Blaze News - Pakistan

Pakistan’s Ambassador to the United States, Rizwan Saeed Sheikh, on Sunday called for greater trade and investment to further deepen bilateral ties between the two countries. He was speaking at a special event organised by the Pakistani American Press Association (PAPA) to mark the 250th anniversary of US Independence and Pakistan’s 79th Independence Day. According to a statement by the Embassy of Pakistan in Washington on X, prominent community members, media professionals, public officials and other distinguished guests attended the event to celebrate the enduring values underpinning the longstanding friendship between Pakistan and the United States. Read: Natalie Baker hails evolving US-Pakistan partnership on America's 250th anniversary The statement said Ambassador Sheikh emphasised the importance of strengthening Pak-US ties through greater trade, investment and economic cooperation. Ambassador Rizwan Saeed Sheikh participated in a special event organiz...

Sindh Senior Minister Sharjeel Inam Memon has approached the National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA) over what he described as false, fabricated, and malicious allegations circulating on social media linking him and his son, Rawal Memon, to the alleged murder of young Wafflix owner Mir Raza Ali. A formal written complaint was submitted to the deputy director of the NCCIA Karachi Zone on Aug 9, 2026, through his lawyer, Advocate Syeda Malaika Naqvi of Naqvi Law Associates. The complaint named unknown individuals and accused them of operating social media accounts, allegedly harassing the complainant, creating and disseminating false and malicious content, and damaging the reputation and standing of Memon and his son. Read: Murder charge added to Mir Raza case after re-postmortem report The complaint said the complainant did not know the identities of the individuals allegedly operating various social media accounts, pages and groups. It claimed that content against Me...

Pakistan's solar debate often gets reduced to immediate questions: what rate will exported units get? Will net billing hurt payback? And, are solar users shifting costs onto others? These questions matter. But once distributed solar reaches meaningful scale, the deeper issue is no longer just pricing. It is integration. Pakistan's first solar phase was driven by consumer economics. Grid electricity became expensive, service quality uneven, solar equipment cheaper, and consumers responded rationally. But when many users generate part of their own electricity, solar stops being only a consumer decision and becomes a power-system issue. This is not because solar is a mistake. It is because Pakistan's electricity system was built around centralised logic: large generation, top-down planning, one-way power flows, and consumers visible mainly through conventional billing. Distributed solar changes that picture. It places generation at the edge of the system, unevenly acros...

Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) has postponed the sit-ins scheduled for Sunday in Lahore, Karachi, Peshawar and Quetta and announced that nationwide sit-ins will now be held simultaneously on August 16. The decision was taken at a special meeting chaired by JI Ameer Hafiz Naeemur Rehman to review preparations for the planned protests. The party also decided to observe Independence Day celebrations across the country with full participation. JI Deputy Ameers Liaqat Baloch and Usama Razi, Acting Secretary General Nazir Ahmad Janjua, Syed Waqas Anjum Jafri, Azhar Iqbal Hassan, Rasool Khan Babar, Javed Qasuri and Ziauddin Ansari attended the meeting. Emirs of all provinces and major cities participated through video link. Read: Road chaos as JI rally blocks major routes In a video statement, Rehman said the sit-ins had been shifted from August 9 to August 16 because of Independence Day celebrations. He said simultaneous sit-ins would be held in all four provinces on August 16, marking t...

Polling in the Bagh and Haveli constituencies of Azad Jammu and Kashmir’s Rawalakot Division will be held on Monday, amid heightened security, while elections in Rawalakot are likely to be conducted on August 20 or 21 if the ongoing protest sit-in in Rawalakot is resolved within the next few days, Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Justice (retd) Ghulam Mustafa Mughal said on Saturday. Speaking to the media, the chief election commissioner said the AJK Election Commission had decided to hold polling in Bagh and Haveli first due to security considerations, with security personnel already deployed in the two districts and election material being transported under the supervision of the armed forces. He said sufficient security arrangements had been made at polling stations, particularly those declared highly sensitive. As many as eight security personnel would be deployed at each highly sensitive polling station, he added. Read: Final phase of AJK electoral process hits a sna...

The federal government on Friday reduced the prices of petrol and high-speed diesel (HSD) by Rs2.20 and Rs1.50 per litre, respectively, for the next three days, until August 10. According to a notification issued by the Ministry of Petroleum, the price of petrol has been fixed at Rs327.62 per litre, while HSD will now cost Rs380.86 per litre.  The latest revision comes a day after the government decreased petrol by Rs3.19 and HSD by Rs1.50 per litre for Aug 7. READ: Govt reduces petrol price by Rs3.19, HSD by Rs1.50 for August 7 On July 17, the government introduced a daily fuel price review mechanism amid volatility in global oil prices following renewed hostilities in the Middle East. The daily fuel prices are based on a seven-day average of international market rates to align with international standards. According to the Pakistan Economic Survey 2024-25, petroleum products constitute one of the country's largest import categories, making the economy highly vulner...