Pakistan

Days after resigning as the caretaker interior minister, Senator Sarfaraz Bugti on Monday joined the PPP as electioneering picks up steam ahead of the February 8 general elections. Last week, sources told Dawn that Bugti had resigned from the federal cabinet. They said that Bugti had submitted his resignation to caretaker Prime Minister Anwaarul Haq Kakar on Dec 13 “citing some personal reasons”, which …

Interim Prime Minister Anwaarul Haq Kakar has again defended the government’s decision to repatriate undocumented individuals, saying that Pakistan cannot continue to compromise its national security by accommodating such people. In November, the caretakers had initiated a nationwide campaign to deport illegal foreign nationals, the majority of whom are Afghans. While the decision had prompted criticism from Afghanistan and several other quarters, …

KARACHI: Despite its reservations about a level playing field in the lead-up to general elections, PPP has announced on Saturday that it will launch the election campaign on December 27 — the 16th death anniversary of former party leader and prime minster Benazir Bhutto. The decision was taken at a meeting held at Bilawal House on Saturday, a day after …

ISLAMABAD: The teaching and non-teaching staff under the Federal Directorate of Education (FDE) find themselves entangled in a bureaucratic web after the FDE imposed restrictions on the visit of teaching and non-teaching staff to the Ministry of Federal Education and Professional Training (MOFEPT). The circular, issued by FDE, suggested that seeking resolution from MOFEPT without prior permission from the FDE …

MUZAFFARABAD: Former Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) prime minister Sardar Tanveer Ilyas on Saturday censured the coalition government for trying to “stifle dissent” through a controversial law and called for its withdrawal. “The day when the entire Kashmiri nation was up in arms over the endorsement of Narendra Modi-led government’s illegitimate and unilateral action of August 5, 2019, by India’s Supreme Court, the hybrid …

PESHAWAR: With 761 illegal immigrants still present in different parts of the province, official data revealed on Saturday that over 260,000 illegal immigrants had left Pakistan for Afghanistan using the border crossings in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Official data said that apart from 250,000 Afghans, who left for their homeland voluntarily, 6,360 persons were deported from different parts of the country via …

UNITED NATIONS: Pakistan has urged a UN panel to find out how the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) is acquiring modern weaponry to carry out terrorist attacks in the country. Pakistan’s Deputy Permanent Representative Usman Jadoon highlighted the alarming trend during a UN Security Council open debate on the threat posed by the diversion, illicit trafficking, and misuse of small arms …

PESHAWAR: The ninth anniversary of the Army Public School Peshawar massacre was observed here on Saturday amid tears, sobs, and tributes to martyrs. The main function was held in the APS whose 147 students and staff members were martyred by the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan militants in the Dec 16, 2014, attack. Besides parents and relatives of the martyrs, teachers and students …

ISLAMABAD: In a bid to streamline rules for the appointment of judges, a committee of the Judicial Commission of Pakistan, which includes the representation of superior courts as well as the bar councils, has agreed to amend the selection criteria for the elevation of judges to the Supreme Court and the high courts. According to a statement issued by the …

Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaarul Haq Kakar will head to Kuwait tomorrow (Monday) on a one-day trip to offer condolences on the death of Emir Sheikh Nawaf al-Ahmad al-Sabah’s, the Foreign Office (FO) said on Sunday. Sheikh Nawaf had died on Saturday, aged 86, according to the royal court, just over three years after assuming power. The cause of his death was not …