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A second round of the National Security Committee (NSC) meeting — which is expected to take “key decisions concerning security and the economy” — began on Monday in Islamabad with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif in the chair. The moot — the principal decision-making forum on foreign policy and national security — is being attended by senior civilian and military leaders. …

At least 37 people were injured in aerial firing on New Year’s Eve in Karachi, police and hospital officials said on Sunday. The injured include four women and two infants. Karachi police also arrested 19 suspects in connection with the firing. “New year’s [eve] aerial firing [injury] incidents reported at medicolegal centres of Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC), Abbasi Shaheed …

Pakistani politicians rang in the new year with messages of solidarity as some figures reflected on the intense politicking that took place in the outgoing year while others spoke about the human toll of the catastrophic floods. President Arif Alvi said the nation faced various challenges last year but overcame difficult situations with “hard work, sacrifice, determination and resilience”. In …

A “key terrorist” was killed and a police constable martyred in the early hours of Sunday when gunmen attacked a police checkpost in the Shahbaz Khel area of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Lakki Marwat District, a local police official said. “The terrorists attacked the police [checkpost] with heavy and automatic weapons and tried to break in,” Lakki Marwat police spokesperson Shahid Hameed …

KARACHI: A number of Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) leaders on Saturday parted ways with the ruling party in Balochistan and joined the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) after weeks of talks spearheaded by former president Asif Ali Zardari. The announcement to join Sindh’s ruling party was made after a meeting with Mr Zardari at Bilawal House in Karachi. A brief statement …

President Arif Alvi on Sunday refused to sign off on an amendment bill that would raise the number of existing union councils in Islamabad, saying the move would “further delay local government elections”. The move comes a day after the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) flouted court orders to hold local government elections on Dec 31, triggering a fresh round of litigation. In …

PTI leader Ali Nawaz Awan has filed a petition in the Islamabad High Court (IHC) seeking contempt proceedings against the Elections Commission of Pakistan (ECP) over its failure to hold local government elections in the city on Saturday. A day earlier, after a whirlwind of court proceedings, the IHC had instructed the ECP to hold Islamabad local government elections today (Dec 31). …

Two labourers were killed while one another was injured in an explosion at a coal mine in Lower Orakzai tribal region’s Khuno Sam area on Saturday, an official said. District Police Officer Nazir Khan told that three labourers were trapped in the mine earlier today after what is believed to be a gas explosion. He said rescue officials, local volunteers …

LAHORE: Minister for Primary and Secondary Healthcare (PSHD) Dr Akhtar Malik says the drug control wing of his department has unearthed an inter-provincial big network which was supplying substandard medicines to the public sector hospitals of Punjab. Talking to the media along with Punjab PSHD Secretary Dr Arshad Ahmad, he said the wing had seized the stock of the various …

ISLAMABAD: Another alleged land scam has emerged in the Capital Development Authority (CDA), as recently the deputy commissioner CDA added dubious updated mutations to award of C-15 sector. Sources in the civic body said some months ago, CDA Deputy Commissioner Sobia Toru added updated 13 mutations to award of C-15 sector, which was announced back in 2007. Through the said …