Pakistan

HARIPUR: JUI-F senior leader and former MPA from Mansehra Mufti Kifayatullah went on a hunger strike in Haripur jail on Thursday morning complaining about ill-treatment. He has been kept in the jail since his arrest during a raid on his seminary in Tarangri village on April 14. The police held him under Section 3 of the Maintenance of Public Order …

A district and sessions court in Peshawar on Friday handed the death sentence to the main accused in the murder case of Asma Rani — more than three years after her killing — and acquitted two others. District and Sessions judge Ashfaq Taj announced the verdict inside the Peshawar Central Jail due to security reasons where the prime accused, Mujahid Afridi, was …

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) is going to decide whether it should reject former prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s appeals against conviction or rehear him upon his surrender or arrest. IHC division bench comprising Justice Aamer Farooq and Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani reserved the decision in his appeals after hearing the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) additional prosecutor general Jahanzeb Khan …

DUBAI: Human Rights Watch (HRW) has accused the United Arab Emirates of “forcibly disappearing” four Pakistani men since October and of deporting six others based on their Shia background. The 10 men had mostly lived and worked in the UAE for many years as managers, sales staff, CEOs of small businesses, labourers and drivers, the New York-based campaign group said …

TOKYO: A panda at Tokyo’s Ueno Zoo gave birth to twins on Wednesday, weeks after news of Shin Shin’s pregnancy sent stocks in nearby restaurants soaring. They were born in the early hours of Wednesday, the zoo said in a statement, adding that it had not yet confirmed the sex of the pair. Zoo director Yutaka Fukuda said the twin …

ISLAMABAD: The Senate on Wednesday witnessed a war of words between the treasury and the opposition members over the ‘plan to conditionally give up nuclear deterrence’. As Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Ali Mohammad Khan sought the House’s nod to take up for consideration at once the Pakistan arms amendment bill seeking to empower the federal government to delegate …

ISLAMABAD: Rangers will be deployed during the general elections in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) to be held on July 25. Sources said Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed had accepted a request of AJK Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Abdul Rashid Sulehria for deployment of Rangers. Elections will be held in 33 constituencies of AJK and 12 constituencies of Kashmiri refugees …

PESHAWAR: The doctors have rejected National Licencing Examination and demanded that the federal government improve the quality of education instead of conducing additional examinations for qualified medical professionals. Speaking at a joint press conference at Peshawar Press Club on Wednesday, the provincial office-bearers of Grand Medicos Alliance (GDA) and Young Doctors Association said that doctors would launch a protest movement …

ISLAMABAD: The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan’s (HRCP) annual report on the state of human rights in 2020 claimed that the government’s initial response to Covid-19 pandemic was marred by a lack of transparency and enforcement, whereas the authorities failed to enforce standard operating procedures in mosques as most religious bodies and mosque committees refused to comply with them. The …

ISLAMABAD: In the wake of reports of Covid-19 vaccine shortage emerging from various parts of the country, two million doses reached the federal capital on Wednesday from China. On the other hand, fewer than 1,000 positive cases were reported in the last 24 hours. According to a statement of the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC), two million doses of …