TEHRAN: Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, long seen as a potential successor to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was killed in a helicopter crash in mountainous terrain near the Azerbaijan border, officials and state media said on Monday. The charred wreckage of the helicopter which crashed on Sunday carrying Raisi and Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian was found early on Monday after an overnight …
ISLAMABAD: Islamabad High Court (IHC) senior puisne judge Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani on Monday said that the intelligence agencies should shed the perception of their involvement in forced abductions. The IHC judge was hearing a petition seeking the recovery of Kashmiri poet Ahmed Farhad Shah. Shah was allegedly abducted from his home last week. The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan …
LAHORE: Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue Mohammad Aurangzeb has termed the banking sector’s recommendations for three priority sectors — small and medium enterprises (SMEs), digital and technology, agriculture — vital for promoting growth and sustainability. In a meeting with a delegation of the Pakistan Banks’ Association (PBA), the minister stated that the purpose of this initiative was to encourage …
ISLAMABAD: Sardar Tanveer Ilyas, a former prime minister of Azad Jammu and Kashmir, was arrested by the Islamabad police late on Sunday night. The arrest was made by the Margalla Police in connection with the FIR lodged by a member of the former premier’s family for “forceful entry and firing in [the] family property”. According to the FIR, Mr Ilyas, Aneel Sultan, …
LAHORE: Federal Minister for Energy Awais Ahmad Khan Leghari on Sunday said the government had no plans to end the policy of solar net-metering. The minister’s remarks came in the wake of media reports, claiming that the government was scrapping the policy and replacing it with a new gross-metering mechanism. Net metering allows consumers to sell excess electricity produced by …
LAHORE: Amid a low voter turnout in the by-election in NA-148 Multan on Sunday, the PPP’s Syed Ali Qasim Gilani is likely to win against Barrister Taimur Altaf Mahay who contested the by-poll from the platform of the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC). According to initial results, Ali Qasim Gilani, the son of former prime minister and current Senate Chairman Yusuf Raza Gilani, …
LAHORE: PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif on Saturday accused incarcerated PTI founder Imran Khan of “backstabbing” him in 2013 by carrying out protest rallies despite initially assuring him of his cooperation post-elections. Addressing a meeting of the PML-N’s Central Working Committee (CWC) in Lahore, Nawaz said that upon assuming power in 2013, the first thing he did was go and visit Imran at …
LAHORE: A special flight carrying the first batch of Pakistan students from Kyrgyzstan capital of Bishkek landed at Lahore’s Allama Iqbal International Airport late on Saturday after several foreigners were subjected to mob violence last night. Kyrgyz police said they had mobilised forces in the Central Asian nation’s capital yesterday to quell the violence, in which hundreds of Kyrgyz men …
PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa food department has purchased around 20,000 metric tonnes of wheat from growers in the province in the first phase of the ongoing procurement drive. Last month, the provincial government announced that it would procure 300,000 tonnes of wheat from the local farmers. A senior government official told Dawn that the food department had decided to purchase wheat from local growers …
ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) has strongly condemned the federal and Punjab governments’ recent move to amend the defamation law, terming it a fascist and draconian step to stifle dissenting voices and curb media freedom. In a joint statement issued on Friday, PFUJ President Afzal Butt and Secretary General Arshad Ansari said the federal and Punjab governments are bent …