Category: PAKISTAN

The Senate elections are underway in the national and provincial assemblies as 133 candidates contest for 52 seats on Saturday. The Senate — the Upper House of Parliament — is a body of 104 lawmakers. Each serves a term of six years, barring resignation, disqualification, or other extraordinary circumstances. They are not all elected at the same time: rather, half are elected at one time, and the other half three years later. In 2018, 52 senators (who were elected in 2012) are slated to retire. The other 52 were elected…

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A total of 87,813 intending pilgrims were selected through a transparent computerised balloting on Thursday to perform the religious obligation under the Government Haj Scheme 2018. Minister of State for Religious Affairs Pir Aminul Hasnat Shah conducted the balloting process. Speaking on the occasion, the minister said: “Keeping in mind the growing restlessness among applicants and the uncertainty about reimbursement of payment, the ministry had requested the federal cabinet to proceed with the lottery under a 50 per cent quota, following which the balloting took place and the lucky winners…

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An independent candidate backed by the ruling PML-N on Thursday comfortably cruised to victory in a by-election on a Senate seat vacated after the disqualification of former senator Nehal Hashmi. Dr Asad Ashraf bagged 298 votes in the 368-member Punjab Assembly — where the polling for the by-election took place — defeating Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) candidate Dr Zarqa Suharwardi-Taimur, who managed to obtain 38 votes. Ashraf had submitted his papers for the election as a PML-N nominee but was declared an independent candidate after a Supreme Court verdict restrained Nawaz Sharif…

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GILGIT: The National Accountability Bureau on Wednesday arrested three officials of Gilgit-Baltistan agriculture department for their alleged involvement in embezzlement of over Rs20 million through bogus bills and advertisements. NAB personnel arrested Nizamudin, GB deputy director agriculture, Sir Syed Ahmad, drawing and disbursing officer, and cashier Shah Zareen from Gilgit. According to a press release issued here, the accused misused their authority and embezzled the amount by processing bogus bills on the basis of fake advertisements, fake documents etc from various heads of the agriculture department in Diamer, during their…

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Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif on Thursday extended support to Kabul’s proposed political process seeking to recognise the Taliban as a legitimate political group, and said Pakistan is ready for one-on-one talks with the Afghan Taliban. Asif’s statements come a day after Afghan President Ashraf Ghani at the second Kabul Process conference offered recognition of the Taliban as a political group and asked the group to take part in peace talks “to save the country”. The offer adds to a series of signals from both the Western-backed government and the Taliban suggesting a…

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A report submitted to the Supreme Court on Thursday regarding television anchor Dr Shahid Masood’s claims about 6-year-old Zainab’s killer states that all 18 of the revelations made by Masood were false and baseless. The anchorperson had claimed during a late night show that Zainab’s rapist and murderer, Imran Ali, was a member of a pornography gang, which also includes a Punjab minister. During earlier hearings of the case, Masood had also told the court that the suspect has 37 foreign accounts. His claims about the bank accounts, however, were…

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Former senator Nehal Hashmi was released from Adiala Jail on Wednesday after completing his one-month sentence handed to him by the Supreme Court (SC) over contempt of court. Supporters gathered outside Adiala Jail and showered him with rose petals. Speaking to the media after being released, Hashmi said he was a victim of revenge as his appeal against the verdict has not been heard even after his sentence has ended. “This is the height of oppression,” a charged Hashmi said outside Adiala Jail. “This is the state of this country.”…

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PML-N bigwigs on Tuesday, during a meeting called to choose an interim party president, elected Nawaz Sharif as “[the party’s] Quaid(leader) for life”. Maryam Nawaz confirmed the development in a tweet as the PML-N Central Working Committee (CWC) meeting was underway at the Sharif family’s Model Town residence in Lahore. “Raja Zafarul Haq, Prime Minister Abbasi and Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif’s proposal elicited a resounding approval from [the] CWC,” Maryam said. PML-N Chairman Raja Zafarul Haq proposed Nawaz’s elevation as ‘quaid for life’, saying, “Mian Nawaz Sharif was, is and Inshallah will…

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LAHORE: The man, who had suffered serious injuries after allegedly jumping off the FIA building on Temple Road on Friday, was said to be ‘stable’ now. Sajid Masih of Shahdara was called by the Cyber Crime Wing at their Regal Chowk Office for allegedly uploading some blasphemous content on a Facebook group. Sajid approached the FIA to record his statement where he allegedly jumped from the fourth floor of the building. He was rushed to Ganga Ram Hospital and later shifted to General Hospital from where he was taken to…

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ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan has alleged that the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) has assigned the task of selecting its candidates for the upcoming general elections to the Intelligence Bureau (IB), through its “hand-picked” director general Aftab Sultan. Speaking at a news conference at his Banigala residence on Saturday, the PTI chief accused former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and his brother Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif of using bureaucrats in the Centre and the province as their “front men”, and to protect their alleged corruption. “It is…

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NAROWAL: A man hurled a shoe at Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal while he was addressing a workers’ convention in Narowal on Saturday. The man, Bilal Haris, stood up from his seat as Iqbal arrived on stage to address the convention in Aliabad area. Bilal hurled a shoe at the minister, which reportedly touched the minister. Workers at the convention grabbed the man, who was handed over to the police. After the incident, Iqbal descended from the stage leaving his speech in between. The minister, however, directed the police not to…

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ISLAMABAD: Confusion about whether or not Pakistan has been put on a ‘grey list’ by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) continued on Friday as a public statement by the international watchdog announcing the outcomes of its plenary session held in Paris this week remained silent on the US move to put the country on the watchlist. Pakistan does not feature on the list of countries with strategic deficiencies posing a risk to the international financial system issued along with the FATF statement following the meeting. The list now features…

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The Financial Action Task Force (FATF), an international watchdog on money laundering and terror financing, is going to announce its decisions — including on the motion to place Pakistan on the terror-financing watch list — after a week-long session concludes today. The FATF session in Paris, which concludes on Friday, is being held to review proposals that include putting Pakis­tan back on a list of countries which have failed to prevent terrorist financing. The United States (US) and Britain had put forward a motion to place Pakistan on the FATF terrorist-financing watch…

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A four-member team of polio health workers, accompanied by Assistant Commissioner Sheikh Rafiq, was allegedly attacked by a school’s administration in Karachi’s Nazimabad area on Tuesday after the team attempted to vaccinate its students against polio. A first information report against the school was registered in the Nazimabad police station after the incident, with the assistant commissioner as the complainant. The institution was subsequently sealed. According to DawnNews, the health workers had visited the school earlier to administer the polio vaccine to students. However, the school had reportedly refused to allow…

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