ISLAMABAD: An Islamabad district and sessions court on Tuesday reserved its verdict on petitions requesting suspension of sentences given to former premier Imran Khan and his spouse Bushra Bibi in the iddat case. On Saturday, while resuming the hearing for pleas seeking suspension of sentences, additional district and sessions judge (ADSJ) Afzal Majoka asked Zahid Asif — the counsel for Bushra Bibi’s ex-husband, …

ISLAMABAD/QUETTA / PESHAWAR: In a late-night move, the government clarified that the campaign to be launched under the banner of Azm-i-Istehkam would not be a kinetic large-scale military operation, nor would it entail the mass displacement of the local population. The clarification came apparently in the wake of intense opposition criticism of the government’s plans to launch military action, ostensibly to safeguard …

LAHORE: PML-N President Nawaz Sharif on Monday “directed” the governments of his younger brother Shehbaz Sharif and daughter Maryam Nawaz in the Centre and Punjab, respectively, to take the party on board in the decision-making on important issues. During a maiden meeting after becoming the party’s president on Monday, the elder Sharif made it clear that both governments should be …

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Monday reaffirmed his resolve to completely eradicate polio from the country in a meeting attended by Bill Gates and officials of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF). The meeting of the National Taskforce for Polio Eradication in Islamabad marks the second time Gates has visited Pakistan, previously meeting then-PM Imran Khan in February 2022 on …

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Mohsin Naqvi on Monday approved the promotion of “quality domestic” cricket on all levels, calling for tournaments to be organised from the club level to the national level. A stunning super-over humiliation for the Green Team at the hands of the United States was followed by a six-run loss to bitter rivals India in a game where they failed to chase …

ISLAMABAD: Defence Minister Khawaja Asif on Monday said that the government had decided to take all parties in confidence on Operation Azm-i-Istehkam. The federal government on Saturday approved a reinvigorated and re-energised national counter-terrorism campaign, Operation Azm-i-Istehkam, that symbolised the national resolve to eradicate extremism and terrorism from the country. The campaign was launched with the consensus of all stakeholders, including the …

ISLAMABAD: As the Supreme Court on Monday took up the case of reserved seats, Justice Munib Akhtar observed that the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) was “channelising returned candidates of a political party into the category of ‘independents’”. “Are we going to be so blinded by the harsh political realities […] that if the ECP, on its own cascades of …

ISLAMABAD: A key government minister on Sunday admitted on the floor of the National Assembly that the state had failed in the protection of minorities in Pakistan as the lower house of the parliament passed a resolution condemning the recent incidents of mob lynching in various parts of the country with a majority vote amid surprise opposition by the members …

ISLAMABAD: Federal Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi on Sunday approved the deployment of the Frontier Constabulary (FC) in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) at the request of Prime Minister Chaudhry Anwarul Haq, in a decision that raised eyebrows in the region given the recent incidents that had led to three deaths in state capital Muzaffarabad allegedly at the hands of a …

ISLAMABAD: Defence Minister Khawaja Asif on Sunday criticised the opposition for not supporting the newly announced counterterrorism operation called Azm-i-Istehkam as the latter demanded that Parliament be taken into confidence before any offensive against militancy was launched. The government on Saturday announced the operation, vowing to unleash the full force of the country’s military, diplomatic, legislative, and socio-economic arsenal to decisively defeat …