NEW YORK: Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said on Friday that social media platform X has been banned due to national security issues, not to curb freedom of expression. In March this year, in its first direct admission regarding imposing an official ban on X (formerly Twitter), the interior ministry informed the Sindh High Court (SHC) that the social media platform …
ISLAMABAD: The Punjab government on Friday imposed Section 144 in Rawalpindi district for two days, banning public gatherings, as the PTI called on supporters to gather at Liaquat Bagh. Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure is a legal provision that empowers district administrations to prohibit an assembly of four or more people in an area for a limited …
NEW YORK: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Friday demanded an immediate end to the ongoing Israeli military offensive in the Gaza Strip, terming it “systematic slaughter” and “bloodshed”. The premier was addressing the plenary meeting for the UN General Debate as the second speaker at the 79th session of the 193-member United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York. “This …
ISLAMABAD: Weeks after an embarrassing retreat on a package seeking sweeping changes to the Constitution, the government plans to bring it to parliament soon, hoping that it will secure the required support for its passage. “The constitutional package is most likely to land in parliament in the first week of October,” Irfan Siddiqui, PML-N’s parliamentary leader in the Senate, told …
ISLAMABAD: A day after JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman reportedly backed the government’s proposal for a constitutional court, a PTI delegation met him on Thursday, claiming that he would never support such a constitutional amendment. However, the JUI-F remained silent on the matter, with no official statement from party leaders refuting or confirming Mr Rehman’s position. On Wednesday, the JUI-F …
NEW YORK: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif called on the United Nations Security Council to end Israel’s “genocidal war” against Palestine and impose sanctions, during the “Leadership for Peace” debate on Wednesday. “We must compel Israel to halt its genocidal war in Gaza and prevent its attempt to provoke a wider conflict in the Middle East,” he stated. “It is time …
RAWALPINDI: Former prime minister and incarcerated PTI founder, Imran Khan, has directed his party’s leadership to abandon all attempts at negotiating with the establishment, asserting that such talks only strengthen their adversaries. “There is no point in engaging with the establishment. The more we retreat, the more they crush us. This is not the institution’s policy but that of the …
ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) once again approached the Supreme Court (SC) on Thursday seeking clarification on its order to grant reserved seats to the PTI. On July 12, the SC declared Imran Khan’s PTI eligible for seats reserved for women and minorities. However, in light of the Amended Election Act, 2017, the ECP remained unclear on implementing …
NEW YORK: US Assistant Secretary of State Donald Lu has hailed and expressed hope for a further improvement of the United States’ “strong relation” with the Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif-led government. Lu is the diplomat whose supposed warning to former Pakistan ambassador to the US Asad Majeed was the subject of a cipher sent by the envoy to Islamabad. It …
RAWALPINDI: Eight terrorists were killed after security forces conducted an intelligence-based operation (IBO) in the North Waziristan district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the military’s media affairs wing said on Thursday. According to a press release issued by Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the operation was conducted last night on the “reported presence of terrorists in the area”. The press release said that …