BEIRUT: Fears of a regional war rose on Thursday after Lebanon’s powerful Hezbollah movement said none of Israel would be spared in a full-blown conflict, and Israel said it had approved plans for a Lebanon offensive. Experts are divided on the prospect of wider war, almost nine months into Israel’s vow to eradicate Hamas, the Palestinian group in the Gaza Strip. On Wednesday, Israel’s top army spokesman said Hamas, as an ideology, cannot be eliminated. Others, including US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, have also pointed to the difficulty of destroying the group. In a televised address, Hezbollah chief Hassan…
Author: Hasnain Abid Khanzada
WASHINGTON: The US State Department said on Thursday that Washington supports direct talks between India and Pakistan but will not tell them how to conduct those discussions. At the regular news briefing in Washington, spokesperson Matthew Miller also emphasised a strong counterterrorism partnership with Pakistan, stating that both countries are committed to maintaining this relationship. “We value our important relationships with both India and Pakistan. As we have said, we support direct discussions between India and Pakistan,” said Mr Miller while responding to a question about recent interactions between Indian and Pakistani leaders. “But the pace, scope, and character should…
Former US president Donald Trump said he wants to grant green cards to foreign graduates from US colleges, in an apparent softening of his typically hard-line view on immigration, a key election issue. The Republican candidate made the remarks in a podcast published on Thursday, days after President Joe Biden announced a citizenship pathway for immigrants married to US nationals, counterbalancing his recent crackdown on illegal border crossings. “What I want to do and what I will do is, you graduate from a college, I think you should get automatically as part of your diploma a green card to be able to stay in…
Stretching, arching his back and kneeling on a mat, India’s Hindu nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi led hundreds of people performing yoga in India-held Kashmir on Friday. The exercises in Srinagar marked the 10th International Yoga Day, Modi’s own brainchild. But while yoga is not itself a religious practice, it has its origins in Hindu philosophy — the god Shiva is said to have been the first yogi — and many Kashmiris are indifferent to the discipline. Thousands of government employees, schoolteachers and students from all over the region were brought in for the event, although rain forced Modi’s performance…
ISLAMABAD: A request by the Islamabad police seeking possession of a vehicle — belonging to the Lahore High Court — to investigate its involvement in a two-year-old hit-and-run case has been denied by a judicial magistrate, who said the request made by the Khanna police was not justified. In 2022, a sports utility vehicle allegedly driven by the daughter of the Lahore High Court ran over two persons — who worked at Savour Foods — near the Sohan bridge on the Expressway at midnight and the investigation into the case had remained stalled. As per the details available in the judicial record,…
ISLAMABAD: At least 377 election petitions challenging the outcomes of as many National and Provincial Assembly constituencies have been filed in 23 election tribunals appointed by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), according to the post-election observation by the Free and Fair Election Network (Fafen). According to Section 140 of the Elections Act, 2017, the ECP appointed 17 tribunals — two in Punjab, six in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), five in Sindh, three in Balochistan and one in Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT). However, six tribunals in Punjab were appointed by the Lahore High Court (LHC) and notified by its Chief Justice on June 12, following…
A man was killed by a mob over alleged desecration of the Holy Quran in the Madyan area of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Swat district on Thursday night, police said. Eight people were injured in the unrest, according to Swat District Police Officer (DPO) Dr Zahidullah Khan. He said the police had moved the suspect of the alleged desecration incident to the police station but a charged mob “attacked the police station and took the suspect away”. “People set fire to the police station and a mobile vehicle,” the DPO said, adding that the suspect was “torched”. More details are awaited while…
PESHAWAR: National and provincial lawmakers from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa continued to forcibly enter grid stations and turn on power supply on Thursday even as the utility company warned such actions could seriously damage the transmission infrastructure. The provincial home and tribal affairs department has also directed district administrations to ensure no unscheduled loadshedding is carried out. This is the latest development in the row between KP and Centre on loadshedding, that had ostensibly settled last month, but resurrected this week after KP Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur and a number of his party lawmakers barged into grid stations across the province during the Eid holidays. They forcibly turned…
ISLAMABAD: The purported differences between the PML-N and PPP on the budget for the upcoming fiscal year stood dissolved on Thursday after PPP chief Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari called on Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to assure him of his party’s support for the crucial finance bill. Sources told Dawn that the differences have fizzled out, with both sides agreeing to support each other and cooperate on issues of mutual concern. According to Information Minister Attaullah Tarar, some “minor” reservations had been expressed by the PPP, which would be resolved by the government through talks. He said the government also formed a committee led by Deputy Prime…
ISLAMABAD: Refusing to suspend the Lahore High Court’s (LHC) May 29 pronouncement, the Supreme Court on Thursday sought the formation of a five-judge larger bench to settle the controversy over whether the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) or the high court should appoint tribunals to decide electoral disputes. The order was issued by a two-judge bench, headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Qazi Faez Isa, which had taken up an ECP appeal that sought the overturning of the LHC order. The court ignored the request by senior counsel Sikandar Bashir Mohmand, who represented the ECP, to suspend the LHC pronouncement. The counsel feared…
