An Afghan Taliban delegation on Sunday will participate in the third round of the United Nations-hosted meeting of Special Envoys and Special Representatives on Afghanistan in Doha, Qatar. This will mark the first time the de facto Afghan rulers will attend a gathering of international envoys on Afghanistan since UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres started the process in May 2023, aimed at developing a …

At least 18 people were killed and 19 seriously wounded in suicide attacks targeting a wedding, a hospital and a funeral in northeastern Nigeria on Saturday, authorities said. The region has been scarred by more than a decade of violence by the militant group Boko Haram, which did not immediately claim responsibility for the string of attacks. In one of …

ISLAMABAD: In a letter sent to the Supreme Court registrar to dispel the impression that contempt proceedings against Senator Faisal Vawda and MNA Mustafa Kamal were initiated on his complaint, Justice Athar Minallah stated unequivocally that neither any complaint was filed by him nor was he in any manner consulted in this regard. “My view regarding contempt proceedings is manifest from the …

LAHORE: Amid escalating tensions with the treasury, the opposition in the Punjab Assembly held its own session on Saturday, pledging not to accept “fake Form-47” Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz, even if the speaker suspended all its lawmakers. Opposition lawmakers from the PTI (Sunni Ittehad Council) and ruling PML-N lawmakers had been at loggerheads after 11 opposition members were suspended for 15 sittings …

ISLAMABAD: Justice Athar Minallah has asked the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to satisfy the Supreme Court that the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) was excluded from the electoral process legitimately, thereby forfeiting its claim to reserved seats. As a member of the full-court bench of the Supreme Court hearing the Sunni Ittehad Council’s (SIC) appeal against the denial of reserved seats for women and minorities, …

ISLAMABAD: Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa said on Saturday that Pakistan’s Constitution was gender-responsive and women-inclusive, but emphasised the effective application of laws to achieve inclusivity. Speaking at the conclusion of a three-day ‘Regional Inclusive Justice Symposium-South Asia’ in Islamabad, the CJP underscored that the Constitution mandates women’s representation across all sectors. Citing articles from the Constitution, Justice Isa said …

PESHAWAR: A fire broke out in the Nauthia Phattak area on Saturday morning, destroying at least 80 shops mostly selling used goods and injuring three people. Rescue 1122 officials said the fire started in a small makeshift structure alongside the railway line, spreading to nearby shops and engulfing wooden cabins and a power transformer. They said power cables also caught …

ISLAMABAD: The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) on Saturday took strong exception to a series of videos being circulated on social media platforms in which right-wing clerics had been urging parents to pull their daughters out of school on the grounds that schooling was associated with ‘obscenity’. In another video, HRCP representatives said, certain clerics had denounced women’s use of mobile phones on similar …

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) has disposed of the federal government’s plea to review last year’s judgement declaring the 2011 order to place the names of the family of former Khyber agency surgeon Dr Shakil Afridi on the Exit Control List (ECL) for travel restriction as illegal. The decision came from a bench consisting of Justice Ijaz Anwar and Justice Syed …

ISLAMABAD: The PTI on Saturday requested the Supreme Court to fix its review petition challenging the decision to deny the party its ‘bat’ symbol for general elections. The fresh application filed by PTI said the review petition should be heard by a full court “in the interest of justice and completeness”. The scope and ambit of the judgement under review is already being debated …