Pakistan

Offers doorstep services such as driving licences, learner permits & FIR registration

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The federal government has approved a comprehensive redesign of Pakistan’s national passport, one of the most significant updates to the country’s travel document in recent years.

The PTI announced on Wednesday that a “massive public rally” would be held in Karachi during the month of November to kick off a nationwide public engagement campaign. A press release issued today said the decision was taken during PTI Secretary General Barrister Salman Akram Raja’s visit to Karachi. During his visit, he met party leaders, including PTI Sindh President Haleem Adil Sheikh, PTI Parliamentary Leader Shabbir Qureshi and Jamal Siddiqui. Raja held detailed discussions on the prevailing political situation, strategy for party founder Imran Khan’s release and organisational matters. Addressing the media after the meetings, Raja announced that a “massive public rally will be held in Karachi” in November, followed by similar gatherings in Hyderabad and other major cities as part of a nationwide public engagement campaign. The senior PTI leader added that the party was united and mobilised for Imran’s release. He informed those present that Mahmood Khan Achakzai had been nominated as opposition leader i...

A division bench of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Wednesday suspended the verdict of single member bench regarding holding of local body elections in federal capital within four months.

A speeding truck rammed into a school rickshaw near Adda Pull 14 Road in Jahanian, killing five people, including four young girls.

Chief of the Air Staff, Pakistan Air Force (PAF), Air Chief Marshal Zaheer Ahmed Baber Sidhu, during official visit to Romania, called on Lieutenant General Leonard-Gabriel Baraboi, Chief of the Romanian Air Force Staff.

Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif on Wednesday lauded the services of Federal Secretary for Information and Broadcasting, Ambreen Jan, during her farewell call at the Prime Minister’s Office.

Saudi Arabia has banned employers from charging any fees to their domestic workers, including for recruitment and work permits, setting maximum penalties of a fine worth 20,000 riyals (SR) and a three-year ban on hiring, according to Saudi Gazette. The Saudi outlet reported on Monday that employers were banned from “charging any fees from their domestic workers”, including those “related to recruitment, change of professions, transfer of services, residency permit (iqama) and work permits”. Saudi Gazette said the provisions were included in the “Guide to the Rights and Obligations of Domestic Workers”, issued by the Saudi human resources ministry. It added that the new regulations “include a package of rights that guarantee the domestic worker a decent life and a stable work environment”. According to a guide available on the Saudi human resources ministry’s website, professions/jobs permitted by law in the domestic worker sector include “domestic worker, private driver, educator, home nurse, home cook, home ...

Anxious to bolster its air power, Turkiye has proposed to European partners and the US ways it could swiftly obtain advanced fighter jets as it seeks to make up ground on regional rivals such as Israel, sources familiar with the talks say. NATO-member Turkiye, which has the alliance’s second-largest military, aims to leverage its best relations with the West in years to add to its ageing fleet 40 Eurofighter Typhoons, for which it inked a preliminary agreement in July, and later also US-made F-35 jets, despite Washington sanctions that currently block any deal. Strikes by Israel — the Middle East’s most advanced military with hundreds of US-supplied F-15, F-16 and F-35 fighters — on Turkiye’s neighbours Iran and Syria, as well as on Lebanon and Qatar, unnerved Ankara in the last year. They laid bare key vulnerabilities, prompting its push for rapid air power reinforcement to counter any potential threats and not be left exposed, officials say. Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan has sharply criticised Israel’s a...

GUJRAT: A youth allegedly killed his aunt by slitting her throat at her house in People’s Colony, Gujranwala, on Tuesday, later claiming that she had “committed blasphemy” three months back. Reports say that the suspect, Ghulam Murslaeen of Multan, arrived at the house of victim Farah (30) (sister of his father) when her two children were at school and her husband Shahzad was at work. The suspect allegedly slit Farha’s throat with a sharp knife, leaving her dead on spot. He then came out of the house carrying the blood-stained knife and started shouting that he punished his aunt for “committing blasphemy”. Meanwhile, locals gathered at the scene and some of them started beating the suspect with cricket bats and kicks, leaving him injured. On being called by some area residents, police reached the spot and arrested the suspect. A team of the Punjab Forensic Science Agency (PFSA) also reached the spot and collected evidence from the crime scene. The victim’s dead body was shifted to the district headquarters ho...

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.

Simon Harmer grabbed three early wickets to push South Africa closer to a series-levelling victory over a faltering Pakistan in the second Test in Rawalpindi on Wednesday. Harmer took 3-26 as Pakistan ended the third day on a precarious 94-4 — just 23 runs ahead with six wickets and two days remaining on a spin-spiced Rawalpindi stadium pitch. Pakistan’s last hopes rest on Babar Azam, unbeaten on 49, and Mohammad Rizwan, 16 not out, as they strive to win the two-match series, having won the first Test by 93 runs in Lahore. South Africa piled up 404 runs after Senuran Muthusamy scored a career-best 89 not out and Kagiso Rabada posted his highest Test score of 71, giving the visitors a crucial 71-run lead. The home team scored 333 in their first innings. With their backs to the wall, Pakistan’s second innings started disastrously as opener Imam-ul-Haq (nine) and skipper Shan Masood (nought) fell to Harmer with the score at 16. It became 16-3 when Rabada had Abdullah Shafique caught in the slips for six. Harmer ...

Pakistan on Wednesday condemned Israel’s renewed hostilities in Gaza, following a US-backed ceasefire agreement, calling on the international community to take “urgent and effective” measures against the violation. Israeli forces have killed at least 87 Palestinians, among them civilians, since the ceasefire began, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, and two Israeli soldiers were killed by Palestinian freedom fighters in southern Gaza over the weekend, Reuters reported. On Sunday, more than 100 air strikes were reported in Rafah and Khan Younis in the south, Jabalia in the north, and other parts of central Gaza. While Israel accuses Hamas of initiating the hostilities with an attack on its forces in Rafah, the group has denied any knowledge or connection to the incident. “Pakistan strongly condemns the renewed attacks by the Israeli occupying forces in Gaza, resulting in the loss of numerous civilian lives,” said a statement released by the Foreign Office (FO) today. It noted that Israeli actions “run cont...

Security forces conducted a successful counter-terrorism operation in Dalbandin, Balochistan, eliminating six terrorists linked to an Indian-backed outfit known as Fitna Al-Hindustan.

Pakistan has strongly condemned the renewed attacks by the Israeli occupying forces in Gaza, resulting in the loss of numerous civilian lives.

AS temperatures begin to drop, smog makes an unwelcome arrival in many parts of the country, particularly Lahore and urban Punjab. This health and climate crisis has been brewing for some years, while the state — nudged on by civil society and experts — has begun to take steps to combat the smog hazard. South Asian cities have some of the worst air on the planet, and many Pakistani urban centres are included in this unenviable list. For example, on Tuesday, both Lahore and Karachi were amongst the top five most polluted cities globally, as per IQAir monitoring data, with air quality described as “very unhealthy”. And as winter sets in, things will get worse. In Lahore’s case, experts say a combination of local factors and pollutants blowing in from across the border with India are responsible for the dirty air. In particular, pollution caused by firecrackers set off during the Diwali celebrations in India has aggravated matters, as that country’s supreme court relaxed a ban on fireworks, allowing ‘green firec...

Pakistan Navy Ship (PNS) Yarmook, while operating under the Saudi-led Combined Task Force 150 (CTF-150) of the Combined Maritime Forces (CMF), successfully executed a major counter-narcotics operation in the North Arabian Sea, resulting in the seizure of narcotics valued at approximately $ 972 million.