Pakistan

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Authorities spring into action after 'Express' report

Doctor rushes to deliver the child as the mother goes into labour

Lawyer blames poor services at hospital for the death of his son

Report cites poor construction, substandard machinery, long delays in hydropower schemes

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Court seeks explanation for posting Grade-19 officer over seniors

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Two return home, one referred to commission

Defence Minister Khawaja Asif on Friday rubbished and strongly condemned the contentious remarks made by government spokesperson Danyal Chaudhry regarding the role of Pakistani troops in the Gaza peace force, which also included the disarming of Hamas. Addressing the remarks by the federal parliamentary secretary for information and broadcasting in an interview on Geo News show ‘Naya Pakistan’, the defence minister said: “I will say God forbid on all these three remarks; what kind of statement has he given. Nothing from this is our target or suits us.” In an interview on Tuesday on Ary News show ‘11th Hour’, Chaudhry had said regarding the mandate of the Gaza peace force: “Pakistan and the other countries that will be chosen will make sure there is no extremism or violence … or that there is no cross-border attack. Pakistan will enforce that.” Chaudhry also said that the security of any Pakistani soldier deputed for duty in the force would be the utmost priority. “We will fulfil our duty and protect Muslim br...

The Punjab government is facing criticism and allegations of data manipulation after climate analysts and social media users accused the Environment Protection & Climate Change Department (EPCCD) of deliberately shutting down air quality monitoring stations in Lahore during peak pollution hours. The controversy erupted when climate and public policy analyst Dawar Hameed Butt posted a series of tweets on X, alleging that the EPCCD had turned off several monitoring stations, particularly those in the more polluted northern and eastern parts of the city. “EPCCD Punjab has turned off Monitoring Stations in Lahore,” Butt tweeted. “The ones left on are still ‘Beyond Index’. These are PAS officers, PhDs and ‘educated’ staff, and they think closing their eyes will solve the problem. Absolute failure unfolding now.” He supported his claims with screenshots from the official government website, aqipunjab.com, which showed that data from multiple stations had not been updated for hours, still displaying readings from Oc...

A Lahore court on Friday extended the physical remand of six National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA) officials by another three days in a case pertaining to the alleged misuse of authority, extortion of money, and acceptance of bribes. The first information report (FIR) of the case was registered with the FIA Anti-Corruption Circle Lahore on the complaint of Aroob Jatoi, the wife of YouTuber Saadur Rehman alias Ducky Bhai, who has been arrested in a case pertaining to promoting gambling apps on social media. The FIR was registered against a total of nine individuals, including eight NCCIA officials. Among them, the six remanded in the FIA custody were said to be missing for several days before the FIA announced their arrest on Monday. Lahore NCCIA’s Additional Director Sarfraz Chaudhry, Lahore NCCIA Deputy Director (acting in-charge) Zawar Ahmad, Lahore NCCIA Sub-Inspector Ali Raza, Lahore NCCIA Assistant Director Shoaib Riaz, Lahore NCCIA Sub-Inspector Yasir Ramzan and Lahore NCCIA Assistant Direct...

Call for setting 18 years as minimum legal age of marriage for both girls and boys

Locals accuse NHA of gross negligence; say repeated complaints went unanswered

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Five seats being contested by 15 candidates, making race closely watched

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Foreign Office spokesperson Tahir Hussain Andrabi on Friday said that the Afghan Taliban government in Kabul had acknowledged the presence of the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and other terrorist organisations in its territory. The talks were scheduled as Pakistan and Afghanistan agreed to continue a ceasefire between the two countries and following a rapid deterioration of ties and a brief conflict along their shared border earlier this month. The agreement capped five days of a second round of tense negotiations — with the first one held in Doha on October 18 and 19 — in Istanbul mediated by Turkiye and Qatar. The round, which had begun on Saturday, had reached a point of near-collapse on Wednesday, with Islamabad saying that its long-standing concern over terror attacks emanating from Afghanistan remained a major point of contention. But a breakthrough in the stalemate came after Turkiye and Qatar salvaged the dialogue process for the second time in less than a week. Fielding questions after delivering ...

Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan’s (TLP) leadership cadre from South Punjab on Friday announced their disassociation from the proscribed religiopolitical party in the wake of the ban imposed on the group for violence and rioting. The interior ministry notified the ban on the TLP last week, saying that the federal government had “reasonable grounds” to believe the religiopolitical party was connected to terrorism. “The Pakistan Army is under threat from the East and the West,” said one leader. “TLP, the party which we were part of, gave calls for marches and protests because of which our state and army had to deal with an internal war along with foreign threats.” Referring to Pakistan’s brief but intense military escalation with India in May, he said calls for protest by TLP during that time also worked in the enemy’s favour. Elaborating further, he said the party is systematically benefiting the enemies of the country, which is why “we’ve decided to separate ourselves from TLP.” He added that terrorists from the ba...