ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif departed on Friday for a two-day official visit to Azerbaijan at the invitation of President Ilham Aliyev. In a post on social media platform X, state-run PTV said that Information Minister Attaullah Tarar was also accompanying the premier. Earlier today, the Foreign Office (FO) said PM Shehbaz would undertake the visit to participate in events …
ISLAMABAD: A Faisalabad anti-terrorism court (ATC) sent Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) chief Sahibzada Mohammad Hamid Raza to jail on Friday, directing that he serve his 10-year jail term in a case pertaining to violent protests in the country on May 9, 2023. Hamid was convicted in the case along with several PTI leaders on July 31. According to his brother, …
ISLAMABAD: Expounding on an earlier ruling, the Supreme Court on Thursday held that participation of women in the public sphere was not a benevolent concession, but a realisation of a right long denied. “When women contribute across education, administration, policy, health, and justice, institutions draw upon a broader spectrum of experience, enhancing the quality, legitimacy and responsiveness of governance,” observed …
ISLAMABAD: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi on Thursday sought meetings with the chief justice of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) and with PTI’s party’s patron-in-chief Imran Khan but failed. Speaking to journalists outside the IHC, he said he had wished to ask the chief justice who was “pressurising the courts”. He complained that PTI cases were not being scheduled …
The British Army’s Chief of the General Staff (CGS) Gen Sir Charles Roland Vincent Walker on Thursday met Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Field Marshal Asim Munir in Rawalpindi, where the two discussed boosting bilateral defence cooperation. The meeting between the army chiefs took place at the General Headquarters (GHQ), a press release from the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said. …
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif held meetings with the delegations of multiple parties on Thursday in what appears to be efforts by the government to prepare the ground to get a 27th Constitutional Amendment approved by Parliament. Among those he met was a seven-member delegation of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P), which was led by party Convener Dr Khalid Maqbool …
PESHAWAR: Shafiullah Jan, the special assistant to the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chief minister on information and public relations, said on Thursday that only the provincial chief executive could make decisions for ensuring lasting peace in the province. “We have the mandate. Any decision for lasting peace in the province will be made by the chief minister, and the provincial government will …
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan resumed talks with Afghan Taliban representatives in Istanbul today in a third round of engagement aimed at ending cross-border terrorism and consolidating a fragile ceasefire that was initially agreed upon after border clashes last month. Since the skirmishes between October 11 and 15, Pakistan and Afghan Taliban representatives have held two rounds of talks — first in Doha …
PESHAWAR: A key commander of the Islamic State-Khorasan (IS-K) militant group was killed in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Karak in a late-evening police operation, sources told Dawn. Sources said that acting on an intelligence tip-off, police raided a hideout in Ambari village in Karak district. An exchange of fire ensued, resulting in the death of Nisar Hakim, a key IS-K commander. Four …
ISLAMABAD: The opposition reached out to the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman late on Wednesday, seeking his support against the proposed 27th Constitutional Amendment. A parliamentary delegation of opposition parties led by Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP) Chairman Mehmood Khan Achakzai, who has also been nominated as the opposition leader in the National Assembly, visited the JUI-F chief’s …