ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari of Pakistan will cut short a visit to London and return home Sept. 8, according to people familiar with his travel plans, as a dispute over restructuring the country’s provinces threatens to strain the ruling coalition.
Aamir Ashraf
CM Afridi completes contested run to Karachi, sharpens fight over jailed ex-premier
KARACHI — Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi rolled into this port city in the early hours of Monday after a drive of more than six hours through detours, blocked highways, and what his party described as deliberately dug-up pavement, capping a five-day mobilisation tour that has hardened the standoff between his party and Pakistan’s provincial authorities ahead of a nationwide protest planned for September 27.
Kashmir dispute resurfaces in unlikely venue: a fight over world maps
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Foreign Office said Monday that India’s assertions about the disputed Kashmir region carry no legal weight, the latest exchange in a decades-old standoff that found new life this week in an unlikely arena: a United Nations vote on how continents are drawn on a map.
PTI says senior leader Hammad Azhar arrested in 2023 riot case; police say they have no confirmation
A senior leader of opppsition Pakistan Tahreek- e- Insaf party said on Sunday that police had arrested former finance minister Hammad Azhar in the eastern city of Multan and transferred him to custody in Lahore, an action the party branded political retaliation.
Military reports major toll in three-day campaign against India-backed militants near Afghan border
Pakistan’s military said on Sunday that security forces killed at least 36 militants in a series of operations along the Afghan border over three days, as the government renewed its demand that the Taliban administration in Kabul curb cross-border attacks it blames on Afghan soil.
Pakistan condemns demolition of century-old mosque in India, citing 1992 Babri Masjid destruction
The Foreign Office on Sunday condemned the demolition of a century-old mosque in India’s Uttar Pradesh state, calling it part of what the government described as an “Islamophobic and Hindutva-driven campaign” to erase Islamic heritage from the country.
Afridi vows to stay in until Karachi rally is held
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi said on Sunday night he would not leave Sindh without holding a planned Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf rally in Karachi, raising the possibility that the standoff over the gathering could stretch into a second day.
Pakistan army chief visits Balochistan amid surge in militant violence
QUETTA: Pakistan’s top military officer travelled on Saturday to Quetta, the provincial capital of Balochistan, delivering a message of solidarity to a region convulsed by one of the most violent stretches of insurgent activity it has seen in years — even as questions persisted about how many people have actually died in the government’s response.
Naqvi reopens debate over provincial boundaries; says public, not politicians, must decide
LAHORE: Pakistan’s interior minister said on Saturday that any effort to create new provinces or administrative units in the country must be driven by public demand rather than political calculation, reviving a debate that has strained relations among the government’s coalition partners and drawn sharp opposition from officials in Sindh province.
Defence minister accuses key coalition ally of playing both sides on new provinces
ISLAMABAD: Defence minister Khawaja Asif accused a key partner in the country’s governing coalition of political hypocrisy over one of the most combustible questions in Pakistani politics: whether to redraw the map of a nation held together, at times uneasily, by four provinces.