ISLAMABAD: A week after the Supreme Court suspended the Peshawar High Court’s judgement depriving the PTI-backed Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) of reserved seats for women and minorities, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Monday suspended victory notifications of as many as 77 members of the national and provincial assemblies elected on those seats. The suspended lawmakers include 44 from PML-N, 15 from PPP, …
BEIJING: China and the United States will hold the first intergovernmental meeting on artificial intelligence (AI) in Geneva, Switzerland on May 14 local time, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said on Monday. Upon agreement, the two sides will exchange views on the technological risks of AI, global governance and other issues of concern. According to the ministry, the meeting is being …
BEIJING: Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar on Monday expressed Pakistan’s resolve to advance cooperation with the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) on security and development, the Foreign Office (FO) said. The development comes as the foreign minister met with SCO Secretary General Ambassador Zhang Ming in Beijing, where he arrived earlier today. According to Radio Pakistan, Dar reaffirmed Pakistan’s “unwavering commitment” to the …
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Monday stepped aside from his position as the PML-N president, saying stated that “the time has come” for his brother Nawaz Sharif to retake his “rightful place as the president of the party”. Nawaz was removed as the president of the party in 2018 after a Supreme Court (SC) bench headed by then-chief justice …
ISLAMABAD: In a fiery address on Monday, Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly (NA) Omar Ayub quoted articles of the Constitution and called for security agencies to return to the bounds mandated to them. Criticising last week’s press conference by the director general (DG) of the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), Ayub said: “Security agencies cannot indulge in politics as per the Constitution,” …
ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Monday suspended the notifications of 75 returned candidates on reserved seats in the national and provincial assemblies till further orders. The lawmakers include 27 Punjab Assembly lawmakers — belonging to the ruling coalition — suspended last week by Speaker Malik Mohammad Ahmed Khan and barred from joining the house proceedings. In a notification issued …
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Monday approved the immediate provision of Rs23 billion to Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) after the region witnessed clashes and protests in the past few days. The Jammu Kashmir Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC), which has traders at the forefront in most parts of the state, has been seeking the provision of electricity as …
LAKKI MARWAT: Police on Sunday claimed to have killed two militants of the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) while three others were injured in a joint operation carried out by police and security forces in Wanda Zareefwal and Shaikh Badin areas. District Police Officer (DPO) Taimur Khan said security personnel were dispatched to the mountainous belt bordering Dera Ismail Khan district …
MUZAFFARABAD: Former Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) prime minister and PTI’s regional president Sardar Abdul Qayyum Niazi on Sunday called for the immediate resignation of the sitting AJK premier Chaudhry Anwarul Haq followed by the announcement of fresh general elections in the state. Speaking at a press conference along with PTI Information Secretary Raoof Hassan at the Islamabad residence of …
ISLAMABAD: An International Monetary Fund (IMF) mission will meet Pakistani authorities next week to discuss the “next phase of engagement”, an official from the international money lender said on Sunday. Esther Perez Ruiz, the Fund’s resident representative for Pakistan, said: “A mission team led by Nathan Porter, IMF’s mission chief to Pakistan, will meet with authorities next week to discuss …