Category: FEATURED

ISLAMABAD: The capital administration held five rounds of discussions with deposed cleric of Lal Masjid Maulana Abdul Aziz and did not allow him to lead Friday prayers and deliver the weekly sermon in the mosque. The last round of talks between the administration and the cleric started on Friday morning and concluded less than an hour before the prayers. Scores of women clad in black burqas with some of them carrying sticks gazed down at the streets from the windows and rooftops of the new Jamia Hafsa in G-7/3-4 as…

Read More

KARACHI: Police submitted on Friday interim charge sheets against former Malir SSP Rao Anwar and others before the administrative judge of antiterrorism courts in a case of foisting weapons and explosives upon Naqeebullah Mehsud and three other victims. Rao Anwar and then DSP Qamar Ahmed Shaikh along with their 10 absconding subordinates have been booked in the second case for foisting pistols and hand grenades upon Naqeeb and three others after killing them in a staged shoot-out on Jan 13 in Shah Latif Town. Investigating Officer SSP Dr Rizwan Ahmed…

Read More

In what appears to be a tit-for-tat move, the Foreign Ministry on Friday imposed reciprocal travel restrictions on American diplomats in the country as similar restrictions on the movement of Pakistani diplomats in the United States (US) comes into effect today. A ministry notification issued to the US Embassy in Islamabad yesterday stated that the reciprocal measures would come into effect immediately after US restrictions are implemented. The measures include travel restrictions, as well as treating US diplomatic cargo at Pakistani airports and ports in accordance with Vienna Convention’s Article…

Read More

Pakistani-origin Italian citizen Sana Cheema ─ whose death in Gujrat, was reported by Italian media as an alleged honour killing ─ was found to have been strangled to death, according to an autopsy report obtained by Dawn on Wednesday. The autopsy was conducted by Aziz Bhatti Shaheed Teaching Hospital’s Dr Komal Ishaq after the Punjab Forensic Science Agency sent Sana’s forensic report to the hospital. The forensic report stated that the victim’s voice box was swollen and the right cornua of her hyoid bone (in the neck) had been dislocated. The forensic…

Read More

A suspect who was arrested for the assassination attempt on Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal on Sunday evening has a declared affiliation with the Tehreek-i-Labbaik, it emerged late last night. In a preliminary report sent to the Punjab chief secretary hours after the attack, the Narowal deputy commissioner reported that the suspect had identified himself as Abid Hussain, son of Mohammad Hussain, a resident of Verum village, Tehsil Shakargarh of Narowal district. “He further showed his affiliation with Tahrik-e-Labbaik [sic],” the DC’s letter read. A copy of the letter sent to the chief…

Read More

ISLAMABAD: A day after Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi said the upcoming general elections would be conducted by ‘aliens’, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Friday dismissed the insinuation terming it against the spirit of the Constitution and ECP mandate. ECP spokesman Altaf Khan said at a press briefing that the commission was fully prepared to hold the elections in line with its mandate under Article 218 of the Constitution. Under the Constitution and the Elections Act 2017, the ECP was fully independent in discharge of its legal and constitutional…

Read More

Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif owned the Avenfield properties while he was a public office holder, the investigating officer (IO) in the corruption reference against the Sharif family informed an accountability court on Wednesday. Imran Dogar stated that Sharif used offshore companies Nielsen and Nescoll Ltd to buy the properties in London while he was the actual owner of the apartments. He said that during investigations, the accused were unable to provide their sources of income and that the properties have been in ownership of the Sharifs since 1993. He…

Read More

The Punjab government has distanced itself from misogynistic remarks issued by PML-N leaders Rana Sanaullah and Tallal Chaudhry against female participants of a Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) rally held in Lahore on Sunday. Sanaullah, while speaking to reporters outside the Punjab Assembly yesterday, made inappropriate comments about the women who attended the rally, saying: “The women who attended the rally were not from honourable families because their dance moves implied where they had actually come from.” Chaudhry, at a separate press conference, had said: “We don’t ask whose house you [Imran Khan] stay…

Read More

Islamabad police on Monday registered a case for reckless driving against a motorcyclist, who was injured the previous night after being hit by a US embassy official’s car. On Sunday night, the US embassy’s Second Secretary Chad Rex Auburn hit a motorcycle, injuring the rider, Nazakat Islam, and his pillion passenger. The diplomat initially refused to come out of the car but upon the police’s arrival, he stepped out and identified himself. Auburn was later taken into custody and shifted to the Secretariat police station. Police also impounded the vehicle and took…

Read More