Pakistan

Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby has said the United States had a “healthy military-to-military relationship with Pakistani armed forces”, adding that “we have every expectation that will be able to continue to be the case”. The comments from the senior Pentagon official come two days after Shehbaz Sharif was elected as the prime minister of Pakistan, replacing Imran Khan who was …

Islamabad High Court (IHC) Chief Justice Athar Minallah rebuked Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) officials on Wednesday over their failure to abide by the court’s directive of temporarily removing the names of two key aides of former prime minister Imran Khan — Shahbaz Gill and Mirza Shahzad Akbar — from the no-fly list and ordered that PTI leaders names be taken …

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif reached Karachi on a day-long visit on Wednesday where he will chair a consultative meeting on the city’s development projects. Television footage showed Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah receiving the premier upon his arrival in the port city. This is Shehbaz’s first visit to the provincial capital of Sindh after he took oath as the …

LOWER DIR: The workers of Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl, Jamaat-i-Islami, Pakistan Peoples Party and Awami National Party on Monday staged a rally outside the office of district police officer against the attack on a religious seminary-cum-mosque allegedly by workers of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf during their protest last night at Gorgorai Chowk in Timergara. The PTI workers had stormed a seminary and a mosque …

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) is divided on the issue of Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari joining the federal cabinet as the country’s new foreign minister in the coalition government under Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. Background interviews with several party leaders confirmed the reports in some media circles that the PPP chairman might become the foreign minister, though in-house consultation on the …

PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Shah Farman on Monday resigned after election of Shehbaz Sharif as the Prime Minister of Pakistan. The outgoing governor had already decided that he would relinquish his office once Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz leader was elected the country’s chief executive. “The governor has signed his resignation [letter] and dispatched it to President of Pakistan Dr Arif Alvi,” …

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Monday dismissed a petition seeking trial of former prime minister Imran Khan and others over the disclosure of a ‘threatening’ diplomatic cable. IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah also imposed a fine of Rs100,000 on the petitioner, Molvi Iqbal Haider, for filing the frivolous petition. Mr Haider is known as a habitual litigant and …

LAHORE: The indictment of newly-elected Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and his son Leader of the Opposition in Punjab Assembly Hamza Shehbaz in a Rs16 billion money laundering case was delayed by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) due to absence of Mr Sharif and the prosecution team. Hamza Shehbaz along with his legal team appeared before a special court (Central-I). However, …

ISLAMABAD: A day before hearing on the presidential reference for interpreting Article 63-A of the Constitution by the Supreme Court, the Attorney General’s Office on Monday sought its adjournment to next week. A one-page request on behalf of Additional Attorney General Chaudhry Aamir Rehman stated that in the wake of Attorney General Khalid Jawed Khan’s resignation, the apex court may …

LAHORE: The Punjab government maintains that the votes of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf’s (PTI) dissident lawmakers for the opposition’s nominee for chief minister will not be counted by the assembly speaker, while the Lahore High Court ordered the assembly secretary to open the office of the deputy speaker. Fayyazul Hassan Chohan, spokesman for the government’s candidate for Punjab CM Chaudhry Parvez Elahi, …