ISLAMABAD: Two more children have been paralysed by poliovirus in Balochistan, taking the tally for the current year up to 11. Officials of the Polio Programme have blamed protests and insecurity in Balochistan for the rising number of polio cases as these matters have disrupted polio campaigns in several districts of the province, exposing children to crippling disease. In another development, the wild poliovirus (WPV1) has been found in environmental samples of Khuzdar and seven previously positive districts taking the total number of districts hit by the virus to 57. According to the Regional Reference Laboratory for Polio at the National Institute…
Author: Hasnain Abid Khanzada
LAHORE: Punjab Information Minister Azma Bokhari has said the government may lift the ban on X (formerly Twitter) if social media rules and regulations are framed. “We are not against social media, but we are talking about rules and regulations. If the (social media) rules and regulations are made, the ban on X will be removed,” Ms Bokhari told journalists here on Friday. The Shehbaz government had shut down X in February this year following allegations of change of general election results by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP). The federal government, however, had defended the ban on the popular social media…
ISLAMABAD: Confusion surrounds the expulsion of Sher Afzal Marwat from PTI after a notification went viral on social media mentioning that his membership has been cancelled for gross violation/breach of discipline. While party’s senior leader Advocate Shoaib Shaheen confirmed to Dawn that Mr Marwat was expelled from the PTI, some other party sources claimed the notification was ‘fake’. Mr Marwat was on notice and was asked to restrict himself from giving statements to media. A committee was also set-up to monitor his statements, media appearance and posts on social media. “The committee has come to a conclusion that Sher Afzal Marwat has no regard…
LAHORE: A hospital owner, who was one of PTI’s founding members, was shot dead in Valencia Town, as he came out of a mosque after offering Friday prayers. Dr Shahid Siddique went to offer prayers in Khizra Mosque at H-block of Valencia Town. Mr Siddque offered the prayer and came out of the mosque and was heading to his car when an unknown man approached him and shot at and injured him. Dr Shahid Siddique The suspect fled the scene on foot. The victim suffered four bullet injuries and was taken to a nearby hospital where he could…
DERA ISMAIL KHAN/LAKKI MARWAT: Three judges going in a convoy from Tank district to Dera Ismail Khan narrowly escaped a militant gun attack, leaving two policemen martyred on Friday, while a traffic constable was shot dead by unidentified assailants in Lakki Marwat. Police said that the three judges, including acting district and sessions judge of Tank Malik Hasnain, acting district and sessions judge of South Waziristan Malik Asghar and senior civil judge of South Waziristan Tahira Zainab, were going in a convoy to Dera Ismail Khan when militants attacked them in the Bhagwal area of Tank. During an exchange of…
PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly’s first-ever debate on the province’s worsening law and order situation was disrupted by a commotion over derogatory remarks against incarcerated former prime minister Imran Khan, on Friday. On July 29, the KP Assembly approved an adjournment motion tabled by PPP lawmaker Ahmad Karim Kundi, agreeing to hold a comprehensive discussion on the province’s “deteriorating” law and order situation. During the discussion on Friday, the situation spiralled out of control when Minister for Population Welfare Liaqat Ali Khan alleged that the Constitution was violated on Feb 8 and election results were altered on Form 47s. At that point,…
ISLAMABAD: The National Emergencies Operation Centre on Friday forecast rainfall and thundershowers in southern and northeastern Punjab and northeastern Sindh over the next 24 hours, potentially triggering urban flooding in these regions. Scattered rainfall is expected in Punjab’s Potohar region, Sialkot, Gujranwala, Lahore, Faisalabad, Sargodha, Sahiwal and surrounding areas. However, heavy rains/isolated heavy falls are expected in Bahawalpur, Multan, Dera Ghazi Khan and surrounding areas. Similarly, scattered rainfall with chances of heavy falls is expected in Mithi, Sanghar, Mirpurkhas, Matiari, Jamshoro, Umarkot, Tharparkar, Khairpur, Thatta, Badin, Chhor, Padidan, Sujawal, Karachi, Hyderabad, Tando Allahyar, Shaheed Benazirabad, Sukkur, Larkana, Jacobabad, Dadu, and…
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Friday called on the international community to pressure India to restore the special status of Indian-held Jammu and Kashmir, end repression in the Valley, and foster conditions conducive to resolving the longstanding dispute threatening regional stability. The call was made during a briefing for Islamabad-based foreign diplomats at the Foreign Office, where Foreign Secretary Syrus Sajjad Qazi detailed the conditions in the Indian-held disputed territory and discussed the repercussions of India’s actions of August 2019, from the standpoints of international law, human rights, and peace and security. On August 5, 2019, the Indian government annulled Articles 370 and 35-A of…
Kendall Jenner has recently likened her childhood fame to Miley Cyrus’ Hannah Montana. Speaking on the latest episode of the Anything Goes podcast, the Kardashians star admitted she grew up in the limelight just like Miley’s character on Hannah Montana. “It’s a little Hannah Montana-y in a way,” said the 28-year-old. Kendall told the host, “[But] I didn’t have a disguise, or I didn’t have a physical shift.” The model revealed she was 10 when her family’s reality show was premiered, but she tried to keep her childhood normal. “We went to school. We went to school as long as we could. I started…
Scheana Shay has some bad memories about Candace Cameron Bure. The Vanderpump Rules star recalled her first meeting with Bure during the reality show’s “really early days” on Friday’s Scheananigans With Scheana Shay podcast episode. “The first time I met Candace Cameron, she wasn’t very nice,” the Bravolebrity, 39, revealed to listeners. “She was hosting this event with Pandora. It was maybe Season 2.” Shay recounted feeling “so excited to meet” Bure, 48, after “growing up watching ‘Full House.’” But the Good as Gold singer felt Bure “was so dismissive … like [Shay] wasn’t cool enough or big enough to be hanging out with” her.…
