Pakistan

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Tuesday postponed “for the time being” local government elections in Islamabad that were scheduled to be held on Dec 31. A five-member bench headed by Chief Election Commissioner Sikander Sultan Raja made the decision while hearing the matter in Islamabad. In a short order posted on Twitter, the ECP said: “Keeping in view …

Moscow is ready to resume gas supplies to Europe through the Yamal-Europe Pipeline and it can also send supplies to Pakistan and Afghanistan in the long term, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak told state TASS news agency. “The European market remains relevant, as the gas shortage persists, and we have every opportunity to resume supplies,” TASS cited Novak as saying in remarks published …

RAWALPINDI: The Islamabad International Airport (IIA) is facing rush of passengers as it has been handling both scheduled flights and those diverted from other airports due to the foggy weather conditions. Fog and poor visibility-affected flights are being diverted to the IIA from Lahore, Multan and Sialkot. The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA)’s task force constituted to facilitate passengers of diverted, …

QUETTA: National Party (NP) President Dr Abdul Malik Baloch has opposed the upcoming national census and termed it ‘unconstitutional’, saying that Constitution did not allow that a census was taken before 10 years. Presiding over a meeting of the party’s central committee in Karachi on Sunday, Dr Baloch said that the census in the country should be taken every 10 …

ISLAMABAD: In order to materialise its plan to amend regulations for Zone III, the Capital Development Authority (CDA) has decided to engage the Survey of Pakistan for the “demarcation of Margalla Hills National Park and Zone III”. Similarly, the CDA is mulling names for a commission, which will likely be headed by a retired judge, to make changes to zoning …

LAHORE: Amid an incre­ase in the number of attacks by militants in parts of the country, federal Minister for Economic Affairs Ayaz Sadiq on Sunday blamed former prime minister Imran Khan for the resurgence of the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). While referring to rise in terror attacks and the dialogue with the banned outfit initiated by the PTI government last …

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) is likely to be shifted to a new building on Constitution Avenue in G-5 next month. Sources privy to the development told Dawn that the shifting process was scheduled to commence during the last week of December, however, the contractor failed to meet the deadline of handing over the premises for varied reasons. According to sources, …

LAHORE: In a display of a change of heart, Chief Minister Chaudhry Parvez Elahi on Sunday described the PTI’s Hasnain Bahadar Dreshak as a brilliant minister of his cabinet, saying that he would not accept his resignation as the cabinet member. After an altercation and arguments in the sixth cabinet meeting on Dec 17, the chief minister had given a shut-up …

KARACHI: Amid renewed wave of terrorism in the country, tottering economy and uncertainty at the political front, President Arif Alvi, Sindh Governor Kamran Khan Tessori and Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah were found in agreement on Sunday that the current challenges faced by the country could be confronted only if the people and leadership reaffirmed their commitment and …

QUETTA: Six security personnel, including a captain, embraced martyrdom while at least 17 people suffered injuries in different incidents of terrorism across Balochistan on Sunday. According to the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), a clearance operation was underway in Kahan after an explosive device targeted security forces. The military’s media wing said that an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) went off close …