Blog

As refugees continued to pour into Pakistan, often surviving unspeakable violence en route, Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah, in a true display of leadership, met with the frazzled masses, urging them to keep hope alive. This, along with the busting of an RSS cell in Karachi, and a violent mob attack on Dawn’s Delhi press, marked some of the prominent stories from Sept 15 to 21, 1947.

Soothing words

Many among the millions that had crossed over into Pakistan at the time of Independence had literally been through hell. They had witnessed murder, arson and communal frenzy on their way to what was supposed to be the promised land. In such delicate times, leaders are supposed to put aside protocol and mingle with the masses in order to empathise with them. The Quaid did just that, as a news report from the Sept 18 issue shows.

Titled ‘Quaid-i-Azam and sister visit camps of refugees’, it details his visits to three refugee camps and a transit centre. “It was a nerve-wrecking hour that the Quaid-i-Azam and his sister [Ms Fatima Jinnah] spent with the unfortunate victims of Sikh and Hindu communal frenzy in Indian states and the East Punjab. Every refugee to whom they talked had harrowing tales of barbarities and wholesale liquidation of Muslim population to narrate.”

Yet despite the horrors they had witnessed, the spirits of the men and women who came to Pakistan remained high, as they “raised full-throated shouts of Pakistan Zindabad and Quaid-i-Azam Zindabad to cheer themselves”.

It was also a fact that many who had left behind land and wealth in their ancestral towns and villages were reduced to penury after crossing the frontier. “A jagirdar of Alwar State [now in Rajasthan], who once paid a land revenue of Rs12,000 but now was in tatters, related the gruesome murders of the Muslims of the state and how lakhs and lakhs of Mewati Muslims had either to flee for their lives or were butchered. …”

Mr Jinnah was clearly overwhelmed by these accounts of sorrow and savagery, but, in his capacity as governor-general of the dominion, told his people not to lose hope. “The Quaid-i-Azam was visibly moved by their tales of misfortune and asked them to bear the troubles well. The Pakistan State, he said, would do all it possibly could to help them.”

Today’s rulers could do much to learn from the empathy and leadership qualities the founder and maker of this nation displayed.

The Balochistan question

Today, Balochistan is wracked by separatist violence and under-development. The sad truth is that over the past many decades, the province has witnessed many insurgencies, with the rulers unable to progressively resolve its issues, and bring permanent peace to Balochistan.

At the time of Independence, Baluchistan, as it was then known, was not one singular entity. In fact, it was divided into so-called British Baluchistan, and four princely states. The latter joined Pakistan in 1948. But early on, there were demands for representative rule, and affiliation with Pakistan.

Qazi Mohammad Isa, president of the Baluchistan Provincial Muslim League, was in Karachi to apprise the Quaid and Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan of the demand that “Baluchistan should be made a full-fledged province with a Government responsible to its people.”

According to Qazi sahib, the people of the province were eager to join Pakistan. “When his attention was drawn to the question whether Quetta will have to be made over to Kalat State [which had not yet joined Pakistan], he said that the question did not arise at all. The Baluchis wanted to remain in Pakistan, and nothing could be done against the wishes of the people.”

The Sangh in Sind

The Sangh Parivar — as the stable of far-right Hindu organisations in India are known — has made life for Muslims, Christians and other minority communities in that country very difficult. While the ruling BJP is the political arm of the Sangh, its ideological fountainhead is the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). Once upon a time, the Sangh was active in what is now Pakistan, and in fact, as the Sept 17 edition shows, an RSS cell in Karachi was busted for apparent involvement in terrorist activities.

‘Sevak Sangh plot for revolution in Pakistan’, the headline read, with the subheadings noting that “thirty terrorist leaders arrested: large quantity of explosives confiscated”. The story went on to say that during house-to-house searches, “sufficient documentary and material proof is believed to have fallen into the hands of the authorities to prove the existence of a widespread underground organisation of the Sangh for disruptive work.”

Though the authorities were on the trail of the Sangh extremists for some time, “the chance explosion of a bomb in the house of Rai Bahadur Tota Ram in the Shikarpuri Colony, Karachi [which is located not too far from where the Quaid’s mausoleum now stands] on Sept 10, unexpectedly unravelled the machinations of the Sangh organisation.”

Though the RSS leaders and cadres eventually left for India, they were soon replaced by extremists ‘of our own’.

Dawn under siege

It has always been an uphill struggle for the media to speak the truth in Pakistan. But these curbs, attacks and violent episodes are not new; in fact they go back to the time of Partition. As mentioned in the Sept 16 issue, the Dawn Delhi Press came under attack on Sept 14.

As Dawn was considered the voice of the Muslim League, and therefore the voice of the subcontinent’s Muslims, it was an easy target for extremists who opposed Pakistan and the Quaid’s grand old party. The news report, quoting the BBC, said that the attack was a “two-hour gun battle of the Dawn press and the military.”

The staff at Dawn Delhi sent the following communication to their colleagues in Dawn Karachi: “We have been in the midst of it since Sunday [Sept 10]. Day and night, death and destruction have been peeping round the corner and we have been at the citadel. … Hell was let loose and we were cut off from the world.”

From those harrowing days to the present, the struggle to speak the truth continues.

---

With the advantage of hindsight, one has the opportunity to study the historical cycles in a nation’s life. Thanks to this newspaper’s unique, extensive archive of back issues, one can examine the major political, economic and social trends that have shaped Pakistan and the world over the last seven decades and counting. Cliched as it may sound, history repeats itself, and we — as a state and as a polity — largely refuse to learn from it.

Through this platform, we will look back at the ‘big’ stories that made it to the front pages of Dawn, as well as significant developments tucked away in the inside pages, from the birth of Pakistan onwards, and try to put them in perspective. We will study the critical issues of the week, starting from Aug 14, 1947 and examine the major themes and issues that made it to the paper.

Source: dawn

Thousands of protesters on Saturday took to the streets in the Turkish city hosting COP31 to accuse the climate summit of failing those bearing the brunt of environmental destruction.

The show of dissent comes as negotiators approach the crunch final week of global climate talks in Antalya, with nearly 200 nations scrambling to strike a deal by Friday.

The summit is not expected to produce a major breakthrough, frustrating activists demanding tougher curbs on planet-warming fossil fuels and fresh pledges to help poorer countries adapt to climate impacts.

In downtown Antalya, under rainy skies, thousands of protesters dressed in costumes and shouting slogans marched under close police supervision in the largest demonstration since COP31 began on Monday.

“We are suffering the consequences of climate injustice, yet our voices are never heard at the COP,” said Halime Saman from the People’s Climate Summit platform, one of the groups behind the rally.

“Turkiye is the co-chair of COP31 but still has no roadmap for phasing out fossil fuels. New power stations and coal mines are being opened,” she told AFP.

Yasar Gokoglu, a 78-year-old demonstrator, travelled nearly 600 kilometres from Adana in southern Turkiye to denounce what he called “a masquerade sponsored by monopolies”.

Police estimated that more than 7,000 people attended the protest, which was organised by environmental groups, trade unions and rights organisations, and proceeded without any major incident.

Civil society activists had raised safety concerns ahead of COP31 after Turkiye embarked on a crackdown on the LGBT community in September. Some LGBT protesters waving rainbow flags participated in the march.

Demonstrators were only allowed to join the rally after being searched by police.

‘No quick fix’

Much smaller demonstrations inside the COP31 venue this week, including one attended by Swedish activist Greta Thunberg, have been mounting pressure on political leaders to act faster on the climate crisis.

The negotiations hit the halfway point Saturday, but countries remain far apart on contentious issues including financing adaptation measures in developing nations, defending climate science, and shifting from fossil fuels to clean energy.

Australia’s climate minister, Chris Bowen, who is chairing the formal negotiations, said there had been “really good and positive conversations” but some issues required more time.

Outside the negotiations, Turkiye is urging countries to join a voluntary pledge to raise the share of global final energy demand met by electricity.

The summit, which closes on Nov 20, takes place against a difficult backdrop, with a conflict-driven energy crisis and geopolitical tensions tempering expectations.

“There’s no climate quick fix. No single COP can magic this crisis away, but each must drive progress,” UN climate chief Simon Stiell told reporters on Saturday.

MNA presents five parliamentary recommendations

At the Pakistan Pavilion at COP31, Parliamentary Secretary for Information and Broadcasting Barrister Danyal Chaudhry addressed a high-level dialogue and stressed that the world needs to acknowledge the economic cost of climate inaction, according to a press release.

At the dialogue, titled ‘Adapting Under Austerity: Delivering Paris Commitments in Debt-Stressed, Climate-Vulnerable Economies’, he stated that Pakistan’s core needs to ensure that the pursuit of fiscal sustainability does not compromise Islamabad’s capacity to protect people from severe climate impacts.

“He noted that past policies introduced in the name of fiscal consolidation increased taxation and discouraged climate-resilient development — an approach the Government of Pakistan believes directly undermined its climate objectives,” the press release said.

Chaudhry emphasised that the world must “function as one global village and one global family”. The secretary further noted that addressing the climate crisis requires collective action on a shared planet and there cannot be separate standards for wealthy and developing nations.

He presented five key parliamentary recommendations for climate-vulnerable and debt-stressed nations.

“First, he called for climate-proofing fiscal and taxation policies by mandating climate impact assessments for major financial decisions so they do not drive up the cost of sustainable development,” the statement said.

Second, he stressed the need to safeguard the transition to renewable energy through stable, predictable policies that do not penalise households or businesses investing in clean energy.

Chaudhry also called on governments and lenders to treat adaptation as an investment rather than an expense, stressing that investing in climate-resilient agriculture, water management, early warning systems, and disaster-resistant infrastructure reduces future recovery costs.

Next, he advocated for reforming global debt architecture through debt-for-climate swaps, climate-contingent clauses, concessional financing and extended repayment schedules, so disaster-prone countries are not forced to “sacrifice essential development”.

Chaudhry went on to call for strengthening parliamentary oversight of climate financing by requiring annual reports on climate-related taxes, subsidies, budget allocations and measurable adaptation outcomes, the press release said. He added that national fiscal frameworks must remain fully aligned with Pakistan’s Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and National Adaptation Plan.

Source: dawn

Trump administration officials were left red-faced on Saturday when their public effort to address the massive tech disruption that grounded thousands of US flights was itself hit with embarrassing technical glitches.

Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy took the podium and began addressing a much-anticipated and televised press conference a day after a disastrous nationwide ground stop across US airspace — one blamed on ageing technology — when a deep, echoing hum began to emanate from the microphones and speakers.

“Check one two, three four, five six seven?” Duffy said into the mic.

As cameras rolled, he paused, looked around, and stepped away.

“[I] apologise for that,” he said, as technicians scrambled to replace microphones and adjust cables.

Duffy soon resumed, but brittle feedback hit the room seconds later and his demeanour shifted, presumably all-too-aware that the symbolism of an on-camera tech meltdown after such a major flight disruption was not going unnoticed.

“This is not operational? OK,” said Duffy, appearing deeply irritated.

“This is our kind of, uh, day.”

Duffy was speaking to reporters with the head of the Federal Aviation Administration, Bryan Bedford, and, ironically, with the FAA’s chief technology officer Rebecca Guy, who he said was doing a press conference with him for the first time.

Duffy and Bedford repeatedly pointed to ongoing systemic issues with transitioning from ageing air traffic control technology from the 1970s and 1980s to more modern equipment.

As technicians scrambled, US networks carried the awkward pause — lasting an excruciating three minutes — live on the air.

Source: dawn

Abdul Samad Arshad struck a sensational late winner to guide Pakistan into their first-ever SAFF Championship final, as Nolberto Solano’s side held off sustained pressure from hosts Bangladesh to secure a dramatic 1-0 semi-final victory at the National Stadium on Saturday.

With Bangladesh dominating possession and looking the more likely side to break the deadlock, Samad produced a moment of individual brilliance in the closing stages to silence the home crowd and make history for Pakistan football.

The Denmark-based forward collected the ball on the right, skilfully shifted it between his feet to create space before unleashing a powerful left-footed drive that beat goalkeeper Mehedi Hasan Srabon with around five minutes of regulation time remaining.

The victory marks another significant milestone in a remarkable year for Pakistan football, with the national side now just one win away from claiming its first regional title.

Bangladesh enjoyed around 62-64 per cent possession and looked to make the most of home advantage, but Pakistan remained disciplined and organised defensively, frustrating the hosts while posing a threat on the counter-attack. Despite having considerably less of the ball, the visitors registered more shots and efforts on target.

Bangladesh, who had topped Group ‘A’ unbeaten with victories over Bhutan and Sri Lanka, pressed for an equaliser in the closing minutes.

Frustrated home supporters even threw a flare onto the pitch, briefly interrupting play, but Pakistan held firm to secure a famous victory.

The result also ends a long history of semi-final disappointment for the Shaheens, who had reached the last four on four previous occasions without managing to progress to the final.

Solano’s men had reached the semi-finals as Group ‘B’ runners-up after opening their campaign with a 3-2 defeat to India, despite a spirited late fightback, before responding with a convincing 3-0 victory over the Maldives.

The arrival of several overseas-based players, including Samad, for the knockout rounds provided a timely boost, with the group-stage fixtures having fallen outside the FIFA international window.

Pakistan will now face arch-rivals and defending champions India in Tuesday’s final after the latter defeated Bhutan 2-1 in the other semi-final.

Solano’s side will be aiming to cap their historic campaign by overcoming India and securing Pakistan’s first-ever SAFF Championship title.

Source: dawn

Tech giant Microsoft said on Saturday it has “restored service” to customers, effectively drawing a close to a massive outage that caused chaos and disrupted public services and business around the world.

“We have completed our efforts to address the underlying issue of the incident and restored service to the remaining impacted customers and regions,” the US-based company said in an X post.

Microsoft had already reported a “broad recovery” for Outlook email and other services the day before, stating the major disruption was due to a technical issue and “not related to cyber or AI/agents”.

The outage swept the globe on Thursday, taking the company’s products offline in at least 74 countries and territories across the Americas, Europe, Asia and Africa, according to the monitoring site Downdetector.

Microsoft had attributed the disruption to “elevated load” on its infrastructure.

It said the stoppage affected its Outlook email service, as well as Microsoft’s Teams communication platform and the company’s Copilot AI assistant.

Microsoft on Friday apologised for the global outage as it reported a “broad recovery” for Outlook email and other services.

The company ruled out any malicious “cyber or AI” activity as the cause of the outage, which affected several Microsoft products and disrupted health care services, delayed corporate earnings reports and left schools struggling to communicate.

“We are deeply sorry for the disruption this incident has caused our customers and partners,” Microsoft said on X, adding that full services were still being restored after the outage started on Thursday.

Source: dawn

Elon Musk said on Saturday that chipmaker Nvidia would lose “critical” deals without its now-ousted chief executive officer (CEO) Jensen Huang.

Huang stepped down on Thursday after revelations of extramarital affairs, including one involving a suspected Chinese spy, plunging the chipmaker into crisis and sending shockwaves across an AI industry he helped bankroll.

In a post on X, Musk said that while Huang drove the supply chain “brilliantly” at Nvidia, many such deals were “a handshake with Jensen, not a written contract”.

“Without Jensen, at least some of those critical deals will be lost.”

The SpaceX boss went on to praise the former Nvidia CEO: “If Jensen gave me his word about compute delivery or I asked for components to be accelerated, he always came through.

“Sure, we’d put together a purchase order at some point later, but I never for a second thought it wouldn’t happen.”

The billionaire has separately said on X that a petition was underway to reinstate Huang and that he would sign it. It was not immediately clear whether Musk was referring to the internal effort reported by Wired.

Nvidia declined to comment on the Wired report as well as Musk’s post. Reuters could not independently verify the reports.

Pressure had mounted on Huang after reports said the 63-year-old, who is married, had an affair with Alice Huang, an unrelated former executive of Singapore-based company Megaspeed, who US authorities had been investigating.

Nvidia then said its board was probing whether its then-CEO “has been the target of a foreign intelligence effort”.

On Thursday, CNN reported that the US intelligence community was still working to understand the relationship between Alice Huang and the Chinese government, with multiple sources telling CNN that the intelligence collected on her to date does not prove that she was acting as a spy for Beijing.

The report said there was “disagreement among US officials about the strength of the evidence that Alice Huang was recruited by the Chinese Ministry of State Security (MSS)” to spy on Jensen Huang.

Insiders and tech titans in the running

Huang’s exit plunges the $4 trillion company into uncertainty and threatens to disrupt an AI ecosystem that he helped bankroll by pouring Nvidia’s swelling cash pile back into cloud providers, suppliers and the industry’s biggest labs.

Nvidia’s board has approached British chipmaker Arm Holdings CEO Rene Haas in its search for a potential successor to Jensen Huang, the Financial Times reported on Friday, citing people familiar with the matter.

Haas’s name has been making the rounds among analysts since Huang’s exit. He spent seven formative years at Nvidia, rising to vice president and general manager of its computing products business, before joining Arm in 2013.

Nvidia’s finance chief Colette Kress is currently interim CEO.

Nvidia’s board said it was in the process of selecting a search firm for the CEO role and had not formally engaged any potential candidates.

Some analysts expect the next CEO to break from Huang’s three-decade reign as the hands-on “chief conductor” who personally steered engineering roadmaps, geopolitical negotiations over exports to China and massive investments across the AI ecosystem.

A potential shift toward a more institutional leadership structure would come as Nvidia faces heightened regulatory scrutiny and a growing consensus among US lawmakers to further restrict the company’s chip exports to China.

Analysts view Kress as a steady financial authority, while veteran engineer Ian Buck is seen as a top candidate after leading development of CUDA, the software platform that powers Nvidia’s AI chips.

Apart from Haas, external names discussed by analysts include AMD chief Lisa Su, who has navigated the key China market, and Micron chief Sanjay Mehrotra, whose memory chips power Nvidia servers.

Other candidates cited by industry watchers include Marvell head Matt Murphy and Apple hardware chief Johny Srouji, who oversaw the iPhone maker’s in-house silicon development.

Former Apple chief Tim Cook was floated by US President Donald Trump, as Nvidia’s board evaluates whether to prioritise financial continuity, deep technical expertise, or experience running a global tech heavyweight.

Source: dawn