ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) government is still undecided about convening a joint sitting of the parliament for the mandatory presidential address due to unclear situation in Afghanistan and a call by the country’s journalist organisations to stage a sit-in against the proposed law to set up a new media regulatory body in the country, Dawn has learnt. Background interviews with a …

ISLAMABAD: After a gap of around 18 months, a commission formed by the federal cabinet for the revision of Islamabad’s master plan is going to meet on Monday (today) to discuss measures for the speedy completion of the task. The commission was formed in 2018 to revise the master plan. However, after preparing an interim report in October 2019, it …

Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry has warned of potential spillovers from the Afghan crisis, saying the world would have to deal with a “huge mess” if Pakistan’s advice on the war-ravaged country was ignored. In an interview with TRT World today, Chaudhry said the world must listen to Pakistan as “in the recent past, Pakistan’s advice had not been paid heed to, and if …

Minister for Human Rights Dr Shireen Mazari on Monday said that Pakistan was “moving forward” in its commitment to criminalise enforced disappearances, and emphasised that such acts were “unacceptable in a democracy”. On the International Day of the Disappeared, which is being celebrated across the world today, Mazari said the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Interior approved a bill on …

Israel’s defence minister met Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas for a rare high-level meeting, but a source close to Prime Minister Naftali Bennett insisted on Monday his government had no plans to reboot peace talks. Defence Minister Benny Gantz met Abbas in Ramallah for what were reportedly the first direct talks between an Israeli cabinet member and the 86-year-old Palestinian leader …

Rockets struck a neighbourhood near Kabul’s international airport on Monday amid the ongoing US withdrawal from Afghanistan. It wasn’t immediately clear who launched them. The rockets struck on Monday morning in Kabul’s Salim Karwan neighbourhood, witnesses said. Gunfire immediately followed the explosions but it was not immediately clear who was firing. The witnesses, who spoke on condition of anonymity for …

LAHORE: As suspension of the operation of Lahore Metro Bus due to “wheel-jam strike” by the drivers entered its second day on Sunday, the people continued to suffer because of non-availability of affordable public transport to commute within the city. “I, like many others, used to travel by metro bus on a daily basis. But, for the last two days, …

KARACHI: Sunday service at the St Joseph’s Catholic Church at Gujjar Nullah had just wrapped up. Master Zohaib Javed of the church bid the worshippers farewell with a sad smile. The church’s facade had already been destroyed in the anti-encroachment drive. Its pink and white main door lies leaning against a still existing wall. Who knows if the little church …

KHYBER: The desperate Afghans, seeking their speedy and smooth return to their country after the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan, are now confronted with multiple tiers of immigration process, operated by at least three different departments at Torkham border. Official sources confided to Dawn that checking of legal travel documents of the returning Afghans and allowing them to cross over to their homeland …

MULTAN: Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi says the government is not at all worried over ‘out-of-season’ public gatherings of the Pakistan Democratic Movement but certainly concerned that these rallies may lead to spread of coronavirus. “The opposition could hold its public gatherings once the pandemic is over,” he suggested while talking to different delegations who called on him here on …