMS had experienced a fire at its Female Nursing Hostel. The report draws attention to institutional neglect following that fire where the inquiry had already identified serious lapses in smoke detection, fire alarms, evacuation preparedness, electrical inspections, security response and record-keeping, recommending a raft of corrective measures ranging from fire-safety audits and alarm systems to emergency lighting, electrical inspections and formal emergency-response protocols. Yet, on Aug. 25 — a day before the nursery fire — the earlier inquiry was still being returned for revision for failing to adequately address its terms of reference. The report describes the timing as significant. While it does not suggest that finalising the earlier inquiry would necessarily have prevented the second fire, it concludes that the institutional process of converting identified failures into meaningful corrective action had remained unfinished when the nursery caught fire. The institutional process for identifying the causes of the July fire and turning its recommendations into corrective action “had apparently not reached satisfactory closure” before the second fire. In other words, PIMS had already been warned about fire safety. The warning had not translated into sufficient protection. Who was responsible? The committee's interim findings shift the question of responsibility beyond those who happened to be on the ward when the flames appeared. Clinically, fewer officials than required under the duty roster were present. The report singles out the head of Neonatology, Prof Dr Sadia Riaz, and Senior Registrar Dr Nagham, recommending suspension and proceedings under the E&D Rules 2020. The larger failures, however, were administrative. After the July fire, the committee found that PIMS had not completed essential fire-safety measures, including drills, checks of firefighting equipment and detailed emergency protocols. It recommended proceedings against four senior PIMS officials — Executive Director Prof Dr Imran Sikandar; Joint Executive Director, MCH, Dr Mutahir Shah; Joint Executive Director (Non-Medical) Ch Waris Ali Raza; and MCH Director Dr Nosheela Amjad. It also recommended action against Capital Emergency Service Director General Dr Abdul Rehman and Assistant Director Security Muhammad Usman, citing failures including alleged dereliction of duty and absence from duty without leave. The committee further found Belfort Security Services in breach of its contractual obligations and recommended proceedings under the relevant laws. But these remain interim recommendations, not findings of criminal guilt. The committee said accountability must ultimately follow the chain of duty, knowledge, omission and consequence. The call that came too late — or perhaps not The chronology of the emergency call remains unsettled. CCTV places the first signs of the fire at around 6:38am. CES records show its first call at about 6:54am, dispatch a minute later and arrival at roughly 7:01am. Yet witness accounts suggest an earlier call may have been made. The committee has therefore resisted assigning blame for the apparent gap, calling for telephone records, control-room logs, emergency-service data and CCTV timings to establish what happened. The deeper question is what occurred inside the hospital before professional help was summoned. What changes now? The committee has called for immediate fire, life-safety and electrical audits across PIMS, beginning with high-risk areas such as the NICU and nursery. It has recommended testing alarms, extinguishers, emergency lighting, electrical systems and fire exits; inspecting incubators, warmers, air-conditioning units, sockets and wiring; and conducting practical evacuation drills involving medical, nursing, security and engineering staff. It also calls for a clearly defined command structure under which a fire triggers an internal alarm, mobilises designated responders and immediately alerts CES/Rescue 1122. Most significantly, every deficiency is to be placed on a time-bound compliance mechanism, with a named officer or agency, a deadline and independent verification. Because the tragedy was not simply a story of how quickly the flames spread. It was also a reckoning with what the hospital knew before the fire — and what remained undone.  

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Lahore Zoo probes viral TikToker's lion enclosure stunt

The Lahore Zoo administration has launched an inquiry into a viral social media video that purportedly shows a TikToker climbing over the railing of a lion enclosure. The video, which surfaced on social media two days ago, appears to show the TikToker crossing the enclosure railing before returning outside moments later, sparking concerns over zoo security and visitor safety. Zoo officials, however, said there was a wide trench between the enclosure railing and the area inhabited by the lions. They added that multiple layers of razor wire had also been installed along the boundaries of enclosures housing big cats and other large animals. According to the officials, it was not physically possible for a person to cross the razor-wire barriers and enter the lions' trench. They said there was currently no confirmation that anyone had crossed the barriers or entered the trench. The administration has initiated an inquiry to determine the authenticity of the video and establish the circumstances in which it was recorded. Officials said the version of the video uploaded on TikTok appeared to have been edited. However, they stressed that a final conclusion would be drawn only after the investigation was completed. The zoo administration also said the TikToker was known for producing and sharing videos featuring similar stunts on social media.

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