Pakistan

LAHORE: With his aggressive stance, demanding the accountability of former generals and judges, making some within the party uneasy ahead of his planned return to Pakistan on Oct 21, PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif is giving his stated position “a second thought”, party insiders told Dawn on Monday. “Although the elder Sharif had refused to accept the request made by his younger brother Shehbaz …

The Senate Standing Committee on Parliamentary Affairs, in its meeting on Tuesday, called for the general elections to be held within the 90-day constitutional timeframe. The recommendation comes days after the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) announced that polls in the country would be held in January next year. However, the timeframe lacks a specific date for the elections. It also exceeds …

The PML-N on Tuesday expressed anger over interim Interior Minister Sarfraz Bugti’s remarks regarding PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif being arrested upon return, prompting the caretaker government to release a clarification. The discourse comes as the elder Sharif prepares to return to Pakistan on October 21. Nawaz departed the country in November 2019 for medical treatment following his conviction in a corruption case. …

A special court on Tuesday extended PTI Chairman Imran Khan’s and Vice Chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi’s judicial remand in the cipher case until October 10. The cipher case pertains to a diplomatic document which reportedly went missing from Imran’s possession. The PTI alleges that it contained a threat from the United States to oust Imran from power. Following the suspension of the PTI chairman’s …

The Intelligence Bureau (IB) has filed an application in the Supreme Court to withdraw its review petition against the court’s verdict on the 2017 sit-in by the Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) at Faizabad in Islamabad. Authored by Justice Qazi Faez Isa years before he took oath as the chief justice of Pakistan (CJP), the searing judgement had instructed the defence ministry and the …

KARACHI: Sindh Inspector General of Police (IGP) Riffat Mukhtar Raja on Sunday directed his subordinates to ensure deportation of all illegal immigrants as soon as possible. Chairing a meeting to review an ongoing crackdown on illegal immigrants, smuggling and street crime, he said that comprehensive recommendations should be prepared and sent to the Sindh government in this regard. He said …

KARACHI: Terming the ban imposed by the Election Commission of Pakistan on initiating new development schemes only in Sindh ‘discriminatory’, elected mayors and heads of over two dozen district councils and municipal committees across Sindh formed a joint committee on Sunday and demanded that the poll supervisory body be immediately lifted the ban. The demand was made by Sukkur Mayor …

Anchorperson Imran Riaz Khan — who had been missing for more than four months — is now “safe at home”, Punjab Inspector General (IG) Dr Usman Anwar confirmed to on Monday. Sialkot District Police Officer (DPO) Hassan Iqbal and Riaz’s lawyer, Mian Ali Ashfaq, also confirmed the development to . Riaz — a YouTuber and television anchor — was arrested two days after violent protests broke …

LAHORE/ISLAM­ABAD: The Punjab health authorities lodged a criminal case against the manufacturers of an adulterated eye drug that led to the loss of eyesight of over a dozen diabetic patients, including a brother of senior PPP leader Chaudhry Manzoor Ahmed. An investigation team of doctors on Sunday expressed fears of a surge in the number of affec­ted pati­ents after learning …

ISLAMABAD: High­lig­hting ‘incomplete devolution’ and institutional weaknesses as key development and governance challenges and pinning little hopes on technocratic government, the World Bank has advised Pakistan to create a ‘National Council of Ministers’ — comprising key federal and provincial representatives — to fill the vacuum for simultaneous and coordinated strengthening of poorly performing federal and provincial institutions, policies and accountability …