Pakistan

Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah promised on Tuesday that the investigation into the Greece boat tragedy would be completed within a week as authorities arrested two more traffickers allegedly involved in human smuggling. Last week, an Italy-bound fishing trawler reportedly carrying at least 800 people — including hundreds of Pakistanis — capsized off Greece. Only 104 people are known to have …

The Higher Education Commission (HEC) has taken an exception to the Hindu festival of Holi being celebrated at a university, claiming that it had “caused concern and disadvantageously affected the country’s image”, it emerged on Wednesday. The commission made the remarks in a letter, dated June 20, a copy of which is available with Dawn.com, sent by HEC Executive Director Shaista …

The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) on Wednesday said it arrested two more “human smugglers” allegedly involved in trafficking people to Libya, including those who had died in a shipwreck earlier this year. There have been two notable incidents of boats drowning off the coast of Libya in the Mediterranean Sea this year in which several Pakistanis had lost their lives. …

The PTI on Tuesday issued a statement disputing Asad Umar’s claims that he left his party positions due to Chairman Imran Khan’s “confrontational” policies. The statement issued by PTI Information Secretary Raoof Hasan came hours after the former party secretary general told a private news channel that he had quit his party positions over the political strategy adopted by Imran …

An anti-corruption court in Lahore on Tuesday granted PTI President Parvez Elahi post-arrest bail in a case pertaining to illegal recruitments in the Punjab Assembly. The former Punjab chief minister was arrested by the Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE) in Gujranwala earlier this month on allegations of taking Rs15 million in bribes as the speaker of the provincial assembly for making out-of-merit appointments on …

The government has announced a three-day public holiday for the occasion of Eidul Azha, which will be celebrated on 29 June. As per a press release issued by the Cabinet Division, the holidays have been announced from June 29 to July 1 (Thursday to Saturday), providing a long weekend to the public to celebrate the holy festival. The notification stated …

An Islamabad district and sessions court dismissed the bail petitions of PTI leaders Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Asad Umar and Asad Qaiser on Tuesday in two separate cases related to May 9 vandalism. Television footage showed Qureshi and Umar hurriedly walking towards a vehicle and leaving the court after the judgement was announced. None of the three leaders has been arrested …

Pakistan and China on Tuesday signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to build a new unit of the 1,200 MW Chashma-5 (C-5) nuclear power project. Wang Yongge, president of the China National Nuclear Corporation Overseas Ltd (CNOS) and Muhammad Saeedur Rehman from the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) signed the agreement for unit 5 of the power plant. Prime Minister …

LAHORE: After meeting his cousin and PTI president Chaudhry Parvez Elahi in jail on Monday, PML-Q President Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain said the former was not well and that his feet were swollen. Mr Hussain, who visited the district jail along with his son Salik Husain, quoted Mr Elahi as saying, “Our family has seen massive difficulties in the past, too.” …

Former chief justice of Pakistan (CJP) Jawwad S Khawaja on Tuesday moved the Supreme Court (SC) against the trial of civilians in military courts and demanded that it should be declared “unconstitutional”. The petition, filed through Advocate Khwaja Ahmad Hosain, sought to declare that “sections 2(1)(d)(i) and (ii) of the Pakistan Army Act 1952 are inconsistent with the fundamental rights …