Pakistan and India sparred on Friday at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) over the situation of minority rights in each other’s countries as the assembly adopted a resolution, co-sponsored by Pakistan, condemning damage and destruction of religious sites. Rejecting what were termed India’s “unwarranted assertions” on the burning down of a Hindu shrine in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Karak tehsil last month, Pakistani …

MOSCOW: Russian authorities detained a top aide of jailed opposition politician Alexei Navalny on Thursday and warned social media platforms against spreading online calls to stage weekend protests. Navalny’s allies are planning to hold demonstrations in around 65 cities across the country on Saturday in support of the Kremlin critic, who was arrested and jailed on his return to Russia …

PESHAWAR: The University of Peshawar, the oldest public sector varsity of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, informed its staff members on Thursday that they would be paid only basic pay portion of the salary for the current month due to financial constraints. According to the university, it will not be able to pay employees house rent, ad hoc, PhD, entrainment, orderly and conveyance …

ISLAMABAD: A two-member division bench of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Thursday suspended a decision that imposed a Rs700,000 fine on senior government officials and police officers for their failure to trace a missing person. IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah, in July 2018 imposed fines of Rs100,000 each on ex-secretary Ministry of Defence retired Lt Gen Zamirul Hassan Shah, …

LARKANA: Pakistan Peoples Party chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari has said that Prime Minister Imran Khan has no other option but to step down. Bilawal said in his separate meetings with the party’s lawmakers and leaders at Naudero House on Thursday that people were demanding Imran Khan’s resignation. The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf government would prove to be the most corrupt in the history …

LAHORE: A sessions court on Thursday allowed an application of Prime Minister Imran Khan and directed the counsel for Leader of Opposition in National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif to present the record of all the cases pending against his client. Mr Khan had filed the application in a defamation suit Shehbaz was pursuing against him since 2017. Khan did not file …

KARACHI: The massive power show of Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (Fazl) to condemn the atrocities of Israel against Palestinians and stop any move to recognise the Zionist state by the Pakistan government turned into an anti-government rally where leaders of the opposition alliance Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) claimed that Prime Minister Imran Khan was selling out Kashmir. The opposition leaders vowed that …

LAHORE: PML-N vice-president Maryam Nawaz says Imran Khan’s administration is a ‘government of the mafias, for the mafias, by the mafias,’ saying the more he stays in power, the more the people will suffer. “(This is a) government of the mafias, for the mafias, by the mafias,” Ms Nawaz said in a series of tweets on Thursday, chiding Prime Minister …

ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Thursday said that its scrutiny committee enjoyed the power and status of a joint investigation team (JIT) and could not hold open hearing in the foreign funding case it was seized with. “The committee will face difficulties in proceeding with the case if it happens,” the ECP said in a statement released …

GILGIT: Competitions of alpine skiing, snow boarding, ice hockey and ice skating are under way in the picturesque valley of Naltar in Gilgit-Baltistan. The winter sports festival has been jointly organised by the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) and the Winter Sports Fed­era­tion of Pakistan. It started in Naltar on Tuesday and will continue till Sunday. Teams of PAF, Pakistan Army, …