Pakistan

• Corpse of IBA graduate to be dug up for fresh autopsy today • Exhumation planned for Friday postponed after family objected to abrupt reconstitution of board KARACHI: After a day of uncertainty over the exhumation of the body of IBA graduate and businessman Mir Raza Ali, the Sindh government on Friday evening restored the original medical board, which is set to exhume the body on Saturday (today). The exhumation, which was scheduled for Friday morning, was postponed after Raza’s family objected to the abrupt reconstitution of a medical board and inclusion of members from outside Karachi division. Raza’s body was found in bushes in Gulistan-i-Jauhar last month, a day after he went missing on July 28. On Thursday, a judicial magistrate had allowed the exhumation of the body on an application filed by Raza’s father, Mir Hussain Ali, directing the police surgeon and the Sindh health secretary to constitute a medical board for the exhumation. The Sindh health department then constituted an eight-member board, wi...

• Tells Senate panel bureau’s hands are tied under amended law to act against govt officials • Says private sector accounts for 45pc of corruption ISLAMABAD: The National Account­abi­lity Bureau (NAB) on Friday urged the government to withdraw a restriction that prevents it from taking action against government officials accused of corruption involving less than Rs500 million. “Untie our hands and withdraw the Rs500m restriction; otherwise, people [government officials] will become addicted to committing corruption,” NAB Chairman retired Lt Gen Nazir Ahmed said during a meeting of the Senate Standing Committee on Law and Justice. Under the amended NAB law, the anti-graft watchdog cannot take up cases involving amounts below Rs500m. As a result, a large number of cases it had been pursuing were transferred to other departments, such as the Federal Investigation Agency. Mr Ahmed said that because of the restriction, a station house officer (SHO) of the police enjoyed more powers than a NAB investigation officer...

• Mission to resume once weather improves • Bodies of Nirmal Purja, four other foreign climbers flown to Islamabad for repatriation to their respective countries GILGIT: The search operation to recover the remains of Pakistani mountaineer Sohail Sakhi and two foreign climbers missing after the deadly Broad Peak avalanche has been suspended due to the continuing risk of fresh avalanches, rescue officials said on Friday. Search teams spent eight days trying to locate the rem­ains of Sohail Sakhi, American climber Sarah Mallory Geis, and Nepalese climber Nawang Thindu Sherpa before deteriorating conditions forced authorities to halt the mission. Ayaz Shigri, General Secre­t­a­­ry of the Alpine Club of Pakistan (ACP), said a leg believed to belong to Geis had earlier been recovered. He added that Nawang Thindu Sherpa’s body has been located but cannot be retrieved because it lies in a highly dangerous, avalanche-prone area. He said rescue efforts would resume once weather conditions improve and the area is safe. ...

KARACHI: As concern grows over recent restrictions imposed on foreign media outlets operating in the country, global human rights watchdogs have termed the fresh guidelines issued by the government “an attack on press freedom”. Until the new government restrictions were first circulated widely over the weekend, only foreign citizens working as journalists were routinely subject to controls on movement outside Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi. Now, Pakistani journalists, fixers and others working for foreign media will need government permission to travel and report outside those three major cities and must register with the government – even for leisure travel. The controls mark “an alarming step” in Pakistan’s “narrowing space for press freedom,” said Patricia Gossman of Human Rights Watch, calling for them to be “immediately reversed”. Meanwhile, Amnesty International said on Friday that the restrictions on foreign news outlets, extending to local staff of these organisations, under the new Foreign Media Facil...

• MBS, Shehbaz, Erdogan sign Makkah Joint Defence Agreement to boost ‘collective deterrence against any aggression’ • PM hopes accord will serve as ‘shield of peace’; Erdogan says alliance is open to other friendly nations • Saudi minister insists new bloc no threat to ‘any country’ ISLAMABAD: Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkiye on Friday signed a joint defence pact in the holy city of Makkah, which empowers member states to treat an attack against one of them as an attack against all. The Makkah Joint Defence Agreement, which seeks to strengthen the collective security of the three states, was signed by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Saudi Crown Prince and PM Mohammad bin Salman, and Turkiye’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the Al-Safa Palace. The signing of the agreement was announced by three countries through a joint statement, which was published by Pakis­tan’s Foreign Office (FO) and Saudi Arabia’s official SPA press agency. It said the pact reflected the three countries’ “shared commitment to further...

• Provisions for lifetime blue passport scrapped; number of lifetime arms licences for MPAs reduced to four • Assembly resolves to resist ‘proposed takeover’ of Hazara areas by federal government PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Assembly on Friday withdrew controversial provisions from the recently enacted KP Provincial Assembly (Powers, Immunities and Privileges) Act, 2026, including the issuance of official passports to lawmakers and their spouses for life. The provincial assembly had earlier in April passed the KP Provincial Assembly (Powers, Imm­unities and Privileges) Act, 2026, granting blue passports to members and their spouses, arms licences, blanket immunity from preventive detention, and making the speaker’s permission mandatory before arresting members on criminal charges. However, the law faced harsh criticism from the media and the general public, prompting KP Chief Minister Sohail Afridi to order a review of the legislation last week. KP Information Minister Shafi Jan also announced that the g...

• Govt’s legal team set to meet Presidency officials as summary remains pending with Zardari • Officials say matter now sub judice after petition filed in IHC ISLAMABAD: In a last-ditch effort to break the deadlock over judicial appointments, the government’s legal team has scheduled a meeting with its counterparts at the Presidency on Sunday, as authorities explore the possibility of unilaterally notifying the confirmation and appointment of high court judges. The development comes as the Islamabad High Court (IHC) has yet to issue its ruling on the maintainability of a petition challenging President Asif Ali Zardari’s alleged failure to assent to the recommendations of the Judicial Commission of Pakistan. The JCP, during its meetings on July 20 and 21, recommended the confirmation of four additional judges of the Peshawar High Court, a six-month extension for an additional judge of the Sindh High Court, and the appointment of 19 additional judges to the Lahore, Islamabad, Sindh and Balochistan high courts. ...

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