Pakistan

ISLAMABAD - Former prime minister and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf founder Imran Khan on Friday filed an Intra-Court Appeal in the Supreme Court, challenging the ruling of a constitutional bench that upheld the transfer of high court judges under Article 200 of the Constitution.

WASHINGTON: The United States said on Thursday that it opposed Israel’s strikes in Syria, a day after Washington helped broker a deal to end violence. “The United States did not support recent Israeli strikes,” State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce told reporters. “We are engaging diplomatically with Israel and Syria at the highest levels, both to address the present crisis and reach a lasting agreement between the two sovereign states,” she said. She declined to say if the United States had expressed its displeasure with Israel or whether it would oppose future strikes on Syria. Secretary of State Marco Rubio voiced concern when asked about the Israeli strikes, which included attacking the defence ministry in Damascus. Fresh clashes rock Druze heartland He later issued a statement that did not directly address the Israeli strikes, but voiced broader concern about the violence. Israel said it was intervening on behalf of the Druze community after communal clashes. Fresh clashes Meanwhile, Bedouin tribes an...

SUKKUR: A bunch of unarmed women fought off a gang of dacoits armed to the teeth merely with sticks and bricks when the criminals stormed two houses in Sheikh locality near Pir Zahir Zakria in Bagarji town, Sukkur district, late on Wednesday night. Shocked and frustrated at the unexpected resistance, the dacoits’ associates standing outside vented their anger at the walls and fired indiscriminately at all houses in the locality, wounding a passer-by, said local sources. The sources said that over 15 members of notorious Rajab alias Rajjo Jatoi gang barged into the houses of Mohammad Ali Sheikh and his brothers and tried to rob the inmates when the men were at work. However, to their utter surprise, the unarmed women bravely resisted them by using sticks, bricks and anything they could lay their hands on. Finally, they succeeded to push back the intruders and lock themselves up in their houses, they said. During the ensuing commotion, the other dacoits standing outside fired indiscriminately at all the houses ...

ISLAMABAD - Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif said a peaceful resolution of the Kashmir issue in accordance with the resolutions of the United Nations Security Council was the only guarantee of the rights of the Kashmiris and peace in the region.

ISLAMABAD - Commander-in-Chief of the Libyan Armed Forces Lieutenant General Saddam Khalifa Abu Qasim Haftar along with his delegation called on Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif met, at the Prime Minister House here Friday and discussed matters of mutual interest.

KARACHI: Confusion gripped the business community on Friday as key trade and industry bodies appeared divided over whether the countrywide strike scheduled for Saturday would go ahead or had been postponed. Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) Senior Vice-President Saquib Fayyaz Magoon claimed that chambers and trade associations had agreed to defer the strike following a meeting with Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (SAPM) on Industries Haroon Akhtar Khan, attended by various chambers via Zoom. The strike call was initially issued by the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI), backed by trade bodies, industrial area associations, petroleum dealers, transporters, and chain store operators. “We have not supported the KCCI strike as it was announced by one chamber alone,” Mr Magoon said. He maintained that the FPCCI, representing chambers from across the country — including Faisalabad, Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Sialkot, Multan, Khanewal, Sheikhupura, Sargodha, Quetta, an...

100,000 electric bikes and 300,000 loaders will be given to people under easy loans scheme.

ISLAMABAD - Lieutenant General Saddam Khalifa Haftar, Commander in Chief of Libyan Armed Forces called on Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir, NI (M), Chief of Army Staff at General Headquarters, on Friday.

Indus River at Kalabagh facing medium-level flood while low-level flooding observed at Tarbela Dam, Chashma Barrage and Guddu and Sukkur barrages National death toll reaches 193 with 63 in Punjab alone amid continued rescue and relief operations in affected districts Warnings issued for more rain spell from July.

ISLAMABAD - Pakistan on Friday strongly reiterated its unwavering commitment to combating terrorism in all its forms and manifestations, calling for objective and collective global action against the menace.

ISLAMABAD: Interior Minis­ter Mohsin Naqvi said the government is considering a proposal to appoint a senior serving or retired army officer to head the ministry’s civil armed forces wing. During an interaction with a select group of reporters on Friday, Mr Naqvi said the plan was meant for the smooth coordination of the civil armed forces, which fall under the interior ministry, with the military and other stakeholders for effective counterterrorism operations. One of the proposals was to ap­­point a retired or serving two-star general to head this wing, he added. The minister noted that paramilitary and civil armed forces including the Frontier Corps, Rangers, Pakistan Coast Guard, Gilgit-Baltistan Scouts and newly established Federal Constabulary that fall under the administrative control of his ministry were involved in counterterrorism and counter-insurgency operations across Pakistan. “There is a need for smooth coordination of the civil armed forces department with all stakeholders to improve delivery,...

PESHAWAR - The 35th meeting of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Cabinet was held here on Friday, with Chief Minister Ali Amin Khan Gandapur in the Chair.

LAHORE - Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif visited the Provincial Disaster Management Authority headquarters in Lahore on Friday.

LAHORE: Rescue workers move the body of a person killed after the roof of a house collapsed due to heavy rainfall in the Railway Colony area.—PPI • PDMA data shows 123 deaths across province since June 25; more than half of which occurred in just past two days • Flooding alert issued for River Indus at Kalabagh, Chashma; Met Office predicts another five-day spell will hit many parts of the country tomorrow • Officials claim to have rescued over 1,000 stuck in flooded areas across badly-hit Potohar region LAHORE / RAWALPINDI: After ten more people lost their lives across Punjab on Friday, it emerged that more than half of all rain-related deaths in the province have occurred in just the last 48 hours. So far, 123 people have been killed and 462 injured since June 25 as the province received record rainfall, triggering urban flooding which inundated residential areas, the Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) said. Of these, 71 deaths were reported in the past two days alone, and there will be no resp...

ISLAMABAD - The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Friday ordered the government to form a commission to investigate blasphemy cases.

ISLAMABAD - The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Friday appointed eight polling officers to oversee the Senate elections set to take place in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on July 21.

HYDERABAD - Engineer Abdul Mannan, In-charge Rescue 1122 Shaheed Benazirabad, stated in a press release that the Rescue 1122 Nawabshah team has recovered a dead body from the Rohri Canal located on the Nawabshah-Sakrand Road.

LAHORE - An anti-terrorism court (ATC) on Friday dismissed a post-arrest bail petition of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Mian Mehmood-ur-Rasheed in a case related to vandalism and provocative speeches at Sherpao Bridge during May 9 protests.

ISLAMABAD - The Senate on Friday passed a bill seeking to abolish the death penalty for harbouring hijackers and publicly stripping a woman of her clothes amidst opposition from both sides of the aisle.

ISLAMABAD - Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi on Friday said a plan was being worked out for smooth coordination of interior ministry’s civil armed forces department with the military and other stakeholders due to ongoing counterterrorism operations and one of the proposals includes appointment of a retired or serving two-star.