GENEVA: Israeli settlements in east Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank amount to a war crime, a UN human rights investigator said on Friday, calling on countries to inflict a cost on Israel for its “illegal occupation”. Michael Lynk, UN special rapporteur on human rights in the occupied Palestinian territory, was addressing a session of the UN Human Rights Council, …

ISLAMABAD: The capital saw an increase in the Covid-19 positivity ratio as it jumped to 7.1pc on Friday whereas the Delta variant has also been detected in patients who were diagnosed with the disease. Additional Deputy Commissioner (East) Babar Sahib Din when contacted, confirmed that the Delta variant was traced among positive cases, however, the total number of people who …

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) has expressed concern over the proposal to elevate a “junior judge” of the Sindh High Court (SHC) to the Supreme Court, saying that it would raise questions about the capability of the four “senior justices being bypassed”. In a statement released on Friday, SCBA secretary Ahmed Shehzad Farooq Rana said length of service …

PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Mahmood Khan on Friday said the PTI government’s flagship Sehat Card Plus scheme had ensured the provision of free healthcare facilities to the entire population of the province. “Our government is giving serious consideration to the inclusion of overseas Pakistanis of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in the Sehat Card Plus scheme,” the chief minister told a public …

MANSEHRA: The police cleared the Mansehra-Naran-Jalkhad Road in Kaghan area of protesters by using tear gas early on Friday. Led by district police officer Asif Bahadur, the police personnel also arrested around a dozen of hotel owners for blocking the road against the ongoing anti-encroachment crackdown in Kaghan valley. The police said they resorted to firing in the air and …

RAWALPINDI: The PTI leader Sayed Zulfikar Bukhari aka Zulfi Bukhari on Friday sent a Rs1 billion defamation notice to Rawalpindi Commissioner Syed Gulzar Hussain Shah over mentioning his name in Rawalpindi Ring Road Project scam. In May, when the scam emerged, the Punjab government removed six mid-career officers including commissioner and deputy commissioner over their alleged involvement in bringing about …

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan has asked the Establishment Division to devise mechanism for linking the performance of bureaucrats with the redressal of public grievances. The PM’s Performance Development Unit (PMDU) said that on the advice of the prime minister, the Establishment Division had been directed to make procedure for improving the annual confidential report (ACR), also known as performance …

ISLAMABAD: Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi and National Security Adviser Moeed Yusuf warned on Friday that the aggravating situation in Afghanistan could have serious implications for Pakistan and called for preparing for the changed reality. They were speaking at the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee. NSA Yusuf said that the situation in Afghanistan, following US withdrawal, had turned very bad. Pakistan, …

ISLAMABAD: A few days after hinting at initiating a dialogue with the disgruntled tribesmen who have been putting up resistance in Balochistan, Prime Minister Imran Khan on Friday asked lawmakers from the province including former home minister Sarfaraz Bugti and Anwarul Haq Kakar to create an atmosphere of harmony in the province. The senators called on the premier and discussed the political …

ISLAMABAD/KARACHI: The National Command and Opera­tion Centre (NCOC) and Sindh government on Friday imposed further curbs on unvaccinated people to prevent the spread of Covid-19, prohibiting air travel from Aug 1 onwards and banning several facilities for them. The latest measures come after an increase in coronavirus cases was witnessed throughout the country as well as the impending threat of …