Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: A division bench of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Thursday issued notices to the authorities concerned on the hearing of an appeal seeking trial of former prime minister Imran Khan in the cipher case in an open court. The IHC division bench, comprising Justice Mian­gul Hassan Aur­angzeb and Justice Saman Rafat Imtiaz, was hearing the former prime minister’s …

LAHORE: The city continued to remain the second most polluted city of the world with a very unhealthy air quality on Thursday. Maximum 442 Air Quality Index (AQI) was recorded at 10am in the morning, according to data from the global air quality monitoring platform, iqair.com. The city’s air quality slightly improved in the afternoon to AQI of 196 till …

ISLAMABAD: Another environmental (sewage) sample from Karachi has been found positive for polio which raised the current year’s tally for Pakistan to 55, according to sources in the National Polio Laboratory at the National Institute of Health (NIH). The sources said the lab confirmed detection of ‘Type-1 Wild Poliovirus (WPV1)’ in environmental sample collected from Karachi. “The genome sequencing of …

KARACHI: Major political parties have welcomed the announcement of the general elections’ date and hailed it as a ‘positive development’. The Election Commission of Pakistan, on Thursday, announced that polls will be held on Feb 8, 2024. PTI, which had been the most vocal in demand for the date, welcomed the ECP’s announcement. Party’s Senator Syed Ali Zafar also hoped that the …

ISLAMABAD: Islamabad’s Ac­­­countability Court on Thurs­day ordered former president Asif Ali Zardari to appear before it in connection with corruption charges. Presiding Judge Mohammad Bashir, who on Wednesday summoned Mr Zardari and other accused in the Thatta Water Supply corruption reference, has now called upon him for the Park Lane case as well. Advocate Arshad Tabrez, representing Mr Zardari, contested the summons while referring to …

PESHAWAR/QUETTA: As border managers buckle under the influx of Afghan refugees being sent back to Afghanistan, the federal government on Thursday eased one condition to facilitate the undocumented immigrants, particularly women and children, who are now exempted from data entry at the Nadra counters set up at the border crossings. So far, 148,267 Afghan immigrants have left for Afghanistan during …

Pakistan opened more border centres on Friday to expedite the return of tens of thousands of undocumented Afghan nationals, an official said, ignoring calls by refugee groups to reconsider its mass expulsion plans. Facilities at the northwestern border crossing of Torkham, where most immigrants are re-entering Afghanistan, have been increased three times to cater to the rising number of returnees, said …

A day after it agreed to hold general elections in the country on February 8, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Friday submitted a notification in the Supreme Court pertaining to the poll date — which has been “set in stone”. “… the Election Commission of Pakistan in exercise of its powers under Article 57(1) of the Elections Act and all …

ISLAMABAD: PTI Chairman Imran Khan has issued a clarion call to the country’s legal fraternity, urging a grassroots movement to uphold the people’s rights, particularly the right to vote and elect their representatives. “It is the fiduciary duty of the judiciary and the lawyers to protect the Constitution, upon which rests the progress of our nation,” Mr Khan said in …

TAXILA: The Wah Saddar police allegedly hired private forces to run official affairs, including arresting, interrogating, torturing suspects, and presenting them in a court. This was exposed when a video went viral on social media in which a man without a uniform while holding the handcuffs of an under-trial prisoner was taking him to the courtroom. The man, as stated …