Author: News Desk

The Election Commission of Pakistan on Sunday allowed Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) deputy-convener Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui to hand out party tickets for the upcoming Senate elections. Speaking to DawnNews, former ECP secretary Kanwar Dilshad said that MQM-P leader Dr Farooq Sattar will no longer be able to submit nominations for the Senate elections. Instead, the nominations would require the signature of Siddiqui. Soon after the ECP announced its decision, Sattar and other party leaders arrived at the election body’s office in Karachi. “I am the party convener, only I have the…

ISLAMABAD: The second round of Pakistan-Afghanistan talks on an engagement plan on peace and security issues ended on Saturday without making any headway on its key elements because the Afghan delegation felt that their priorities were not being addressed. The two sides could not only agree on a joint statement to sum up the two-day proceedings, but gave divergent accounts about the outcome. The Pakistani version came through Foreign Office spokesman Dr Muhammad Faisal’s 12-word tweet that essentially said more needed to be done to bridge the difference of opinion…

Former interior minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan said on Saturday he has made it clear that he would not serve in the ruling PML-N under the leadership of “juniors” — a reference to Maryam Nawaz who is widely tipped to assume the mantle of the party in the future. When questioned at a press conference in Taxila about his previous remark that Maryam lacked the experience to lead PML-N, Nisar in turn asked whether he had said anything wrong at the time. “You tell me, can I work under children?”…

Life in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Mardan district came to a halt on Friday as thousands of workers and supporters of religious parties took to roads to pressure the government into releasing the 31 men convicted in the brutal murder of Abdul Wali Khan University Mardan student Mashal Khan, who was lynched in April 2017 after being falsely accused of blasphemy. Thousands of members of the Tahaffuz Khatm-i-Nabuwat Organisation, Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) and Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) joined by locals participated in the protest that began at Pakistan Chowk after Friday prayers. A view of the…