Independent Pakistan – I know what I believe I know

Imran Khan’s sister denies reports of meeting with former army chief in jail

ISLAMABAD: The sister of imprisoned former prime minister Imran Khan rejected social media reports over the weekend that a former army chief had visited him at Adiala jail, calling the claims fabricated and charging that they were deliberately seeded to draw public attention away from what she described as the systematic denial of her brother’s legal rights.

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Pakistan sets 4 percent growth target as oil shock and IMF shackles crimp ambitions

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has set a 4% economic growth target for the fiscal year beginning July, nudging higher from an estimated 3.7% this year, even as a surge in global oil prices triggered by the US-Iran conflict strains inflation and the government acknowledges it has virtually no money left to fund new development projects.

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Islamabad restores early market closures as energy austerity returns after Eid reprieve

ISLAMABAD: The federal government reimposed strict market-closing hours in Islamabad from Monday, ordering shops and malls to shut by 8 p.m. in a renewed push to rein in energy consumption — a measure that had been suspended for weeks to accommodate Eid Al-Adha celebrations, but that traders warn is gutting their livelihoods.

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PPP chief rallies Gilgit-Baltistan voters with promise of autonomy, synchronised elections

SHIGAR: In a pointed pre-election address that blended constitutional grievance with campaign theater, Pakistan Peoples Party chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari called on Monday for Gilgit-Baltistan to be granted enforceable rights under any future constitutional amendment, and demanded the abolition of the federal ministry that oversees the territory.

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Pakistan says May 2025 war with India proved South Asia has no room for limited conflict

ISLAMABAD: A senior Pakistani military commander told one of Asia’s most prominent security gatherings on Saturday that his country’s conduct during a four-day war with India last year had settled, once and for all, a question that has haunted South Asian strategic thinking for decades: whether a limited conventional conflict between the two nuclear-armed neighbours was ever truly possible.

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