Category: PAKISTAN

Overseas Tribune- Latest News from Pakistan and around the world.

Three top army officers including ex-DG ISPR Asim Bajwa reshuffled

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Asim Bajwa

Three army officers, including former director general (DG) of the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), Lt Gen Asim Bajwa, are to be reshuffled, according to a handout released by the army’s media wing on Thursday. Lt Gen Asim Bajwa has been posted as corps commander southern command (Quetta), replacing Lt Gen Aamer Riaz, ISPR said. Lt Gen Riaz has been appointed Corps Commander Lahore, while Lt Gen Sadiq Ali, who currently holds the position, has been posted as inspector general of the Arms Branch at General Headquarters, Rawalpindi, ISPR said. Lt…

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CJP takes notice of Sindh govt’s alleged acquisition of Hindu cremation grounds in Karachi

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Cheif Justice Saqib Nisar

Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Mian Saqib Nisar on Wednesday took notice of the Sindh government’s alleged acquisition of land used by the Hindu community in Karachi as a cremation ground. The CJP took notice of the issue after Shri Ram Nath Maharaj submitted an application claiming that the provincial government had acquired land being used by the Hindu community for the construction of the Lyari Expressway in 2008. Maharaj said that no alternative land had been allotted to the Hindu community, nor had any compensation been awarded for the…

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Cabinet assails ‘fake news’ about Nawaz Sharif’s order to Intelligence Bureau

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Federal Cabinet

ISLAMABAD: Members of the federal cabinet on Tuesday took serious notice of the airing of a “false report” on a private television channel claiming that former prime minister Nawaz Sharif had directed the Intelligence Bureau (IB) to keep vigilance over some 37 legislators, mostly belonging to the ruling PML-N, allegedly for having links with banned terrorist and sectarian outfits, sources told Dawn. According to the sources, the issue was raised by Minister for Inter-Provincial Coordination Riaz Hussain Pirzada at the cabinet meeting that was presided over by Prime Minister Shahid…

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PML-N ineligible to get party symbol over failure to elect new president: ECP

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PMLN

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Tuesday issued a notice to the PML-N following its failure to elect a party president after the disqualification of Nawaz Sharif and notified that the PML-N “is now not eligible” to get the party symbol. According to PML-N’s party constitution, it was supposed to elect a president within 45 days after the ouster of Sharif — the deadline passed on September 11. The notice, issued to PML-N Acting Secretary General Ahsan Iqbal, said that due to its failure to elect the party head,…

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Senate committee holds law enforcement agencies responsible for missing persons

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The Senate Functional Committee on Human Rights’ Chairperson, Nasreen Jalil, on Monday accused law enforcement agencies of abducting people and “asked” them to to investigate the missing persons case. “They [disappeared individuals] are not even presented in court and [only] their tortured corpses are found later,” she alleged. Jalil asked how anyone could obey the law if law enforcement agencies themselves do not abide by it. The committee further observed that cases of several missing persons have not even been registered. Senator Farhatullah Babar of the PPP added that the…

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Imran Khan submits reply to ECP in contempt of court case

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Imran Khan

Imran Khan’s lawyer Babar Awan submitted the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) supremo’s reply to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) in the contempt of court case on Monday. The election body, in its short order, said that it would review the reply on September 27 and then give its judgement. The ECP was hearing a contempt of court petition against Imran Khan filed by party dissident and one of PTI’s founding members, Akbar S. Babar. The petition had argued that the PTI chief, in a reply to the commission in another case regarding…

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Imran Khan demands early elections, says ‘Abbasi should seek fresh mandate’

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Imran Khan

Criticising the ruling party on several fronts, Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) Chairperson Imran Khan on Sunday demanded that Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi seek a fresh mandate by holding early elections. “This is necessary for a democracy,” the PTI leader said during a press conference in Islamabad. “In order to save and strengthen the democracy, you [PM Abbasi] should move towards elections. Seek the people’s mandate.” During the press conference, Khan criticised the ruling party on several fronts, stating that the country’s foreign affairs were being affected. ‘Endangering Pakistan’ Khan said…

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‘India mother of terrorism in South Asia,’ Maleeha Lodhi tells UN

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Maleeha Lodhi

Pakistan’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations Maleeha Lodhi said that India is the mother of terrorism in South Asia, reported the state-run radio service on Sunday. In her response to the allegations of terrorism levelled against Pakistan by India’s External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj in her address at the UN General Assembly session in New York, Lodhi said India is using terrorism as a state policy. Exercising the right of reply to an earlier speech, Lodhi accused Swaraj of “indulging in an orgy of slander against Pakistan.” On Saturday, Sushma Swaraj in her…

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

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Inzamam ul Haq

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…

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Way paved for Nawaz Sharif to again head PML-N

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nawaz shareef

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…

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

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Arsalan Aalam

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…

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

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Abbasi in UNGA

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.…

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

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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…

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PML-N leaders’ row reveals internal split

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NISAR AND KHAQAN

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…

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Law allowing convicts to run for president still unchanged

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Election Commision of Pakistan

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…

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