Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: Karachi’s first detection of wild poliovirus in 2023 has been confirmed in an environmental sample from Sohrab Goth. According to the Pakistan Polio Laboratory at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the sample was collected on May 15, and its genetic sequencing is still awaited. The last positive sample in Karachi was detected in August 2022 in Landhi. “Samples …

Unofficial results on Thursday of the by-election for the seat rendered vacant after former Azad Jammu and Kashmir premier Ilyas Tanveer’s disqualification in April showed the PPP had won the contest. According to unofficial results issued by the returning officer, PPP’s Sardar Zia Qamar bagged 25,755 votes while PML-N’s Mushtaq Ahmed Minhas emerged as the first runner-up after securing 20,485 votes. Minhas, …

LAHORE: An anti-terrorism court on Thursday denied the police further physical remand of 13 PTI women, including fashion designer Khadija Shah, in the Jinnah House attack case and sent them to jail on judicial remand. Sarwar Road police produced women workers before the court on expiry of their six-day physical remand. The investigating officer (IO) told the court that further …

ISLAMABAD: President Dr Arif Alvi on Thursday said extremism is not borne in a vacuum – poverty, inequality and lack of education and opportunity can make individuals vulnerable to extremist ideologies. Speaking at a two-day National Vice Chancellors Peace Conference, which concluded on Thursday, he highlighted the importance of working on countering violent extremism, and praised the idea of collaboration …

The Supreme Court’s Justice Sardar Tariq Masood observed on Friday that establishing offshore companies is “no crime”, while hearing a Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) plea seeking action against all 436 Pakistanis named in the 2016 Panama Papers. On Nov 3, 2017, the JI had, through an application, reminded the court of its pending petition filed by party emir Sirajul Haq in August 2016. The …

The government on Friday advised authorities in Sindh and Balochistan to remain alert as a “very severe” cyclonic storm, Biparjoy, over the Arabian Sea was reported to be moving towards Pakistan’s coastal areas. According to an advisory issued by the Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD), Cyclone Biparjoy had changed its course and slowly tracked in the north-northeast direction during the past …

LAHORE/ISLAMABAD: The Lahore High Court on Wednesday granted interim protective bail to former prime minister Imran Khan in an FIR of alleged fraud in the sale of Toshakhana gifts and restrained the Islamabad police from arresting his wife Bushra Bibi till June 13 in any case. The PTI chairman reached the court in a black vehicle and was guarded with …

Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umar Ata Bandial on Thursday indefinitely adjourned the hearing on a set of petitions challenging the Supreme Court (Practice & Procedure) Act, 2023 — which seeks to limit the powers of the top judge — without any proceedings after Attorney General for Pakistan (AGP) Mansoor Usman Awan said the government could not immediately review laws …

Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Accountability, Irfan Qadir, said on Thursday that matters of superior court judges could be referred to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) if they have “criminal overtones” or an “element of corruption”. “The National Accountability Ordinance has the jurisdiction and NAB can be referred to … there is no sacred cow for this law,” …

ISLAMABAD: Troubles continue to multiply for the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf following the violent events of May 9-10, as the military’s top brass vowed on Wednesday to tighten the noose on the “planners and masterminds” of the riots that erupted following the arrest of Imran Khan in a corruption case, leaving a number of military and government installations destroyed in its wake. …