English – Page 25 – OVERSEAS TRIBUNE

Shahzad dropped, Wahab back in squad for Test series against SL

September 23, 2017September 23, 2017 News Desk

Wahab Riaz has been added back to the team for the, Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chief selector Inzamam-ul-Haq said when he announced the squad for the Test series against Sri Lanka in a press conference on Saturday. Meanwhile, Ahmad Shahzad and Mohammad Rizwan have been dropped from the team. Inzamam announced a 16-member squad for the two-Test series against Sri Lanka that starts on Sept 28. Pakistan team: Sarfraz Ahmed (c), Azhar Ali, Shan Masood, Sami Aslam, Babar Azam, Asad Shafiq, Haris Sohail, Usman Salahuddin, Yasir Shah, Mohammad Asghar, Bilal…

Way paved for Nawaz Sharif to again head PML-N

September 23, 2017September 23, 2017 News Desk

ISLAMABAD: The Senate on Friday passed an election bill after rejecting a key amendment proposed by the Pakistan Peoples Party to retain a controversial clause resurrected by retired Gen Pervez Musharraf through the Political Parties Order 2002, paving the way for an otherwise ineligible Nawaz Sharif to head his own faction of the Pakistan Muslim League. The Election Bill 2017 was passed with a majority vote by the Senate through which the legal bar on a person to serve as an office-bearer of a political party if he is either…

22-year-old lieutenant martyred in attack on Rajgal valley border: ISPR

September 23, 2017September 23, 2017 News Desk

A lieutenant was martyred in a terrorist attack on the Pakistani border in Rajgal valley, an Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) press release said on Saturday. The press release said the Pakistani post was attacked from the other side of the border. Lieutenant Arsalan Alam, the commanding officer of the post got hit and was killed. He was 22 years old. The Pakistan Army recently concluded Operation Khyber IV in the Rajgal valley and declared that the area was cleared off terrorists. However, Director General ISPR, Major Asif Ghafoor had said…

Pakistan won’t be a ‘scapegoat’ in Afghan war, PM Abbasi tells UN General Assembly

September 22, 2017September 22, 2017 News Desk

Pakistan refuses to be a “scapegoat” for Afghanistan’s bloodshed or to fight wars for others, Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi told the United Nations on Thursday. Addressing the UN General Assembly, Abbasi did not explicitly criticise US President Donald Trump’s new strategy on Afghanistan and South Asia but made clear his displeasure with the renewed onus on Pakistan. “Having suffered and sacrificed so much due to our role in the global counterterrorism campaign, it is especially galling for Pakistan to be blamed for the military or political stalemate in Afghanistan,” Abbasi said.…

Pakistan, US agree to remain engaged as Abbasi meets vice president Mike Pence

September 21, 2017September 21, 2017 News Desk

Shahid Khaqan Abbasi with US Vice President

Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi met US Vice President Mike Pence on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday, with the two sides resolving to remain engaged and carry forward the relationship that has been on a downward trajectory since announcement of the US policy for Afghanistan and South Asia. Abbasi’s meeting with VP Pence is the highest contact between the two sides since the policy was announced on Aug 21. Pakistan had after the policy announcement postponed the then planned bilateral interactions. The meeting on the sidelines…

PML-N leaders’ row reveals internal split

September 20, 2017September 20, 2017 News Desk

ISLAMABAD: The prime minister’s endorsement of Defence Minister Khawaja Asif’s contention that Pakistan needs to “put its house in order” has exposed cracks in the ranks of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and provided an opportunity to opposition parties to criticise the government’s foreign and security policies. In his latest assault on his own party’s government, former interior minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan on Tuesday advised Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi not to embarrass the country at the international level. On the other hand, the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and Pakistan…

Law allowing convicts to run for president still unchanged

September 18, 2017September 18, 2017 News Desk

ISLAMABAD: A controversial amendment in the presidential election rules that allows convicts, mentally-deranged persons and government servants to run for the office of president — enacted a decade ago to please retired Gen Pervez Musharraf — still holds the field. According to former Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) secretary Kanwar Dilshad, this stipulation could theoretically allow ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif to run for president, if Mamnoon Hussain were to step down. The ECP amended the rule governing presidential elections in September 2007, taking away the provision for disqualification of…

ISI to have more civilians at the top

September 17, 2017September 17, 2017 News Desk

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government has increased the civilian share in the senior hierarchy of the country’s premier intelligence agency — Inter Services Intelligence (ISI). Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi on Sept 15, 2017 approved a proposal to increase the number of directors general (DGs) — the highest civilian post in the agency — from one to four. The post of civilian DG in the ISI is a grade 21 position, equivalent to a serving major general of the armed forces. Previously, there was only one civilian DG post in…

Pakistan defeat World XI by 33 runs to win Independence Cup

September 16, 2017September 16, 2017 News Desk

Pakistan defeated the visiting World XI by 33 runs in a gripping contest for the Independence Cup at Lahore’s Gaddafi Stadium on Friday. World XI skipper Faf du Plessis won the toss today and put Pakistan in to bat first, as was the case in the first two matches of the series. The green shirts in their innings set a target of 184 runs for the visiting side in the Twenty20 international (T20I) series finale, but the World XI managed to pile on only 150 runs with eight wickets. The…

ECP orders SSP Operations Islamabad to arrest Imran Khan, produce him on 25th

September 15, 2017September 15, 2017 News Desk

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has ordered the SSP Operations Islamabad to arrest Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chief Imran Khan and produce him before the polls supervisory body on September 25. In connection with a contempt case against the PTI chief, the ECP also sent a communique to the Advocate General Islamabad, informing him that as the commission would hear the case against Khan on September 25, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) should set another date to hear his case. The PTI chief, however, can avoid being arrested if he obtains a pre-arrest…

Supreme Court dismisses review petitions filed by Sharifs, Dar against Panama Papers verdict

September 15, 2017September 15, 2017 News Desk

The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed the review petitions filed by deposed prime minister Nawaz Sharif, his children and Finance Minister Ishaq Dar against the apex court’s Panama Papers judgement of July 28. The court had reserved its verdict on the review petitions after the lawyers for the petitioners completed their arguments earlier in the day. A five-judge SC bench, headed by Justice Asif Saeed Khosa, had taken up the petitions seeking review of the court’s July 28 judgement which disqualified Nawaz Sharif and ordered the filing of corruption references against Sharif, his…

Provinces job to take action against banned outfits, says Ahsan

September 15, 2017September 15, 2017 News Desk

ISLAMABAD: Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal told the Senate on Thursday that it was the responsibility of the provincial governments to keep an eye out for and take action against banned outfits in the country, including those organisations that were resurfacing under new names after being outlawed. The Senate had asked Mr Iqbal to provide the name of the authority or agency responsible for keeping a lookout for banned organisations in the country, under the National Action Plan, and the role of the Ministry of Interior in monitoring the activities of these organisations.…

Nothing to be gained from standoff with institutions: Nisar

September 11, 2017September 11, 2017 News Desk

The most mercurial member of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s cabinet on Saturday stated categorically that no political objectives could be attained through confrontations with the judiciary or the military. “Better coordination with both the judiciary and military is the only option in the current situation, where conspiracies are being hatched against the country,” Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan told a private TV channel. In an interview with Saleem Safi of Geo News — the first part of which was aired on Saturday — the former interior minister said “paani sar ke bohat…

Three Hazaras among four shot dead in Quetta

September 11, 2017September 11, 2017 News Desk

Four people, including three members of the Hazara community, were killed and two others were injured when unidentified gunmen opened fire on their vehicle in Quetta’s Kuchlak area on Sunday evening. The members were “targeted” on their way from the Chaman border crossing at the Pak-Afghan border, said police official Zahoor Khan. Two women travelling in the car were injured and transferred to Quetta’s Civil Hospital for treatment, Khan told, “The incident seems to be an act of targeted killing.” The suspects sped away on their motorcycles after opening fire,…

ECP warns PML-N ministers to ‘refrain’ from participating in Kulsoom’s NA-120 campaign

September 9, 2017September 9, 2017 News Desk

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has served notices to Punjab provincial ministers Saiful Malook Khokhar and Bilal Yasin for violating the election board’s code of conduct by participating in Kulsoom Nawaz’s campaign for NA-120 by-polls, DawnNews reported. The notice, issued by a returning officer on Saturday, claimed that the two MPAs disregarded ECP rules by participating in Kulsoom’s election campaign, being run by Maryam Nawaz. The notice warned both ministers that the body would take legal action against them if they fail to submit an answer within three days. It specifically…