In its first statement on occupied Kashmir, the Biden administration has urged India and Pakistan to hold direct talks on the issue, and welcomed an agreement between the two neighbours to de-escalate tensions along the Line of Control (LoC). Both India and Pakistan announced on Thursday that their senior military commanders have agreed to strictly observe all agreements, understandings and ceasefire along …

Prime Minister Imran Khan on Friday welcomed the Sri Lankan government’s decision to allow the burial of Covid-19 victims, days after the premier’s visit to Colombo. On February 10, Prime Minister Imran had lauded his Sri Lankan counterpart Mahinda Rajapaksa’s announcement that burials would be allowed. A day later, however, Rajapaksa backtracked and said there would be no change in …

The United States military struck facilities in eastern Syria used by Iran-backed armed groups on Thursday, saying President Joe Biden’s new administration was sending Tehran a message after recent rocket attacks on US troop locations in Iraq. In its first military action against Iran-backed groups since Biden became president five weeks ago, the US Defence Department said it had carried out airstrikes …

ISLAMABAD: As the Supreme Court is all set to commence hearing of review petitions in the Justice Qazi Faez Isa case from March 1, the judge on Thursday filed an application seeking a directive that the Pakistan Television Corporation be directed to broadcast live proceedings of the hearings. A 10-judge bench comprising Justice Umar Ata Bandial, Justice Maqbool Baqar, Justice …

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) Chief Justice Athar Minallah on Thursday gave one month deadline to the government to commence construction work of district courts complex and also sought update on lawyers’ complex. Justice Minallah was hearing the case related to lawyers storming of IHC on Feb 8. During the hearing, IHC chief justice inquired about the progress on …

PESHAWAR: The prime minister’s special assistant, Shahzad Akbar, on Thursday tendered an unconditional verbal apology to the Peshawar High Court expressing regret for his remarks against the head of a special court, which awarded death sentence to former military ruler retired General Pervez Musharraf for high treason in 2019. A bench consisting of Justice Roohul Amin Khan and Justice Syed …

LAHORE: Prime Minister Imran Khan has been briefed that it has become imperative to shift the flying club operating at Walton airport for training flights as it is now within the thickly populated location of Lahore. The Walton airport has become unsafe as already a couple of training planes crashed in Lahore streets. However, the accidents did not claim any …

PESHAWAR: In the upcoming battle for 12 Senate seats from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, a total of 25 candidates have been left in the electoral fray after the withdrawal of nomination papers by 16 others. According to the final list of candidates issued by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) after the withdrawal of nomination papers on Thursday, a total of 11 …

ISLAMABAD: The capital police have only Rs400 as the investigation cost for each case, resulting in poor outcome. An officer of the police told Dawn on condition of anonymity that due to shortage of funds, only Rs400 were available to be spent on investigation of each criminal case. As a result, either complainants or the investigating officers have to bear the expense …

ISLAMABAD: With the number of Covid-19 cases declining across the country, federal Minister for Education Shafqat Mahmood on Thursday announced that the restrictions imposed on schools in some major cities to conduct three-day classes in a week had been removed. During the ongoing second wave of the pandemic, the country saw over 3,000 cases daily — the number has now …