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Petition filed in IHC to put Nawaz Sharif, his children and others on Exit Control List

August 3, 2017 News Desk

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Thursday accepted for hearing a petition calling for the names of ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif and his family members to be added to the Exit Control List (ECL), and will hold its first hearing of the case on Monday. The petition, filed by lawyer Raees Abdulwahid, asks that the names of Nawaz Sharif, his children, Hassan, Hussain and Maryam, son-in-law Capt Safdar, and former finance minister Ishaq Dar be placed on the ECL and their accounts frozen. The petition comes days after the…

Pakistan Mango & Food Festival held in Ankara

August 3, 2017 News Desk

With the aim of further popularizing Pakistani mangoes in Turkey and facilitating their availability in the Turkish market, the Embassy of Pakistan organized a “Pakistan Mango & Food Festival” on Wednesday evening. The event was also part of the celebrations of the 70th Anniversary of Pakistan’s Independence as well as the 70th Year of Pakistan-Turkey Diplomatic relations. Key political figures, representatives from the food and beverages industry, fruit importers, diplomats and media representatives tasted the juiciness and aroma of Pakistani mangoes. The “Pakistan Mango & Food Festival” included a wide-range…

Musharraf conditionally readies to return Pakistan, Says SG of APML

August 3, 2017 News Desk

All Pakistan Muslim League (APML) Secretary General Dr Muhammad Amjad here Wednesdaywhile addressing a press conference said that party Chairman, General (retd) Pervez Musharraf is ready to face accountability and we request judges of Supreme Court to form a Joint Investigation Team (JIT) to probe assets of Gen Musharraf. With Iftikhar Chaudhry heading Supreme Court of Pakistan, public lost faith in judiciary and some controversial decisions were pronounced. After apex Supreme Court rendered judgment in panama case, faith in judiciary has gone restored and Gen Musharraf is ready to face a…

Trump grudgingly signs Russia sanctions

August 3, 2017 News Desk

United States President Donald Trump reluctantly signed off on new sanctions against Russia on Wednesday, bowing to domestic pressure and putting efforts to improve ties with the Kremlin in peril. Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said that the sanctions amounted to “full-fledged economic war on Russia” and demonstrates Trump’s “total weakness… in the most humiliating way.” “It ends hopes for improving our relations with the new US administration,” Medvedev boldly declared on his Facebook page. Trump signed the legislation behind closed doors, after failed White House efforts to scupper or…

What brings PTI chief to a remote town?

August 3, 2017August 3, 2017 News Desk

SAHIWAL: At a time when Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf faced the media onslaught after ‘startling revelations’ by its MNA Ms Ayesha Gulalai on Tuesday evening, the party chairman who skipped the all-important National Assembly session the same day, travelled all the way to Pakpattan in the dark of night. Mr Khan has been a regular visitor to the ancient town for the last two years. The visits, however, are kept private. Escorted by his personal guards, Khan usually visits the town at night, pays homage to saint Baba Fariduddin Ganjshakar by visiting…

COAS, Afghan envoy discuss border management in wake of Herat attack

August 3, 2017 News Desk

A day after a deadly attack on a mosque in Herat province, Afghan ambassador to Pakistan Omar Zakhilwal has discussed security situation and border management with army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa, a statement issued by the army’s media wing said. According to the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the envoy, who called on the chief of army staff (COAS) at the General Headquarters, Rawalpindi on Wednesday also shared matters of mutual interest. Gen Qamar also expressed his grief over loss of innocent lives in the recent terrorist attacks in Afghanistan.…

PTI issues ‘legal’ notice to Gulalai, demands apology for allegations

August 3, 2017 News Desk

The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) on Wednesday issued a “legal notice” to former party member Ayesha Gulalai, demanding she apologise for her allegations against PTI Chairman Imran Khan a day earlier and resign from the National Assembly, or pay Rs30 million in damages to the aggrieved parties. The legal notice was served by Advocate Ahsan Jawed on behalf of the party’s central media coordinator Jawed Bader. The notice presents two options to Gulalai ─ to either tender an “unconditional apology” to Khan and the PTI for her “baseless and indecent allegations” in a…

World Bank allows India to construct controversial dams on Pakistani waters

August 3, 2017 News Desk

The World Bank has allowed India to move ahead with two hydroelectric power facilities on tributaries of the Jhelum and Chenab rivers, a decision taken at the conclusion of secretary-level talks between Pakistan and India on Indus Water Treaty. World Bank, which brokered the 1960 water treaty between the two nuclear-armed neighbours, said New Delhi is allowed to construct Kishanganga and Ratle dams with certain restrictions under the treaty. “The decision was taken in light of the reservations put forth by the Pakistani delegation,” the world lender said in a…

‘Cabinet to take oath in one or two days,’ PM Abbasi says

August 3, 2017August 3, 2017 News Desk

prime minister of Pakistan Shahid Khaqan Abbasi

Incumbent Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi in a press conference on Wednesday said that the government’s incoming cabinet would take oath in a couple of days. “Consultations are underway and the cabinet will hopefully take oath in one to two days,” Abbasi said while speaking to journalists in Murree, following a high-level PML-N meeting chaired by ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif. When asked about the PML-N’s candidate for the upcoming by-poll for the NA-120 constituency ─ a seat left vacant after Nawaz’s disqualification ─ Abbasi said that there was still time left…

Are acid attacks becoming a commonality in the UK because they are treated as a minor offence?

August 3, 2017August 3, 2017 News Desk

Picture the following domestic scene: A woman hovering over a tawwa (stove), folding dough balls whilst the gas flame flickers gently under the cast iron. Behind her, a shadowy figure, wanting no blame and careful to hide their presence, opens up the cylindrical lever on the gas supply. Barely an instant passes before the light hits her eyes; eyes which will never be able to see themselves in a reflection in quite the same way. This was the old way, my mother tells me. This punishment for women, for what was perceived…

Thousands in Afghanistan protest mosque attack

August 3, 2017 News Desk

Thousands of protesters chanted slogans against the militant Islamic State group Wednesday as they carried the coffins of victims of an attack targeting a Shia mosque that killed 33 people in the western Afghan city of Herat. Afghan mourners offer funeral prayers near the coffins of victims following the attack. ─ AFP Up to 5,000 angry mourners, including relatives of the dead, congregated near the site of Tuesday’s suicide bomb attack as IS claimed responsibility for the latest atrocity targeting the minority community. “Death to Daesh (IS)!” and “Down with…

Taliban suicide bomber attacks NATO convoy in south Afghanistan

August 2, 2017August 2, 2017 News Desk

KABUL, AFGHANISTAN: Convoy of foreign forces in the Daman area of Kandahar,” provincial police spokesman Zia Durrani told AFP. NATO confirmed in a statement that a convoy was attacked and did “cause casualties” but did not immediately give further details. At least one witness reported seeing three bodies pulled from one of vehicles. Mohammad Azim, a shopkeeper, told AFP: “I saw a foreign forces vehicle on fire after the attack. A while later helicopters landed in the area, they took three bodies out of the vehicle and flew away. There were three armoured vehicles…

References filed in ECP, Punjab Assembly to disqualify Imran Khan over Gulalai’s allegations

August 2, 2017 News Desk

Lawyer Raja Basharat has filed a petition in the Election Commission of Pakistan, seeking Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) chairman’s disqualification on the basis of “shameful” allegations of harassment levelled against him by former PTI lawmaker Ayesha Gulalai. PML-N’s Hina Pervaiz Butt, also on Wednesday, submitted a resolution in the Punjab Assembly for Imran Khan’s disqualification on the basis of Article 62 and 63 in light of Gulalai’s allegations. A day earlier, as she announced to part ways with the PTI, Gulalai accused Khan and his “gang” of having an “immoral character”. She…

وفاقی کابینہ کی تقریب حلف برداری ملتوی، ذرائع

August 2, 2017 News Desk

وفاقی کابینہ کی تشکیل سے متعلق معاملات طےنہ ہوسکے جس کے باعث تقریب حلف برداری ملتوی کردی گئی ۔ ذرائع کے مطابق وفاقی کابینہ نے آج شام حلف اٹھانا تھا لیکن اب حلف برداری کل ہوگی۔ایوان صدر کو اس بارے میں آگاہ کر دیا گیا ہے۔ ذرائع کا یہ بھی کہنا ہےکہ وزارت خارجہ، خزانہ، دفاع، داخلہ اور تجارت کے قلمدانوں کی تقسیم کے حوالے سے معاملات طے نہیں ہوسکے ہیں جس پر مزید مشاورت جاری ہے جو مکمل ہونے کے بعد ہی کل تقریب حلف برداری کا اعلان کیا…

India should return to negotiating table without preconditions: Basit

August 2, 2017 News Desk

The outgoing High Commissioner for Pakistan in India Abdul Basit on Monday regretted the two neighbours could not start the comprehensive bilateral dialogue as agreed in December 2015 and urged India to return to the negotiating table without further ado and any preconditions. The envoy, in an Op-Ed page article published in the Times of India, reiterated that Pakistan and India cannot live in ‘perpetual hostility’. Basit said former prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s decision to attend Narendra Modi’s inauguration showed Pakistan’s intent to initiate a new beginning with New Delhi. Also…