Pakistan

ISLAMABAD / LAHORE: Amid widespread speculations, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Sunday ruled out the appointment of Finance Minister Ishaq Dar as the caretaker prime minister, saying a neutral person would be selected to lead the interim set-up to make upcoming general elections transparent. The premier, who also heads the PML-N, made these remarks on a Geo News programme, Jirga. The remarks …

ISLAMABAD: PTI leader Asad Qaiser has called for an end to what he called was an ongoing “propaganda” against his party, and urged for “powerful quarters” to ensure free and fair elections in the country. In a video statement, Mr Qaiser, who unlike many of his peers did not quit the PTI in the aftermath of the May 9 violence, …

RAWALPINDI: The country’s airspace is “safe” for all kinds of flight operations, the Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority (PCAA) said on Sunday, days after a European air safety agency warned airlines of “high risk” while flying at low altitudes in Karachi and Lahore. The Aircraft Owners and Operators Association of Pakistan (AOOA) also disputed the safety warning, insisting that Pakis­tan’s airspace …

ISLAMABAD: Criticising the previous Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) regime for “rolling back” China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), Federal Minister for Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal on Sunday said that a new era of the corridor was set to begin with multiple projects related to agriculture, infrastructure and social-economic uplift of the country. “A number of MoUs (memorandum of understanding) will be …

ISLAMABAD/QUETTA: Heavy rains continued to batter several parts of the country on Sunday, causing floods and landslides and damaging roads and bridges, with the weather department forecasting more rains over the coming days. In Balochistan’s Washuk district, a dam broke, affecting many villages, and several houses were destroyed, rendering families without shelter. In Abbottabad, a house collapsed after a mound …

BAJAUR / PESHAWAR: At least 42 people were killed and over 150 others injured in Khar, a tehsil of Bajaur, after a powerful explosion ripped through a political gathering organised by the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl on Sunday. According to eyewitnesses, hundreds of party workers along with local leaders were present at the gathering when the blast occurred. The bomb went off …

The death toll from Sunday’s suicide bombing at a Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) gathering in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Bajaur district rose to 46 on Monday as the Counter Terrorism Department registered a first information report of the attack. More than 40 people were killed and over 150 others injured in Khar, a town bordering Afghanistan, when a powerful explosion ripped through the JUI-F convention. …

RAWALPINDI: Getting from Rawat to Kutchery Chowk has become a difficult task; it takes hours and commuters brave the difficult task of crossing the rough, pocked and bumpy road. Additionally, repair work on the Soan River Bridge, which was damaged on June 27, is still going on, making public transportation miserable. The road had recently been renamed as Potohar Avenue …

Opposition leader in the National Assembly (NA) Raja Riaz appears confident that he and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will reach a consensus on selecting a name for the caretaker prime minister. The tenure of the NA is set to expire on August 12 and meetings are under way between the members of the government on the details of an interim set-up. If …

ISLAMABAD: The Ministry of Planning Development and Special Initiatives has launched the “National Multisectoral Nutrition to Reduce Stunting and other forms of Malnutrition” worth Rs8.5 billion under the Pakistan Nutrition Initiatives (PANI). Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal formally launched the programme at a ceremony held at the Planning Commission office. This multisectoral programme is for highly-burdened stunted, calamity-hit and less privileged …