Pakistan

KARACHI: Defence Housing Authority resident community groups were abuzz with rain alert news since early on Thursday. Many residents were saying that their circumstances, due to dug up roads here and there, were such that they were afraid of normal rains and here the forecast was for heavy rain with thunder, which was extremely worrisome for them. The president of …

WASHINGTON: US lawmakers are urging President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken to refrain from recognising a new government in Pakistan until allegations of election rigging are thoroughly investigated. The lawmakers, all Democrats like President Biden, in their joint letter, expressed concerns about pre- and post-poll rigging in Pakistan’s recent parliamentary elections. They have called for a transparent …

A day after more than 300 members took oath as lawmakers in the National Assembly, MNAs on Friday elected PML-N’s Ayaz Sadiq as the speaker of the lower house of the Parliament and PPP’s Ghulam Mustafa Shah as his deputy. Sadiq, the Sharifs’ loyalist, and Mustafa defeated PTI-backed Sunni Ittehad Council nominees Amir Dogar and Junaid Akbar for the coveted …

ISLAMABAD: The data compiled by Sahil shows that 11 children were abused every day in 2023, with mostly acquaintances and relatives involved in the heinous act. The statistics were reported in ‘Cruel Numbers 2023,’ a signature publication of Sahil, an NGO working for the welfare of children, launched on Thursday with the support of the National Commission for Human Rights …

ISLAMABAD: Perturbed by the prosecution agencies’ response to ex-prime minister Imran Khan’s appeals against his conviction in cipher and Toshakhana cases, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Thursday directed the federal government to appoint prosecutors before the next date of hearing. The IHC division bench comprising Chief Justice Aamer Farooq and Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb resumed hearing on the appeals against the conviction of Mr Khan …

NAROWAL: Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) leader Umar Dar returned home after spending two-and-a-half months in jail. Dar, the son of Rehana Imtiaz Dar, the candidate supported by the PTI in NA-71 Sialkot, was released on bail after 75 days. On coming out of jail, a large number of PTI workers garlanded him and showered him with flower petals. They raised slogans …

Relief and rescue efforts were under way in Gwadar on Friday after it received more than 180 millimetres of rain in the past two days, authorities said. On Thursday, the Balochistan government had imposed an emergency in Gwadar and declared it calamity-hit after heavy rains wreaked havoc in the city. Normal life and traffic had remained suspended in Gwadar, Makran and northern …

ISLAMABAD: In a late-night development, PTI announced that Barrister Gohar Ali Khan and Omar Ayub were elected the party’s chairman and general secretary, respectively, after their opponents withdrew nomination papers. Similarly, provincial presidents of Sindh, Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chapters were also announced. An election will now only be held to elect the Balochistan chapter president. In Balochistan, three candidates, …

Amid intense sloganeering, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly on Friday elected PTI’s Ali Amin Gandapur as the 22nd chief minister of the province. The PTI leader clinched an overwhelming victory with 90 votes against rival Ibadullah Khan from the PML-N. Gandapur, who had served as a federal minister during the PTI government, was nominated for the coveted slot by imprisoned party …

ISLAMABAD: Three weeks after the general elections, the National Assembly held its inaugural session on Thursday amid noisy protests from both sides of the aisle, as 302 lawmakers took the oath of office on its first day. The session started at 11:14am with outgoing speaker Pervaiz Ashraf in the chair. At the outset, PTI leader Amir Dogar led a group …