At least six journalists were killed, another 108 attacked while 13 media houses were targeted in India in 2021 while the spotlight on the denial of media freedom continued to be on occupied Jammu and Kashmir where journalists often found themselves summoned to police stations, FIRs registered against them, their houses raided, being manhandled and beaten by security forces, according to a new report. The India Press Freedom Report 2021 by the Rights and Risks Analysis Group (RRAG) said that occupied Kashmir and Indian states, including Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, and Tripura topped the list of areas across the country where journalists…
Author: Hasnain Abid Khanzada
Major airlines, business and travel groups urged the White House on Wednesday to end Covid-19 pre-departure testing requirements for vaccinated international passengers travelling to the United States. Airlines for America, the US Chamber of Commerce, International Air Transport Association, Aerospace Industries Association, the US Travel Association and other groups called for a change in a letter to White House coronavirus response coordinator Jeff Zients. “Surveys of air passengers indicate that pre-departure testing is a leading factor in the decision not to travel internationally. People simply are unwilling to take the chance that they will be unable to return to the…
ISLAMABAD: As many as 13 more educational institutions were locked down in Islamabad and Rawalpindi districts on Wednesday after several students and staff members tested positive for Covid-19. The positivity ratio in both the districts, however, saw a downward trend. On the other hand, two persons breathed their last in the capital. The deceased were a male in his 20s and a female patient who was in her 90s. In Islamabad district, 575 people were found infected, however the positivity ratio dropped to 8.7pc. On the other hand, Rawalpindi district reported 187 positive cases, with 351 patients having recovered during…
KARACHI: Vowing to implement the agreement signed with Jamaat-i-Islami to further amend the local government law in its ‘true’ spirit, Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah on Wednesday said that every opposition party would be taken onboard before going into the process of legislation and hinted that the next polls for the local and municipal administration were likely to be held after April 2022. The Sindh chief minister said that the process of further amending the local government law in line with the proposals of opposition parties and the exercise of delimitation by the Election Commission of Pakistan were the only…
TAXILA: Differences have emerged in the leadership of the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) Attock chapter after Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (SAPM) on Climate Change Malik Amin Aslam and MNA retired Maj Tahir Sadiq got embroiled in a war of words over inauguration of a road project near Hassanabdal. Funds worth Rs144.827 million were provided by the Punjab government for the construction of the 12-kilometre-long Hassar-Katarian road which would facilitate over one million population of 12 villages. The groundbreaking ceremony of the project was performed by Malik Amin Aslam on Friday and then the same project was inaugurated by…
ISLAMABAD: The spouse of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) Member National Assembly (MNA) Javeria Zafar was arrested on Wednesday and a local court sent him to Adiala jail on 14 days judicial remand for threatening and firing at her. MNA Zafar lodged an FIR with the Women police station in Islamabad against her husband, Haider Ali Baloch, alleging that he attempted to kill her over a petty issue. According to the FIR, the man contracted forced marriage with the lawmaker some six months ago and she had intended to file a suit for dissolution of marriage (Khula). However, Baloch threatened her of…
ISLAMABAD: The country’s daily Covid count stayed below 7,000 on Wednesday, but as many as 14 cities reported a positivity rate of over 11 per cent. Of the total eligible population (age 12 and above), 54pc have been fully vaccinated, according to the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC). Of the country’s entire population, the percentage stands at 36pc. Data released by the NCOC on Wednesday showed that 6,047 more infections and 29 deaths were reported during the past 24 hours. The national positivity rate was recorded at 9.88pc, whereas 1,559 patients were on critical care. The data showed a…
ISLAMABAD: Despite the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf’s commitment to rooting out the infamous patwari system, it seems the federal government’s real estate entity is not interested in digitising land records and making the land acquisition process more transparent and is still using a 19th century law for this purpose. One of the primary prongs of Prime Minister Imran Khan’s accountability campaign has been the elimination of land mafias and the patwari system, which in his view, perpetuates a culture of corruption. But rather than leading by example, the body responsible for providing housing to government officials, is still acquiring land through patwaris,…
PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court on Tuesday suspended a recent government notification of the appointment of the Peshawar Development Authority’s director general and temporarily stopped him from working on the civic agency’s top post. A bench consisting of Justice Lal Jan Khattak and Justice Mussarat Hilali issued the order after holding a preliminary hearing into a petition jointly filed by the Peshawar Development Authority Officers Welfare Association and BPS-19 officers Qazi Laique Ahmad and Attaur Rehman against the notification. It issued notices to the respondents, including the provincial government, seeking their response to the petition and ordered the fixing of…
The Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said on Thursday that intelligence agencies had intercepted communications between the terrorists who carried out attacks in Balochistan a day earlier and their handlers in Afghanistan and India. Terrorists had attempted to attack security forces’ camps in Balochistan’s Panjgur and Naushki in two separate attacks late on Wednesday evening. The attacks had been “successfully repulsed” while dealing heavy damage to the terrorists, although one soldier was martyred in the Panjgur incident, the military’s media wing had reported. In an update issued today, the ISPR said that security forces had killed 13 terrorists in the province’s Panjgur and…
