Punjab | Pakistan

The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Friday ordered the Punjab government to launch a rigorous campaign against smoke-emitting vehicles in the province in an effort to curb smog and air pollution. “Whenever you go out, you see dozens of smoke-emitting vehicles on the roads,” Justice Shahid Karim said while hearing a set of petitions against smog and environmental pollution. Justice Karim instructed authorities to run the campaign for at least two to three weeks and urged strict implementation. He also observed that vehicles travelling from Lahore to Karachi, in particular, were causing pollution. Officials from the Environment Protection Agency (EPA), the Parks and Horticultural Authority (PHA) and other departments also appeared before the court at today’s hearing. However, the judge expressed his displeasure over the absence of a director-level officer from the EPA, as instructed at the previous hearing. Taking exception to pollution caused by vehicles, Justice Karim directed the EPA to display banners across Lah...

Ticket holders and office bearers of the Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) from central Punjab and Lahore on Tuesday announced that they were severing ties with the now-banned organisation, stating that they were “standing with the state”. On Friday, all election ticket holders of the TLP from south Punjab announced that they had left the party, accusing it of pursuing an anti-state agenda that “aligns with the country’s enemies”. In a press conference at the Lahore Press Club today, multiple TLP ticket holders and office bearers announced their decision to step away from the religiopolitical group, with lawyer Usman Khizr Mangat saying that one can engage in politics within the state, but not against it. “Violence and mobs cannot create an impact by attacking the state,” he said. “Pakistan saw how these people carried out attacks. The government tried to start a dialogue, but the demands laid out were not accepted. “The state is like a mother, it tried to negotiate for six, seven days constantly with these pe...

LAHORE - The government of Punjab has extended the enforcement of Section 144 across the province for another seven days, until November 8 (Saturday), in view of security concerns and to maintain public order.

Punjab’s Home Department has extended Section 144 across the province until November 8, banning protests, rallies, sit-ins, and public gatherings due to concerns over terrorism and public order, a statement issued on Sunday said. Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code is a legal provision that empowers district administrations to prohibit an assembly of four or more people in an area for a limited period. “In view of security threats, public processions and sit-ins can be soft targets for terrorists,” the home department said in its statement. “Malignant elements can take advantage of public protests and carry out anti-state activities to fulfil their nefarious intentions.” It added that a complete ban has been imposed on the display of all types of weapons across Punjab. “There is also a complete ban on the use of loudspeakers under Section 144,” it said. Furthermore, as per the statement, there is a complete ban on the publication and distribution of inflammatory, hateful or sectarian material. The depa...

Punjab’s major cities were blanketed in dense smog on Saturday morning, with air quality deteriorating to dangerously high levels across the province.

Sheikhupura has become the first city in Punjab to introduce a mobile police station, an innovative step designed to deliver policing and administrative services directly to citizens’ doorsteps.

Air pollution across Punjab has reached alarming levels, with Faisalabad emerging as the most polluted city in the province on Friday.

• Despite Imran’s instructions not to air dirty laundry in public, Salman Akram Raja and Aliya Hamza engage in ‘Twitter war’ over decision to remove party’s central Punjab president and secretary • Dispute between senior lawyers over list of who gets to meet Imran in Adiala leaves many within the party red-faced LAHORE: Mere weeks after incarcerated founder Imr­an Khan warned party leaders against airing their dirty laundry in public, ano­ther tiff — this time over the leadership of PTI in central Punjab — has erupted over the social media platform X, in full public view. In a telling series of tweets on Thursday, Secretary Gene­ral Salman Akram Raja railed against those who were “conspiring against him”, and recalled that Mr Khan had personally tasked him with conveying messages from Adiala jail. Although he didn’t explain the issue at hand, a cursory glance at his earlier tweets and messages posted by other PTI leaders laid bare the dispute. The controversy centres around the ouster of PTI Cen­tral Punjab P...

The provincial capital once again earned the dubious distinction of being the world’s most polluted city on Thursday, as a dense blanket of toxic smog engulfed large parts of Punjab, severely affecting air quality and visibility.

Lahore once again ranked as the world’s most polluted city, recording an alarming Air Quality Index (AQI) of 308, as smog continued to blanket Punjab and other parts of the country.

Polluted winds drifting from India continue to smother Punjab’s major cities, propelling Lahore, Faisalabad, and Gujranwala to the top of global air pollution charts.

Punjab continued to face severe smog conditions on Sunday as Gujranwala was recorded as the most polluted city in the province with an alarming Air Quality Index (AQI) of 562, ARY News reported.

• KP says ‘ban’ on inter-provincial movement of commodity violates Article 151(1) • Warns of shortages, risks to food security • Sindh accuses Punjab of halting supply of wheat seed; seeks PM’s intervention PESHAWAR / KARACHI: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government on Thursday asked Punjab to withdraw restrictions on the inter-provincial movement of wheat and flour, warning that the curbs are disrupting supply chains, increasing prices and threatening food security in the province. Meanwhile, the PPP leadership in Sindh also lashed out at the Punjab government, accusing it of restricting the supply of wheat seed. In a letter to his Punjab counterpart, KP’s food secretary said that lifting the ban was critical to res­t­oring a smooth supply chain, stabilising market prices, and safeguarding his province’s food security. The letter said KP, a wheat-deficient province, depends on inter-provincial supplies from Punjab to meet its requirements — roughly 14,500 tonnes per day. “The prevailing restrictions have severely ...

ISLAMABAD - The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) yesterday clarified that the local government elections in Punjab will be conducted soon after the completion of the delimitation process.

The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP) government has requested that the Punjab government withdraw “restrictive measures” on the inter-provincial movement of wheat and wheat products, citing a “sharp escalation” in the prices of the essential commodity in the province. The development comes a day after the KP Chief Minister Sohail Afridi condemned the Punjab’s “move” to restrict the transportation of wheat and flour to KP while chairing a meeting. The KP CM termed the move “a blatant violation of the Constitution and an attack on the rights of KP citizens,” and directed food authorities to write a letter to relevant bodies in Punjab. In the aftermath of floods, the Punjab government began tightening controls on the inter-provincial movement of wheat and flour through a permit regime to curb price hikes within the province — a move that has particularly been denounced by KP amid soaring prices and wheat shortage. In a letter addressed to secretary price control & commodities management department, Punjab, the KP food de...

Peshawar - Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Muhammad Sohail Afridi, has strongly condemned Punjab government’s move to restrict transportation of wheat and flour, calling it a blatant violation of the Constitution and an attack on the rights of the people of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

ISLAMABAD - The top election regulatory body yesterday once again gave the Punjab province a four-week deadline to complete new delimitations for the upcoming local government polls in the province.

LG polls: ECP grants Punjab a month

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has given the Punjab government a four-week deadline to complete new delimitations for the upcoming local government elections in the province.

Imperial College London has refuted the Punjab government’s claims that it is opening a campus at the Nawaz Sharif IT City in Lahore, saying that all of its campuses are based in the United Kingdom (UK). On October 18, the PML-N had posted on its official X account about a meeting chaired by Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz. The post said that a campus of Imperial College London would open at the Nawaz Sharif IT City, adding that the foundation stone would be laid in November. “A modern 300-bed hospital will also be built within the college campus,” it said. In a separate post on X, Punjab Senior Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb had also made a similar statement about the meeting chaired by the chief minister. “A campus of Imperial College London will be established in the Nawaz Sharif IT City which will also include a state-of-the-art 300-bed hospital and its foundation stone will be laid in November,” she had said. The post has since been deleted. Screenshot of post made by Punjab Senior Minister Marriyum Aura...