GBS is a federal paramilitary force responsible for security, border protection and supporting civil administration across the region.

According to a statement issued by the chief minister secretariat, a patrol vehicle of the 116 GBS wing came under fire from the mountain side near Sher Nallah. A GBS soldier and two SSU policemen, who sustained injuries in the attack, were rushed to the Bashidas FWO Hospital where they were given medical treatment before being referred to the RHQ Hospital in Chilas.

CM orders investigation, arrest

Seeking investigation report of the shooting, Chief Minister Amjad Hussain directed the police and other law enforcement agencies to immediately track down and arrest attackers, planners, and facilitators using all available resources.

Stating that attacks on security personnel challenge state authority and would not be tolerated, he ordered strengthened security, surveillance, and search operations in Bashidas, Sher Nallah, and surrounding areas.

He also instructed the Diamer authorities to ensure provision of the best medical care to them.

No group or individual claimed responsibility for the attack.

Published in Dawn, September 28th, 2026

IN my life I have watched communities, organisations, and entire countries lose their grip on truth.

I was just starting my book publishing career in Yugoslavia in the mid-80s when the shared facts that held our society together for 40 years came apart, piece by piece, until people could no longer agree on what our country stood for, on its basic values and, finally, what was actually happening.

Hundreds of thousands event­ually died. Millions were displaced. Individual lives were ruined. Commu­nities were left devastated, with shards of inhumanity and hurt that were bound to self-regenerate for generations.

Decades later, in South Africa, I was part of the opposite movement: a group of dogged journalists digging through the wreckage of state capture, one document at a time, until the theft could no longer be denied. That fundamental work was the very spark that helped pull the country back into hope and, ever so briefly, even optimism.

Those two experiences taught me the same lesson from opposite directions. A society that loses its grip on facts loses its grip on itself. A society that fights for truth can still find its way back.

That is what World News Day stands for, and why on Sept 28 more than a thousand newsrooms from over a hundred countries will mark it together.

World News Day exists so we can strongly express our belief that reliable information is the infrastructure of our modern, information-based society. Like water or electricity, it is fundamental to our existence and yet nobody thinks about it until it isn’t there, or it’s been replaced by something that looks like news but isn’t.

Sharing the medium with propaganda outfits and disinformation trolls is one of the great structural weak poi­nts of our entire edifice. Our reports, analyses and investigations travel along the same distribution channels as some of the worst perpetrators of hatred and madness ever to see the face of the Earth.

And yet, and yet, we persist. We are still here, because it is our mission, our motivating force, to be on your side no matter what.

We will always help you know the facts.

They don’t arrive on their own. We have to go and get the facts: read the document, find the witness, check the claims twice, protect sources (who are the ones taking a real risk), ask the questions the powerful people don’t want asked, and then ask them again when they dodge them. We are here to put our name on what we publish and correct it in public if we get it wrong. Algorithmic speed is not the same as truth, and neither is confidence.

We will make sure you understand what matters.

A data point on its own only tells you that something happened. A flood level, a budget line, a vote count. Journalism’s job is to explain why something happened, who benefited, who paid, and what is likely to come next. The context is often the difference between information and journalism. Information can fill any number of feeds at blinding speed. Journalism has to make sense of the world.

It is crucial to choose trusted journalism.

This is not a request to trust every newsroom, or to stop asking hard questions of us. Trust is earned over a lifetime, and it has to be re-energised with every new story.

I told my guys at Daily Maverick way too many times that we’re only as good as our latest story. But we invite you, the reader, to look out for reporting that shows where its information came from, that separates news from opinion, that admits when it doesn’t know something yet, and that corrects itself when it’s wrong. A trustworthy newsroom isn’t one that never makes mistakes. It’s one you can watch making them right.

We owe you the same standard we’re asking you to apply. So on this 2026 World News Day, we’re not just going to tell you that our journalism matters. We’re going to show you and tell you about the work: the months behind an investigation, the checking behind a breaking story, the correction that made the record more accurate, the local report that actually changed the lived reality of a community.

Alone, any one of us can be dismissed. In many countries we’re being sued into silence, driven into penury or simply ignored. Still, together, in dozens of languages and more than a hundred countries, we’re harder to ignore. That’s the whole point of doing this on the same day. This is not a fundraiser. This is a rallying point.

And here is the fourth thing, the one that drives it all: it’s your right to know.

Not a favour handed down by a government or a company that decides what you’re allowed to see. It is your true birth right.

World News Day falls on September 28 for a reason: it’s also the UN’s International Day for Universal Access to Information. That’s not a coincidence we’re borrowing for effect. It’s the same idea, seen from two end points.

Your right to know is only real if someone is doing the work of making information easy to find, check and, above all, true. That’s the job.

So before you share something juicy, pause. Before you believe something, ask how the person telling you knows it. Support the reporting that does this work in the open, and push back on the kind that doesn’t.

These have never mattered more: Know the facts. Understand what matters. Choose trusted journalism. Because it’s your right to know.

And because a world that stops knowing will never be free — just easier to fool. See you in the trenches.

The writer is the founder of Project Kontinuum, an alliance of people working to return journalism to its role as an essential service. This opinion piece was commissioned as part of the World News Day campaign highlighting the essential role of journalism in providing facts and clarity.

Published in Dawn, September 28th, 2026

TV channels 12 and KAN as well as the newspapers Haaretz and The Jerusalem Post said that Netanyahu undertook a one-day visit to the UAE to meet President Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

The premier’s office did not immediately comment.

While Israel and the UAE formally established diplomatic relations in 2020 as part of the US-negotiated Abraham Accords, the reported visit comes with the Middle East still gripped by the Israel-US war launched against Iran in February this year.

Published in Dawn, September 28th, 2026

DERA ISMAIL KHAN: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi on Sunday called for better cooperation between the provincial and federal governments on security matters, saying the counterterrorism policy should reflect ground realities.

The chief minister made these comments during his visit to Dera Ismail Khan to visit the wounded, a day after a deadly bombing targeting a police and customs check-post killed more than 12 people, including rescue officials, in Darazinda.

He was received by his predecessor Ali Amin Gandapur, and the two subsequently visited the hospital where the injured were being treated.

Addressing the media, Chief Minister Afridi said his government had warned about the deteriorating security situation in the province and added that people, police personnel and soldiers were bearing the brunt of violence.

Afridi visits victims of Dera Ismail Khan attack alongside predecessor Ali Amin Gandapur; urges Centre to involve the province in decision-making, provide resources

He said his government provided an additional Rs35 billion to the KP police in the previous financial year for maintaining peace and security. He claimed the province also made payments to federal agencies for the provision of modern weapons, equipment and armoured personnel carriers (APCs), but the required equipment had yet to be delivered.

He demanded that the federal government provide APCs to the province without further delay and said the people of KP should be taken into confidence before making decisions about peace and security. “We are picking up coffins on a daily basis,” the CM said, calling for greater cooperation between the federal and provincial governments on security matters.

“Peace cannot be established without taking the people of KP into confidence,” he said, adding that his government did not accept policies formulated behind ‘closed doors’.

CM Afridi said that anyone taking up arms against Pakistan was a terrorist and expressed concern over the security situation in KP and Balochistan. He said families of those killed in acts of terrorism would be provided with a martyr package.

The chief minister also launched a diatribe against ‘some elements’ in the federal government, accusing them of polarising the country. He said those threatening to impose governor’s rule in KP should go ahead and do it instead of issuing threats.

Officials laid to rest

Meanwhile, Customs official Farman Khan, who embraced martyrdom in the D.I. Khan suicide bombing, was laid to rest in Ghazni Khel in Lakki Marwat district on Sunday. His body was brought to his hometown from D.I. Khan early in the morning. The martyred official was known in the area for patronising and promoting sports and engaging in social and welfare work.

The funeral prayers of the slain personnel were offered at the Ejaz Shaheed police lines on Saturday night. Besides Customs Havaldar Farman, Sepoy Osama and Rescue 1122 officials Imtiaz and Sharifullah were among the deceased. Police personnel presented a guard of honour, while officials laid floral wreaths.

Our correspondent in Lakki Marwat also contributed to this report

Published in Dawn, September 28th, 2026

Mr Channar had secured 62,713 votes against Mr Cheema’s 31,293, suggesting that the ruling party was set to retain the National Assembly seat that fell vacant following the death of MNA Malik Muhammad Iqbal Channar.

The PML-N had fielded the deceased MNA’s son to contest the by-election.

The polling process was largely peaceful across the constituency, although there were reports of isolated incidents of violence, mismanagement, confusion and complaints about the unavailability of women’s voter lists at some polling stations.

Unofficial tally suggests Channar has secured nearly double the votes of his main rival, Cheema

In a statement, the provincial election commissioner said balloting was briefly disrupted at a polling station in Akhtarabad, considered a PML-N stronghold, following a brawl between voters after political workers allegedly harassed election staff. Immediate action was taken, and the relevant district returning officer and returning officer brought the situation under control with police help.

Polling remained slow during the early hours, with limited voter participation. Although polling began on time at all stations on Sunday morning, staff remained idle for several hours as only a few voters turned up till noon. However, voter turnout, including among women, increased after midday.

Rural polling stations, particularly those around Jhnagiwali and Abbasnagar, which are considered strongholds of the Channar family, witnessed a large number of voters.

When asked about the incident, Mr Channar alleged that some people had disrupted polling and were found stamping ballot papers in favour of his rival. He claimed that the individuals were expelled following the scuffle and that polling resumed after remaining suspended for several hours.

Meanwhile, some voters at the Bahawalpur 3-Marla Housing Scheme polling station alleged police officials deployed there had not allowed voters whose CNICs carried addresses from the Yazman area, which is considered a stronghold of Mr Cheema, to cast their ballots.

PM congratulates party candidate

Later, a statement issued by PM Office said Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif congratulated Malik Munir Iqbal Channar as well as his brother Malik Zaheer Iqbal Channar, who is incumbent Punjab Assembly deputy speaker, on the victory in the by-election. The PM lauded the people of Bahawalpur for electing their representative, stating that the victory showed public confidence in the PML-N.

Imran Gabol in Lahore also contributed to this report

Published in Dawn, September 28th, 2026

WASHINGTON/TEHRAN: The Uni­ted States and Iran are expected to hold talks this week, said President Donald Trump after he rejected a proposal by Tehran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz in exchange for cessation of all hostilities in the Middle East and a return to the conditions in the ceasefire deal that fell apart a few months ago.

President Trump told Axios that his negotiators would engage their Iranian counterpart over the next few days apparently to break the stalemate over Hormuz.

Iran announced a peace proposal last week at the UN General Assembly in New York, saying it had been transmitted to the Americans via Qatari mediators. It called for a cessation of all hostilities in the Middle East, including in Lebanon, and a return to the conditions in the ceasefire deal that fell apart a few months ago. That agreement called for the release of frozen Iranian assets, the lifting of sanctions on Iranian oil and an end to the US naval blockade.

Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Iran has never closed the door to diplomacy but it would not capitulate. “Our conditions are clear, and any move toward reopening the Strait of Hormuz is contingent on these conditions being met,” Mr Araghchi posted on social media.

“Only a negotiated solution can get them out of this deadlock.”

‘Demanding too much’

President Trump, however, said Iranians were losing badly, which was the reason they wanted to make a deal to open the strait. “They want to make a deal and I think that’s fine. I like making a deal too.”

His ambassador to the UN, Mike Waltz, accused Tehran of demanding too much in exchange for a return to the negotiating table.

“This was, I think, a pretty cynical attempt to put something on the table that they knew was unacceptable. To ask for the release of the blockade, the sanctions, international sanctions and access to billions in assets, just to talk,” he told NBC News in an interview broadcast Sunday.

The Wall Street Journal first reported that Trump had rejected the Iranian proposal, citing unnamed US officials. It said Trump was privately sceptical that Iran would meet his demands and had told his staff that he sees a renewed bombing campaign as likely after the November US midterm elections.

Despite Trump’s public statements, mediators facilitating Tehran’s talks with Washington have not officially relayed a US rejection of the plan, the Iranian top diplomat said. “We are waiting for the mediators to convey the definitive views to us, and we will make a decision based on them,” Mr Araghchi noted.

‘Critical, decisive stage’

At the same time, Iran’s armed forces said they were prepared for any renewed US attacks. Army spokesperson Mohammad Akraminia warned that the US would suffer greater damage if it launched another attack on his country.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards claimed on Sunday to have seized an American submarine drone on Sunday in the strategic Strait of Hormuz. They said that the drone was “operating in the Strait of Hormuz for espionage purposes”, identifying the model as a Remus 600 autonomous underwater vehicle that was “now in the hands of the force’s specialists for data recovery”.

Separately, Iranian Army Commander-in-Chief Amir Hatami said the war was at a critical and decisive stage, adding that Tehran would not accept a situation in which it was unable to trade while foreign powers used the region’s strategic waterways. “If Iran cannot trade, if Iran cannot live, no one will be able to trade or live,” he added.

Published in Dawn, September 28th, 2026

ISLAMABAD: After many years, Pakistan is bracing for a water shortage of around 25 per cent during the Rabi season starting this week, raising concerns about food security next year as wheat is the season’s main crop.

The last Rabi season faced no water shortage, yet the country is estimated to have suffered a wheat shortfall of more than two million tonnes. This forced the government to order imports of one million tonnes, including 750,000 tonnes in the first phase for delivery in November.

Against a production target of 29.7m tonnes and consumption req­uirements of 31.9m tonnes, the country is estimated to have produced around 27.5m tonnes as far­mers faced challenging conditions following changes in wheat policy.

Part of the estimated Rabi water shortage is man-made, owing to the political needs of the coalition government, informed sources told Dawn, adding that more than one million acre feet (MAF) of avoidable water releases were made from reservoirs during the outgoing Kharif season.

The sources said parliamentary interventions had allowed higher discharges to Sindh with commitments for subsequent adjustments in provincial shares, which could not be materialised within the Kharif season.

Total storage in the two major reservoirs peaked at 11.6MAF on Sept 9, when Tarbela remained full at its 5.8MAF capacity bet­ween Aug 9 and Sept 9 while Mangla touched 5.733MAF on Sept 9.

Both reservoirs started depleting since then, with total storage falling below 9.5MAF ahead of the Rabi season — the lowest carryover since 2021.

Rabi begins on Oct 1 and generally ends on March 31. Last year, the season started with a healthy carryover of 13MAF in the reservoirs, almost 27pc higher than this year.

Wheat is the largest Rabi crop, while gram, lentil, tobacco, rapeseed, barley and mustard are among the other crops grown during the season.

The sources said Rabi 2024 had started with carryover storage of 10.5MAF and the country faced a water shortage of 15-18pc, while Rabi 2023 began with 11.6MAF. Rabi 2022 started with 9.5MAF, when the country faced a 20-22pc shortage.

Rabi 2021 was the worst among recent years, beginning with 7.42MAF in reservoir storage and resulting in a 28pc shortage.

Against this backdrop, the technical committee of the Indus River System Authority (Irsa) will meet on Monday (today) to finalise water availability estimates and recommend criteria for distribution among the provinces for the Rabi cropping season.

The Irsa Advisory Committee (IAC) has also been tentatively called to meet on Oct 5 to approve provincial water shares on the recommendations of the technical committee.

The anticipated shortages are likely to revive provincial acrimony, particularly between Sindh and Punjab, as Irsa seeks to allocate water under the three-tier formula it uses to manage shortages.

Tarbela Dam reached its maximum conservation level of 1,550 feet on Aug 9 and remained there until Sept 9. Mangla Dam peaked at 1,222 feet on Aug 9 against its maximum conservation level of 1,242 feet.

Flows in the Jhelum River remained weak throughout the Kharif season, while subsequent rel­e­a­ses further reduced Man­gla’s conservation level.

As a result, Mangla’s storage stood at 5.12MAF on Sunday night against its maximum storage capacity of 7.277MAF. Mangla had reached 1,233.25 feet at the end of Kharif 2023 and 1,224 feet in 2025.

Around 10.33MAF of water has flowed into the sea since the Kharif season began on April 1 against an annual environmental requirement of about 8.2MAF.

Total water requirements for Rabi crops under the Water Apportionment Accord of 1991 are about 37-38MAF. With limited carryover storage from Kharif, water availability is expected to be around 21-22MAF, along with river flows over the next six months.

The accord empowers Irsa to determine the country’s water availability and provincial shares twice a year.

The 1991 water accord works well in rare cases of sufficient annual water availability of 114MAF. However, with shortages exceeding 10pc becoming increasingly common, Irsa has been using a de facto three-tier formula for distributing provincial shares — a mechanism opposed by Sindh, which has been pushing for implementation of Para 2 of the accord.

Irsa has maintained for several years that it cannot change the existing distribution mechanism used to absorb shortages.

Under Para 2 of the 1991 accord, provincial water shares were fixed. However, amid persistent shortages, Irsa, with the involvement of the federal and provincial governments, introduced a cascading distribution mechanism in 2002.

The three-tier formula now combines Para 2, Para 14(a) and historical water use from 1977 to 1982.

Para 14(b) requires that 10 daily uses be adjusted pro rata to correspond with seasonal allocations of different canal systems and form the basis for sharing shortages and surpluses across the country.

Under the three-tier formula, Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa are exempt from shortages, leaving the shortfall to be shared by Sindh and Punjab.

However, Sindh maintains that it bears a disproportionately larger shortage under this mechanism. The province has argued that Irsa exceeded its mandate by introducing the three-tier formula and devised its own formulas despite Sindh’s objection through a meeting of the provincial committee of ministers.

Published in Dawn, September 28th, 2026

Official sources said the mission, led by Iva Petrova, would stay for almost two weeks, until the first week of October, to conduct the fourth review of the EFF and the third review of the RSF.

Pakistan is currently under a 37-month IMF programme aimed at stabilising the economy through fiscal discipline, structural reforms and measures to support long-term growth.

Upon successful completion of the reviews, Pakistan will be eligible for the disbursement of about $1 billion (760 million Special Drawing Rights) under the EFF and another $200m under the RSF by the end of Novem­ber or early December, a total of $1.2bn.

‘No govt financing’

Meanwhile, Adviser to the Finance Minister Khurram Schehzad clarified on Sunday that the government was not buying any aircraft for Pakis­tan International Airlines (PIA), which was privatised through an auction in December last year.

“The government is neither buying aircraft for a privatised PIA, nor has it announced any sovereign guarantee of taxpayer-funded loan for doing so,” Mr Schehzad posted on X following claims on social media that a minister was arranging and negotiating sovereign-linked financing for the jets.

The claims came after a recent meeting between Finance Minister Aurangzeb and Chairman of the US Export-Import (Exim) Bank John Jovanovich on the sidelines of the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

The finance ministry said the two discussed the Reko Diq mining project and funding opportunities for procuring an aircraft for PIA.

The finance minister shared PIA’s interest in Boeing’s 787 Dreamliners and “sought support for a financing package covering aircraft and engines”. However, Mr Schehzad pointed out in his post that the US Exim’s “mandate, like export credit agencies elsewhere, is to support its country’s exports and jobs”.

“Boeing aircraft are US exports. US Exim provides financing support to foreign purchasers of US-manufactured aircraft, including airlines, through established financing structures,” he added.

“US Exim’s own framework provides for asset-backed aircraft financing, where financing can be secured against the aircraft itself and credit assessed on the airline/lessee and/or guarantor, if any. A sovereign guarantee is therefore not an automatic requirement.”

He added that Mr Aurangzeb’s discussions with US Exim were not confined to PIA. They covered potential financing across aviation, refinery upgrades and Reko Diq as part of a much broader Pakistan-US economic engagement.

Published in Dawn, September 28th, 2026