ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Wednesday reaffirmed the government’s pledge to eradicate terrorism after seven Punjab-bound passengers were offloaded from a bus and shot dead in Barkhan district last night. Pakistan has recently witnessed an uptick in terror activities, especially in KP and Balochistan. Terror attacks have increased since the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) broke a fragile ceasefire agreement …

LONDON: Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Asim Munir was awarded a ceremonial guard of honour during his visit to the United Kingdom, according to a statement by the military’s media wing. The army chief is set to participate in the seventh Regional Stabilisation Conference at the esteemed Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, where he will deliver the keynote address on …

NEW YORK: Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar sought the United Nations’ support for counter-terrorism efforts in Pakistan during a meeting with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in New York on Tuesday. The meeting comes a day after Dar addressed a high-level UN Security Council debate calling for a unified, non-discriminatory approach to combat terrorism and rejecting “double standards” in dealing with extremist …

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court’s constitutional bench (CB) hearing a set of intra-court appeals was requested on Tuesday to strike down Sections 2(1)(d)(i) and (ii) of the Pakistan Army Act (PAA) on the basis of Article 10A of the Constitution that guarantees the right to a fair trial. Unlike elsewhere in the world where civilians cannot be dragged into courts that …

ISLAMABAD: Acting Islamabad High Court (IHC) Chief Justice Sardar Mohammad Sarfraz Dogar on Tuesday turned down a request to register the Al-Qadir Trust under the Charity Act, observing that the petition has become infructuous after the judgement in the £190m corruption reference. Accountability Court Judge Nasir Javed Rana had sentenced ex-PM Imran Khan and his spouse, Bushra Bibi, in the …

WASHINGTON: On his first visit to the US after the Trump administration took office, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar boasted that Pakistan had broken its diplomatic isolation through active diplomacy, and called for sweeping global reforms and strengthening the UN to create a more inclusive international order. In remarks made on separate occasions, Mr Dar said Pakistan …

ISLAMABAD: Justice Naeem Akhtar Afghan of the Supreme Court’s constitutional bench stated on Tuesday that international law does not explicitly prohibit the court-martial of civilians. The SC judge made these remarks during the hearing of intra-court appeals challenging the declaration of civilian trials in military courts as null and void. During the proceedings, Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhel inquired about the …

ISLAMABAD: Leaders of the opposition PTI on Monday urged the judiciary to expedite the cases related to alleged rigging during the general elections and the 26th Ame­ndment, expressing concern that the matters rem­ained undecided despite the passage of a year. The demand was reiterated by PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan, Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Omar …

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court has undergone a major administrative restructuring, which has notably reduced the authority of senior puisne judge Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani — who previously held key decision-making roles — following recent amendments to the high court rules. The changes followed the transfer of three judges from different high courts to the IHC and the subsequent reconstitution …

ISLAMABAD: Chief of his own faction of the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (JUI-F) Maulana Fazlur Rehman on Monday launched a blistering attack on the government’s handling of national security issues and warned that the country’s very existence was under threat due to lack of civilian decision-making. Speaking on a point of order in the National Assembly after the house hurriedly passed five …