ISLAMABAD: The Foreign Office on Thursday said that concerns raised over the Feb 8 general elections during a US Congressional hearing “reflected a misunderstanding” of the country’s domestic situation and electoral laws. The comments come a day after US Assistant Secretary of State Donald Lu told a Congressional panel that if the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) failed to investigate allegations of irregularities in …

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday said that macroeconomic stability in the country needed to be advanced further, which he said would not be possible without another bailout programme with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). A day ago, while announ­c­ing the staff-level agreement (SLA) on the successful completion of an existing short-term facility, the IMF had confirmed that Pakistan was seeking a 24th …

ISLAMABAD: Islamabad High Court Chief Justice Aamer Farooq remarked on Tuesday that the cipher case against Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan and senior leader Shah Mahmood Qureshi was neither a hard-core criminal case nor a white-collar crime, rather it was a unique hybrid-type case. Heading a two-judge bench, including Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb, to hear appeals against the conviction …

RAWALPINDI: Chief of the Army Staff (COAS) General Syed Asim Munir undertook an official visit to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA)  in a bid to bolster diplomatic ties and discuss mutual regional issues, said a statement by the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) on Wednesday. During his visit, Gen Munir met with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman and discussed a wide …

ISLAMABAD: After no response from the district administration despite multiple attempts, the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) on Tuesday approached the Islamabad High Court (IHC) to seek permission for a public gathering in the federal capital later this month. The petition filed by PTI leader Amir Mughal through his lawyer MNA Sher Afzal Marwat will be heard by a single-member bench of …

LAHORE: As disruption of social media platform X stre­t­ched into its fifth week, Inte­rior Minister Mohsin Naqvi said on Tuesday the country needed “better laws” to regulate internet free speech. “We need to make better laws,” he said when asked whe­ther his ministry was responsible for shutting down the platform, formerly known as Twitter. “Expression is fine, but ma­k­ing false …

ISLAMABAD: The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has reached a Staff-Level Agreement (SLA) with Pakistan on the final review of a $3 billion bailout, where the country will receive $1.1 billion after approval from the Fund’s Executive Board, the lender said on Wednesday. The funds are the final tranche of a $3bn last-gasp rescue package Pakistan had secured last summer, which …

ISLAMABAD: As the Supreme Court on Wednesday granted bail to five suspects detained in a case pertaining to the May 9 riots, Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail wondered how carrying out rallies was equivalent to terrorism. Countrywide protests had erupted on May 9 last year after the paramilitary Rangers whisked away former prime minister Imran Khan from the Islamabad High Court in the £190m corruption …

ISLAMABAD: Following recent skirmishes on the Pak-Afghan frontier, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Wednesday asserted that the goverment would not tolerate any cross-border terrorism. In the early hours of Monday, Pakistan struck Afganistan’s Khost and Paktika provinces in “intelligence-based anti-terrorist operations”, which, according to the Afghan interim government, killed eight people. The Foreign Office had confirmed the strikes, saying they were aimed at the …

GAWADAR: Seven armed assailants were shot dead by police and security forces on Wednesday after they forcibly entered the Gwadar Port Authority Complex and opened firing, according to officials. Makran Commissioner Saeed Ahmed Umrani told Dawn.com that multiple blasts were also reported in the attack, adding that the clearance operation against the perpetrators was being carried out. Gwadar Senior Superintendent of Police …