Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah asked the judiciary to take steps to “prevent an irreparable loss to its credibility” after audio clips emerged on Thursday in which PML-Q leader Parvez Elahi was purportedly heard asking his lawyers to fix a corruption case before a particular Supreme Court judge. Mr Sanaullah played the audio clips at a press conference and said …

The Islamabad Police on Friday opened a criminal investigation against an unknown person for “domesticating” a leopard, a day after it ran free and injured several people in an upscale residential area of the capital. Yesterday, video clips of the feline jumping across walls and navigating roads in the Defence Housing Authority (DHA) Phase II neighbourhood of Islamabad went viral …

The Punjab Counter-Terrorism Department’s team in Mianwali’s Kalabagh came under attack by a group of armed militants be­longing to the outlawed Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakis­tan (TTP) on Thursday night, the CTD said. According to a statement issued by the CTD on Friday, the militants and security officials exchanged fire for 20 minutes during which a terrorist was killed. “The slain militant was …

The Supreme Court (SC) on Friday suspended the transfer of Lahore police chief Ghulam Mahmood Dogar, observing that the chief election commissioner alone, without consultation of other members, cannot approve transfers. The orders were issued by a three-member bench comprising Justice Ijazul Ahsan, Justice Mazahar Ali Akbar Naqvi and Justice Munib Akhtar. Dogar, as the Lahore CCPO was at the …

LAHORE: A day after the PML-N-led federal government presented a mini-budget imposing more taxes and hiked the price of petrol, the party’s chief organiser, Maryam Nawaz, distanced herself not only from the “unpopular” moves but also from the government. Talking to party workers and leaders in Model Town, she said, “This coalition government of nine parties is not our government. Our government …

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Thursday approved PTI ally Sheikh Rashid’s post-arrest bail application in a case pertaining to claims he made on television that former president Asif Ali Zardari was involved in a fresh assassination plot against PTI chief Imran Khan. The Islamabad police had arrested the former interior minister on Feb 2 after which the court had granted the police his …

ISLAMABAD: Amid a deadlock on the issue of elections in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the Election Commission of Pakistan has decided to seek the intervention of the judiciary in a bid to conduct polls in two provinces within the stipulated timescale. The decision was taken after a meeting of the election watchdog chaired by its chief Sikandar Sultan Raja on …

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court held on Wednesday that insertion of a particular section of a law in the first information report (FIR) should not determine the nature of a crime. Instead, the court said, contents of an FIR should be examined to ascertain whether a cognisable offence was made or not. “Needless to say that it is the contents of …

At least one person was killed and nine others were wounded in a blast inside the Jaffar Express train near Punjab’s Chichawatni on Thursday morning, police said. According to Sahiwal District Police Officer (DPO) Faisal Shahzad, the injured persons have been moved to the Tehsil Headquarters Hospital (THQ). The police official said the passenger train had left from Balochistan’s Machh …

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will depart for Turkiye on Thursday (today) on a two-day visit to “personally convey heartfelt condolences” over the loss of precious lives caused by the massive 7.8-magnitude earthquake that struck Turkiye and neighbouring Syria on Feb 6, the Foreign Office said. In a press release, the FO said the premier — during his stay in the capital Ankara …