Iran’s foreign ministry on Saturday condemned a rocket attack against Baghdad airport that took place the previous day as an act that seeks to “destabilise” Iraq. Six rockets were fired on Friday at the Iraqi capital’s airport, causing damage to one runway and two civilian planes but no casualties. It was the latest in a string of attacks that the US blames on Iran-linked armed groups. The attack was not immediately claimed. Iran condemns “the targeting of Baghdad airport” in an attack that aims to “destabilise” Iraq, foreign ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said in a statement. “Such suspicious actions have created insecurity…
Author: Hasnain Abid Khanzada
President Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday threatened Turkish media with reprisals if they disseminated content that damaged the country’s core values, in a move that might be a prelude to further censorship in the sector. In a notice published in the Official Gazette, he said measures were needed to protect Turkey’s “national culture” and prevent its children’s development “from being adversely affected as a result of exposure to harmful content on all written, verbal and visual media”. Erdogan did not specify what such content was, but said legal action would be taken against “overt or covert activities through the media aimed at…
ISLAMABAD/rawalpindi: With no let-up in the number of Covid-19 cases in educational institutions in the capital, the health authorities on Friday requested the deputy commissioner (DC) to seal 14 more schools and colleges after students and staff were found infected by the virus. On the other hand, 1,550 people tested positive in Islamabad district, recording a positivity ratio of 17.1pc. An increase in infection ratio was also seen in Rawalpindi on Friday. As many as 381 people contracted the virus in the district, registering a rate of 15.2pc. A total of 137 educational institutions – 45 colleges and 92 schools…
KARACHI: Prison authorities have approached Sindh home department seeking permission to transfer interned MNA Ali Wazir to North Waziristan for his production in a third sedition case pending before a district court there. Karachi central jail superintendent stated this in a letter to judges of the antiterrorism courts-X and XII, where MNA Wazir along with 10 other leaders of the Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement (PTM) is facing trials related to sedition and speeches against state institutions. The MNA and others have been charged with committing sedition by inciting public to wage a war against the state by delivering provocative speeches against…
ISLAMABAD: As many as 18 residents of Naval Farms have challenged Islamabad High Court’s (IHC) decision to declare the real estate venture of Pakistan Navy illegal. The residents, Raana Rahim and others, filed an appeal on Friday against the order passed by IHC single member bench comprising Chief Justice Athar Minallah on Jan 7 that revoked the no-objection certificate (NOC) issued by the Capital Development Authority (CDA) to Naval Farms and asked the civic agency to take over the land. The court also asked the auditor general to conduct forensic audit of Naval Farms to ascertain the loss to the…
KARACHI: The Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) on Friday submitted an application before the Civil Lines SHO for lodging an FIR against Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah and police officers concerned for using force to disrupt their sit-in outside CM House on Jan 26. In the application, party’s MNA Iqbal Mohammed Ali and coordination committee member Mehfooz Yar Khan stated that MQM-P’s lawmakers including Kishwar Zehra, Sadaqat Husain, Rabia Majid, Rana Ansar and others were injured while Mohammed Aslam was killed when police resorted to “torture women and men outside the CM House on the directions of the Sindh CM”. A spokesperson…
PESHAWAR: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Friday took notice of repeated violations of the local bodies elections’ code of conduct by federal Minister for Kashmir Affairs and Gilgit-Baltistan Ali Amin Gandapur. In a statement issued after an ECP meeting on Friday, the commission directed the authority concerned to immediately issue a notice to the minister for appearing before the commission on Feb 1. The meeting was chaired by Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan and attended by the ECP secretary, senior officials and other members. The meeting was informed that the minister’s brother, Umar Amin Gandapur, was a candidate…
QUETTA: Just a couple of days after the Kech attack that claimed the lives of 10 soldiers, three Levies Force personnel along with a Bugti clan elder were martyred and eight others injured in twin bomb blasts on his agricultural land in the Sui area of Dera Bugti on Friday. Security officials said improvised explosive devices (IEDs) planted in a tube-well room on his agricultural land in the Tali Mat area of Sui Tehsil were detonated by remote control, while another remote-controlled bomb found in the same area was defused by the personnel of Frontier Constabulary. No one claimed the…
ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) will hear on Monday a petition seeking contempt of court proceedings against the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) chairman for not acting against former military ruler retired Gen Pervez Musharraf for his alleged corruption during his tenure as the country’s president. As per the cause list issued by the court’s registrar office, a bench comprising IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah and Justice Sardar Ejaz Ishaq Khan will hear the case. An IHC division bench had on Jan 25, 2018 held that NAB could proceed against retired generals over corruption charges. The judgement cleared a 19-year-old…
Prime Minister Imran Khan on Saturday said the “selective silence” of the West on human rights violations in Indian-occupied Kashmir (IoK) was “deafening” as he called out their “double standards” in highlighting China’s alleged mistreatment of Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang. “What we find very difficult to swallow in Pakistan is that while they talk about Uighurs, they do not talk much in the West about IoK because the worst human rights violations are taking place there by India,” the premier said while taking questions during an interview with Chinese journalists in Islamabad. “Somehow there is selective silence about human rights…
