Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: The focus of arguments advanced by the counsel of the convict in Noor Mukadam murder case before the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Wednesday was on the loopholes in the prosecution case as he termed acquittal of nine out of the 12 accused a failure of the investigators. When the IHC resumed hearing of the appeal filed by the …

ISLAMABAD: Taking an opposite stance to its own previous judgements in cases regarding interpretation of Article 62(1)(f), which imposes a life ban on legislators for non-disclosure of assets, the Supreme Court on Wednesday asked returning officers (ROs) not to reject nomination papers of candidates for local government elections for mere “innocent omissions”. But an RO under the Sindh Local Government Act (SLGA) …

ISLAMABAD: Chairperson Peace and Culture Organisation, Mushaal Mullick came down hard on UN bodies and world powers for their silence over brutal militarisation, ethnic cleansing, demographic change and wave of state terrorism unleashed by Indian fascist government in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK). Mushaal, wife of senior detained Hurriyat leader Yasin Malik, while talking to reporters on Wednesday …

ISLAMABAD: Putting its foot down, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Wednesday decided to hold local government (LG) elections in Punjab in the last week of April 2023, nearly 16 months after the expiry of the term of local bodies in the province. The decision was taken at a meeting held with Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Sultan Raja …

ISLAMABAD: Chief of Army Staff Gen Syed Asim Munir called on Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif for his maiden meeting at the latter’s office on Wednesday. Mr Sharif congratulated him on assuming responsibilities as COAS. He said the nation was happy over Gen Munir’s becoming the new army chief and expressed the hope that civil-military relations would strengthen. The prime minister …

LAHORE: The National Highways and Motorway Police (NHMP) has suspended two patrolling officers from service, allegedly for stopping an anti-terrorism court judge from travelling on Sialkot Motorway (M-II) that was closed due to fog. According to NHMP sources, the Sialkot-Lahore Motorway was closed for traffic due to fog three days ago, when the official vehicle of an ATC judge and …

An Islamabad court on Thursday remanded PTI Senator Azam Swati in judicial custody for 14 days till December 15. Earlier this week, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) had arrested Swati — the second time in less than two months — over a “highly obnoxious campaign of intimidating tweets […] against state institutions”. Separate FIRs were registered against the PTI leader in Balochistan …

Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah said on Thursday that while the rise in terror incidents was alarming, it would not get “out of control”. “It is not worrying […] Don’t think that this is going out of control or that some group will become out of reach,” he said while addressing a press conference in Islamabad. At the same time, the …

KARACHI: Exactly a week after former army chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa referred to the East Pakistan loss as a ‘political’ failure, Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari in a thinly-veiled rejection of the claim insisted on Wednesday that the Dhaka debacle in 1971 was in fact a ‘military failure’ that had brought host of challenges for the Zulfikar Ali Bhutto-led PPP. The …

Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhry Pervez Elahi reiterated on Thursday that there would be no delay in dissolving the Punjab Assembly (PA) once PTI chief Imran gave the call. The statement came after Elahi called on Imran at his Zaman Park residence in Lahore. Former defence minister Pervaiz Khattak, and Pakis­tan Muslim League (PML-Q) leaders Moonis Elahi and Hussain Elahi were …