LAHORE: The Punjab Assembly on Monday passed the Defamation Bill, 2024, rejecting all amendments proposed by the opposition amid protests by the PTI-backed Sunni Ittehad Council and journalists covering parliamentary proceedings. The SIC members tore apart copies of the bill after the house passed it through a voice vote. Vetted by the Special Committee-1 in the absence of standing committees, the bill …
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and Turkiye on Monday set their sights on enhancing annual bilateral trade to $5 billion, besides intensifying their defense collaboration as the two countries prepared for their upcoming high-level bilateral summit. Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, while speaking at the Foreign Office after a meeting with visiting Turkish FM Hakan Fidan, said the two sides …
ISLAMABAD: Any attempt to impose martial law in the country will be resisted, the Pashtunkhwa Milli Awami Party chief vowed at a seminar on Monday. “So far we have faced three martial laws. I want to make it clear that if the Constitution is derailed again, we will take to the streets to protect it,” Mehmood Khan Achakzai said in …
ISLAMABAD: An election tribunal headed by a judge of the Islamabad High Court on Monday said the tribunal would issue arrest warrants against the returning officers of three Islamabad constituencies over their non-appearance and proceed ex parte on the poll petitions filed against the final results. The tribunal led by Justice Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri issued notices to all the respondents, …
TEHRAN; Iran’s military chief of staff Mohammad Bagheri ordered on Monday a probe into the cause of a helicopter crash that killed President Ebrahim Raisi and his entourage. Bagheri ordered “a high-ranking committee to launch an investigation into the cause of the president’s helicopter crash” that took place on Sunday, the ISNA news agency reported. Raisi, a hardliner long seen as a …
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif expressed shock and extended his condolences on Monday over the sudden death of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash. The helicopter, carrying President Raisi, the foreign minister, and other officials, went down in a foggy, mountainous region of northwest Iran, with all occupants pronounced dead after an hours-long search. The premier extended his …
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, …