Pakistan

PESHAWAR: In the ‘last’ cabinet meeting before the dissolution of the provincial assembly, the cash-strapped Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government on Tuesday approved the upgradation of over 130,000 teachers at the annual cost of several billion rupees. The cabinet met with Chief Minister Mahmood Khan in the chair and ministers and administrative secretaries in attendance. Spokesman for the government Barrister Mohammad Ali …

ISLAMABAD: The suicide bomber, who blew himself up in the capital last month got trained in Afghanistan before conducting the attack, Dawn has learnt. Sources close to the investigation of the bomb blast in the capital’s sector I-10/4 on Dec 23 said that the bomber received his militancy training in Afghanistan in 2022. After the training, he returned from Afghanistan …

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had during his recent trip to the United Arab Emirates asked Emirati President Mohamed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan to facilitate dialogue with India and vowed sincere talk with the arch rivals, if a channel were to open. Mr Sharif, in an interview to Al-Arabiya news channel, confirmed that he had sought Al-Nahyan’s help for the dialogue, while noting …

Security forces gunned down at least four terrorists during an intelligence-based operation (IBO) in Balochistan’s Hoshab, the military’s public affairs wing said on Wednesday. According to a statement issued by the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), an IBO was initiated “to clear a hideout linked with firing incidents on security forces along M-8, in general area Talsar, Hoshab” on a tip-off …

The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly stood dissolved on Wednesday as Governor Haji Ghulam Ali signed and approved Chief Minister Mahmood Khan’s summary for the dissolution of the provincial legislature. The move comes days after the dissolution of the Punjab Assembly as PTI Chairman Imran Khan has vowed to disassociate himself from the “current corrupt political system” by quitting the two assemblies where he …

LAKKI MARWAT: Mobile van of the Lakki Marwat city police station narrowly escaped a bomb blast here on Monday. An official said unknown miscreants had planted an improvised explosive device under a culvert on the Old Kutchery Road to target a police patrolling party. He said the area where the bomb was planted was at a stone’s throw from the …

PESHAWAR: Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman on Monday ruled out the possibility of elections in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa following the dissolution of assemblies in the two provinces. “There won’t be any elections in Punjab and KP after the two provincial assemblies are dissolved by the chief ministers,” Mr Fazl told reporters after attending the Jamiat Lawyers Wing’s …

He said former president Asif Ali Zardari would meet Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, while PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif would also join the meeting through video link to discuss future line of action following dissolution of the Punjab Assembly and the possibility of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) rejoining the National Assembly. He termed PTI Chairman Imran Khan a “democratic dictator”, saying …

ISLAMABAD: A civil judge on Monday rejected the Federal Investigation Agency’s (FIA) request to extend the physical rema­­nd of journalist Shahid Aslam. The journalist, who has been arrested for allegedly leaking former army chief retired General Qamar Javed Bajwa’s tax records, was presented in a court where the FIA sought an extension in physical remand. The FIA sought five days’ …

A judicial magistrate on Tuesday remanded in police custody a suspect for allegedly killing senior lawyer and former Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) president Abdul Latif Afridi yesterday. Afridi, 80, was sitting in the Peshawar High Court bar room with other lawyers when the att­acker opened fire at him, according to the police. He was rushed to Lady Reading Hospital but could …